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Stallman's recent announcement that he would return to the FSF's board of directors has prompted numerous people to sign an open letter demanding the resignation of the entire board. Many predominant figures in the FOSS community have signed it, and it seems like it may be an important detail to include whether or not it actually leads to resignations. The section on the GNU project includes a note about a similar letter signed by the project's developers. That said, I'd like to air it here first, especially to ensure compliance with WP:RECENTISM. —Ifandonlyif0 (talk) 02:10, 24 March 2021 (UTC)
I have put it in a citation already, should it be linked on the article itself, in a footnote, or the text copied and pasted? Cynosure-NULL (talk) 02:12, 24 March 2021 (UTC)
Daveout
(talk) 05:00, 24 March 2021 (UTC)Do you think a bit about who published the letter is needed (for example: An open letter calling for his removal from the FSF by assorted free software advocates and developers. Or would this fall under WP:RECENTISM. The open letter also called for the removal of the rest of the board, should this be included? Cynosure-NULL (talk) 21:57, 24 March 2021 (UTC)
Shortly after, another open letter was made, with hundreds signatures as well, supporting Stollman and defending him from the overzealous internet activist crowd. But ofc this letter was ignored by the majority of internet newsmakers. Can't support the wrong person. --95.174.101.83 (talk) 11:41, 25 March 2021 (UTC)
The number of signatures is irrelevant, since they cannot be reliably matched with actual persons in any meaningful way. Many signatures from the support letter appear to be from accounts that were created solely for the purpose of signing the support letter, which does not inherently indicate a bot, but it does raise suspicions. Further, the proportion of surnames are substantially, if not overwhelmingly, of Eastern European origin. Again, this is not evidence of bots, but it is a curious phenomenon for a figure who is perhaps known worldwide, but is likely most well-known in his country of origin. This is particularly relevant since the FSF is not an eastern European organization, and has little to no presence or influence there. Indeed, despite its claim of a worldwide presence, the FSF can only operate effectively where there are strong intellectual property protections. Separately, the characterization of signatories as "supporters of free software" is unsubstantiated. Finally, the counter-letter doesn't appear to be signed or supported by any OSS organizations, so its significance is questionable at best. In my view, its mention should be considered for deletion, but none of this is really worth hashing out in the article IMO, so I am editing to remove contentious and unverified content as per WP:BLP. 76.182.176.226 (talk) 08:49, 12 April 2021 (UTC)
I am opening this section on suggestion of Daveout. This is the paragraph I had tried to add to the "6.1 Return to FSF" subchapter, though it may need some revision by a native speaker
On the other hand, a community-driven open letter supporting Richard Stallman[1] received translations to 31 languages and drew a larger number of individual signatories (passing 6500), among which the notable early participation of OSI co-founder and long-time Free Software Movement "rival" Eric S. Raymond[2][3]
I think it is essential to counterbalance the Open Letter calling for the removal of Richard Stallman with the Support Letter. Dr. Stallman himself has published a link on his blog to this campaign, specifically linking to a page explaining how to sign this letter without using Github, and then proceeding to explain the circumstances surrounding the situation. Additionally, support from Eric S. Raymond seems to be exceptionally noteworthy, considering the historical background of the two men.
Daveout
(talk) 00:10, 29 April 2021 (UTC)References
This section regards a minor edit: to restore the "her" in a Stallman quotation in Resignation from MIT and FSF which had been edited to the gender-neutral "per". Here's the commented source from the editor making the change:
...can harm per<!-- This is not a typo! It's a gender-neutral pronoun. --> psychologically.
While I support the use of gender-neutral pronouns, I believe it is inappropriate to retroactively change the text of a quote.
Glen Worthey (talk) 20:14, 24 October 2021 (UTC)
Daveout
(talk) 01:30, 25 October 2021 (UTC)I have found that this link is not accessible. Maybe has to do with the .com.au suffix (because I'm not in Australia?) or maybe the source is dead and I got redirected. https://www.businessinsider.com.au/gnu-programmers-call-for-richard-stallman-to-quit-2019-10 --Nuclear03020704 (talk) 21:38, 11 April 2022 (UTC)
Hi Daveout. You said in your revert "enrolling seems to be enough to count as an alma mater".
Firstly, please let's be correct about the historical facts. RMS was not "enrolled" at MIT. He was *working* there as a programmer.
Secondly, the concept of an alma mater means an academic institution that "nourishes" you in an intellectual way, in other words, an institution that forms and shapes your intellectual character and academic personality. An alma mater certifies and documents this "shaping process" by awarding you an official degree.
Just enrolling has nothing to do with that. Take me for example. I have degrees from two universities, so those are my alma maters. But I visited two further universities (one as a student and one as a scientist) which didn't award me any degree. So, those two are NOT alma maters of mine. I don't have four alma maters, I have two.
You can think of it also in another way. If enrolling was enough, many people who never finished any academic classes or took any exam or dropped out after one semester would have alma maters. That is obvious nonsense.
So, in total: RMS wasn't enrolled at MIT, but even if he was, he wasn't awarded a degree, so MIT isn't an alma mater. ʘχ (talk) 13:05, 22 June 2022 (UTC) [originally posted here]
decided to enroll as a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He pursued a doctorate in physics for one year, but left that program to focus on his programming at the MIT AI Laboratory.
a school, college, or university which one has attended or from which one has graduated.
Daveout
(talk) 13:39, 22 June 2022 (UTC)@Drmies: Looking at your edits [1] [2] [3] [4], it seems like most of those fall under WP:BLPSELFPUB? I'm just starting a thread here to open up a discussion. 〜 ⠀snowy🌼meadows˙ 14:49, 13 October 2022 (UTC)
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References
(Even less potent was a campaign in 1988 by Stallman and some fellow hackers to distribute buttons bearing the inscription "Keep Your Lawyers Off My Computer" to combat Apple's actions.) Still, the confrontation was notable for the precedent it set.
[Stallman] then followed up the ad by helping to organize a group to protest the corporations filing the suit.
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