I already know I'm going to be buried for saying this, so just click the arrow now and save yourself the trouble of reading.
If someone had written an article like this about PJ, they would be relentlessly attacked from all angles, and PJ would bring out her usual "It must be Microsoft/SCO/Satan behind this." Every time someone questions her motives, her income sources, her fact sources, her opinions, her attacks on her enemies and other disfavored individuals (Mueller being a longtime critic of hers), she pulls the "You must be working for the bad guys" line. Every person who says anything in disagreement with PJ is assumed to be working for Microsoft, SCO, Oracle, or whomever the bad guy du jour is. This is McCarthyism on the Internet.
Journalists have been silenced, ostracized, and fired for asking questions about her. Imagine if this were a male government official instead of an anonymous blogger with a female persona (how perfectly crafted to manipulate geeks!) The Linux/OSS journalism "community" protects her at all costs. Journalists are not supposed to protect anyone; they are supposed to shed light on all of the dark corners of the world. There are no saints. You can't ethically be a member of the club that you're covering.
The only things you know about PJ and Groklaw are the things that PJ has published on Groklaw. That doesn't bother you? It doesn't raise any skepticism? PJ was closely involved with the founding of OSRM, which sells open source compliance services to software companies. No one suspects her of being "bought and paid for" because of this, but we're supposed to think Florian Mueller is an Oracle shill because they paid him to do some analysis work independent of his blogging?
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Oracle: Florian Mueller from FOSSPatents.
If someone had written an article like this about PJ, they would be relentlessly attacked from all angles, and PJ would bring out her usual "It must be Microsoft/SCO/Satan behind this." Every time someone questions her motives, her income sources, her fact sources, her opinions, her attacks on her enemies and other disfavored individuals (Mueller being a longtime critic of hers), she pulls the "You must be working for the bad guys" line. Every person who says anything in disagreement with PJ is assumed to be working for Microsoft, SCO, Oracle, or whomever the bad guy du jour is. This is McCarthyism on the Internet.
Journalists have been silenced, ostracized, and fired for asking questions about her. Imagine if this were a male government official instead of an anonymous blogger with a female persona (how perfectly crafted to manipulate geeks!) The Linux/OSS journalism "community" protects her at all costs. Journalists are not supposed to protect anyone; they are supposed to shed light on all of the dark corners of the world. There are no saints. You can't ethically be a member of the club that you're covering.
The only things you know about PJ and Groklaw are the things that PJ has published on Groklaw. That doesn't bother you? It doesn't raise any skepticism? PJ was closely involved with the founding of OSRM, which sells open source compliance services to software companies. No one suspects her of being "bought and paid for" because of this, but we're supposed to think Florian Mueller is an Oracle shill because they paid him to do some analysis work independent of his blogging?