ESR Recasts Jargon File in Own Image

don.g writes "As reported by NTK, ESR appears to have embarked apon the process of recasting the Jargon File in his own image, adding terms like "Aunt Tillie" and "GhandiCon" that he dreamt up and seemingly no-one else uses, and various terms from (of all places) the warblogging community, where he is active. He's also updated the "Hacker Politics" page to be more closely aligned with his own views."

Comments

Newsflash: this guy's a dickhead

[gmplague]

I saw ESR speak a few years ago. It was a pretty small group (~50 people or so), and so the floor was constantly open to questions for him. He was an absolute dickhead. I asked him simply why he didn't include computer security experts in his definition of hacker and he went off on me for 20 minutes. I then countered with a perfectly valid point. To which he countered with a school-boyish sneer, and nothing more.

He is also the most self-centered geek I've encountered. I can remember vividly a few years ago that he published "10 Sex Tips for Geeks" on Valentines day. If you have ever layed eyes on the man, you know that he is the last person you would ever want to be accepting sex tips from.

If we want this open source movement to take off, we need somebody who's a little more socially adept as our spokesperson. Don't even get me started on how outrageous the whole bazaar and geek-gift culture are.

Re:Newsflash: this guy's a dickhead

[asteinberg]

Interesting...I had the exact same experience while seeing Stallman speak. Having seen them both, I thought ESR was a lot more down-to-earth and approachable than RMS was. Stallman just came across as bitter and angry and was just whining about all sorts of boring things, while ESR actually had a well-organized and far more entertaining talk prepared. I got the impression that Stallman was bitter that ESR and his phrase "open source" has won the battle over Stallman's preferred "free software". When I tried asking Stallman a question he get really defensive and wouldn't even let me finish the question - he interrupted with a dismissive comment. Stallman did, though, have a couple interesting highlights...the first was when he yelled at the professor who had set up the talk in front of the whole audience because it was going to be filmed and broadcast over the internet in Quicktime (since he was giving the talk for a class which is always broadcast in this fashion). He refused to start his talk until they turned off the cameras or came up with a way to broadcast it in a format viewable by open-source players. Here, he came across as a bit immature in the way he handled the situation but at the same time it was entertaining and he was making a good point. The other entertaining thing was the whole Church of Emacs routine, although it was heavily apparent that he does it and uses the same jokes at every talk he gives.

Jargon FIle

[Anonymous Coward]

The first time I read the Jargon File many years ago, I spent several days reading it LMAO. The entries were both funny and insightful. When I read the entries that ESR has added, I had a hard time reading the egotistical bullshit without being completely disgusted. Releasing a new version for the "hanging chad" was a complete waste IMHO. WTH did that have to do with computers? It seems that more and more of the newer entries are politically related. The sad part is that they are neither funny nor insightful.

About six months ago I looked for copies of the older versions of the Jargon File. That was not as easy as it sounds. I don't know if ESR has been intentionally ridding the internet of the older versions, but I wasn't too happy about how difficult they were to find. If the older versions of the Jargon File completely disappear, then a valuable part of computer history will be lost. In it's place will be the mindless, egotistical rants of someone who thinks the Open Source community revolves around himself.

Re:And this is a surprise.. why?

[madprof]

It isn't meant to be a purely historical document. It is meant to be a relevant, credible dictionary of terms that hackers use, and thus merely being updated is not good enough.
However it can only have real credibility if it can actually cover a reasonable amount of hacker slang, and the number of hackers has grown over the years so ESR is either going to be everywhere at once or he's going to choose a subset.
It appears that, given his recent choice of entries, if he wishes the Jargon File to be at all relevant in 5 years he'd have more success auctioning dogs.

And this comes as a surprise because?

[Doktor Memory]

A few years back at Geekfest in Cambridge (MA), a co-worker of mine observed ESR telling a local newspaper reporter with a straight face that all geeks are libertarians. I don't think that the idea that every single last one of his fellow engineers might not subscribe to every last one of his pet political causes would ever occur to the man.

Raymond has always been an egomaniac blowhard with a self-opinion exceeding his actual worth by several orders of magnitude, and if you don't believe me, just ask any member of the linux kernel mailing list.