I'm not making a case for or against him. I have a very strong opinion, but talking about him tends to be a lightning rod issue and ultimately does not results in high quality discourse.
If you want to know more about the allegations against him, then here are two articles to get you started.
I'm a bit disappointed that noone on HN seems to be saying: "Someone who speaks for the free software community should be a person who's good at speaking to many different people, smiling honestly, and putting the community and its concerns in language that makes sense for the people he's talking to at the time". IMO that's the core of the matter.
I'm not sure whether it really makes sense to talk about a free software community but I do think that Stallman leering, being rude, trying to pick up women at conferences, straying into random controversies such as about Minsky, berating people for their choice of wording, I do think that all that makes him a really bad candidate for that kind of job.
Both MIT and Harvard have admitted to helping Jeffrey Epstein avoid prosecution on federal racketeering charges for the sex-trafficking of minors after they were exposed by whistle-blowers at both of these institutions.
I'm still not sure why people consider it appropriate to exclude someone like Stallman from serving on the Board of the FSF while continuing to allow Mr. Rafael Reif, for example, to remain president of MIT after sending a personally signed "thank-you note" to one of the most notorious alleged sex-traffickers and convicted child-rapists in US history:
So why has nobody drafted petitions to cancel Rafael "Thank You So Much Mr. Epstein -- And Don't Forget to Show My Letter to Federal Prosecutors" Reif, Benedict "Epstein is an Ideal Donor for Harvard" Gross, Alan "Dershbag" Dershowitz, Martin "Punishment Serves No Noble Purpose" Nowak, Steven "Using the Internet to Entice a Minor into Prostitution is A-Okay" Pinker, Seth "So What If I Make Female Undergraduates at MIT Feel Uncomfortable" Lloyd, Neri "Epstein was Always a Reliable Supporter of Israel" Oxman, Frank "I Never Saw any Girls that were Underage" Wilczek, and all of the other pedophilia-tolerating two-faced phonies that attended EDGE Foundation dinners hosted by the convicted child rapist and/or visited him on "Pedophile Isle," where FBI reportedly found instruction manuals that Mr. Epstein had ordered on Amazon that describe how to create a so-called "sex slave," in addition to video tapes containing child pornography that he allegedly recorded using secret cameras that were installed throughout his various residences?
Mr. Stallman blaming his "being on the spectrum" for all of the troubling statements cataloged on the website cited below may not entirely excuse him for making them since there is no evidence that someone on the spectrum is more likely than the general population to hold similar views on child rape:
But the most important question today that Mr. Stallman still needs to address directly, because many of his critics on this issue continue to hold him in the highest regard for his role in advancing the free software movement, is a very frank one:
Were his remarks in support of pedophilia designed to persuade Mr. Epstein to donate part of his $500 million estate to the Free Software Foundation, much like he observed role-models such as MIT president Rafael Reif do for Mr. Epstein when Dr. Reif sent Mr. Epstein a personally signed thank-you note for his donation to the Media Lab, or colleagues like Martin Nowak do for Mr. Epstein when Dr. Nowak created a web page on a university website and an office in his department for a convi...
6 comments
[ 2.0 ms ] story [ 57.1 ms ] threadHonest question from someone who only lightly followed this story: what is his history of abuse and harassment?
If you want to know more about the allegations against him, then here are two articles to get you started.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90618666/mozilla-and-tor-join-ca...
https://geekfeminism.wikia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman
If you want to know more about his accomplishments (and there are many) then these will get you started:
https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/building-richard-stallm...
https://www.cmpod.net/all-transcripts/history-open-source-fr...
For debunking of the latest witch hunt.
I'm a bit disappointed that noone on HN seems to be saying: "Someone who speaks for the free software community should be a person who's good at speaking to many different people, smiling honestly, and putting the community and its concerns in language that makes sense for the people he's talking to at the time". IMO that's the core of the matter.
I'm not sure whether it really makes sense to talk about a free software community but I do think that Stallman leering, being rude, trying to pick up women at conferences, straying into random controversies such as about Minsky, berating people for their choice of wording, I do think that all that makes him a really bad candidate for that kind of job.
I'm still not sure why people consider it appropriate to exclude someone like Stallman from serving on the Board of the FSF while continuing to allow Mr. Rafael Reif, for example, to remain president of MIT after sending a personally signed "thank-you note" to one of the most notorious alleged sex-traffickers and convicted child-rapists in US history:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2020/01/12/after-epstei...
Nor would it be any more appropriate to allow Mr. Seth Lloyd back onto the MIT campus with just a slap on the wrist:
https://thetech.com/2021/02/25/mit-administration-epstein-op...
Or Mr. Martin Nowak for that matter either:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/03/26/metro/harvard-sanctio...
On the subject of Nowak's role in aiding and abetting a child rapist, this hacker news thread is worth reading again:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25442060
So why has nobody drafted petitions to cancel Rafael "Thank You So Much Mr. Epstein -- And Don't Forget to Show My Letter to Federal Prosecutors" Reif, Benedict "Epstein is an Ideal Donor for Harvard" Gross, Alan "Dershbag" Dershowitz, Martin "Punishment Serves No Noble Purpose" Nowak, Steven "Using the Internet to Entice a Minor into Prostitution is A-Okay" Pinker, Seth "So What If I Make Female Undergraduates at MIT Feel Uncomfortable" Lloyd, Neri "Epstein was Always a Reliable Supporter of Israel" Oxman, Frank "I Never Saw any Girls that were Underage" Wilczek, and all of the other pedophilia-tolerating two-faced phonies that attended EDGE Foundation dinners hosted by the convicted child rapist and/or visited him on "Pedophile Isle," where FBI reportedly found instruction manuals that Mr. Epstein had ordered on Amazon that describe how to create a so-called "sex slave," in addition to video tapes containing child pornography that he allegedly recorded using secret cameras that were installed throughout his various residences?
Mr. Stallman blaming his "being on the spectrum" for all of the troubling statements cataloged on the website cited below may not entirely excuse him for making them since there is no evidence that someone on the spectrum is more likely than the general population to hold similar views on child rape:
https://geekfeminism.wikia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman
But the most important question today that Mr. Stallman still needs to address directly, because many of his critics on this issue continue to hold him in the highest regard for his role in advancing the free software movement, is a very frank one:
Were his remarks in support of pedophilia designed to persuade Mr. Epstein to donate part of his $500 million estate to the Free Software Foundation, much like he observed role-models such as MIT president Rafael Reif do for Mr. Epstein when Dr. Reif sent Mr. Epstein a personally signed thank-you note for his donation to the Media Lab, or colleagues like Martin Nowak do for Mr. Epstein when Dr. Nowak created a web page on a university website and an office in his department for a convi...