Re:Richard Stallman’s rider
by quanticle on Wednesday October 26, 2011 @01:16PM
(#3159511)
I don't see anything there that's especially unreasonable. When Stallman gives a speech he knows he's representing GNU and the FSF. The rider basically obligates the organization to tell Stallman in advance what kind of venue he's going to, and warns the organization that there will be a large crowd, so that they should plan accordingly. In his position, I'm sure that I'd have similar clauses in any agreement to talk.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
I'm not sure if the message was posted to the list to criticize Stallman or whatever.
And I was thinking the same thing as you, until I got down to the second half of the rider.
Spoiler: it involves cats, parrots, hygiene, social awkwardness, and just about every other minute little detail. The sheer length of the piece might also be considered a turnoff.
Re:Richard Stallman’s rider
by pavel_lishin on Wednesday October 26, 2011 @02:03PM
(#3159696)
An allergy to cats and a phobia of dogs seems like a perfectly acceptable thing to list in a rider.
That's reasonable, yes. The two paragraphs on the subject of parrots, however, seem rather unnecessary.
Re:Richard Stallman’s rider
by pavel_lishin on Wednesday October 26, 2011 @02:41PM
(#3159865)
I am willing to bet that that particular paragraph was added after someone bought a parrot just for him.
Right. Which wouldn't have happened, if he hadn't already added in the first paragraph about how he really likes parrots and would be "very very glad" to stay with someone who owns one.
RMS likes parrots, but because of his frequent travel he can't take care of one himself all year round. What better way to be around parrots than to combine his travel activities with meeting parrot owners?
Plus, parrot owners tend to be a funky bunch (in a good way).
Yep, it gets scary...
Tip: never use the word breakfast near him.
Alternate interpretation: he has had overly solicitous people fret over why he's not eating breakfast, and would rather simply put the topic out of everyone's minds. He comes off as a solidly decent person in the rest of this letter; losing his composure at the mention of breakfast seems out of character.
Maybe someone served him Parrot Benedict?
I don't think it was posted to the mySociety list in order to criticise RMS, more a notification of what's in store for anyone who is thinking of organising an event where he is a speaker. You certainly wouldn't want to go ahead without having seen the rider, given the number of conditions attached.