Slashdot Mirror
DebConf6, Hot and Spicy
What do a space tourist, a skinny dipper, politics, and code have in common? This year's DebConf, of course! Robin 'Roblimo' Miller has the writeup over on NewsForge (Also owned by VA). From the article: "Shuttleworth was back in Oaxtepec Wednesday, hanging out and chatting with individuals and small groups, checking his email, and otherwise behaving like most other DebConf attendees. It was obvious that even if not all of them loved him -- or Ubuntu, or his for-profit company, Canonical Ltd. -- he considered this small group important enough to be worth more of his time than the 14,000 people who went to JavaOne."
Using the Debian logo for this story makes sense, but it has also been used on Slashdot for stories about Ubuntu exclusively. I think it's about time that Ubuntu have it's own logo for Slashdot stories in a similar manner to other distros. I know Ubuntu comes from Debian, but it has reached a unique prominence on it's own. Some of the content of the article would seem to support the idea of having an Ubuntu logo to differentiate Ubuntu stories from those about Debian.
To report tat 2-time DPL candidate Jonathan/Ted Walthers was thrown out of the conference for being an asshat.
What do a space tourist, a skinny dipper, politics, and code have in common?
They mostly don't do well upon close inspection 8)
This is childish. What is the point of such a comment? How a fully-developed adult can think this - let alone put it in print - just boggles my mind. Very unprofessional.
Web2.0: I love when people Flickr my cuil and digg my boingboing until my google is reddit and I start to yahoo
Im shocked,
Its not like ubuntu is based on debian.
As far as who Shuttleworth spends his time with and what conferences he attends, well its not that surprising he went to this one is it, if Gates and Ballmer had attended however that would be news.
Seriously though, I dont like Ubuntu and I wouldnt use it, frankly I prefer debian proper, but if someone who had never touched a *nix asked what to install I'd give them one of the nice Ubuntu CD-roms I had shipped to me and tell them to knock themselves out, and chances are they'd get on well with it. NIDNRTFA - Sorry
It makes you wonder (a) what kind of lunatics are running Debian these days, and (b) whether Debian can hold together as an organisation.
No, that entry says that his dinner companion, who he called a "local businesswoman", was a prostitute. I'm not remarking on the truth of the situation, I have no idea. But you are completely misrepresenting what that link actually says.
501 Not Implemented
Holy hell, a for-profit company?!
That is because Debian won't install on modern laptops! Well, not without grand efforts.
Seriously though, it seems that many Debianites begrudge Ubuntu for being what they don't want Debian to be: up to date.
It's Linux. There is nothing hot an spicy about that. Just take a look at this guy. I going to have to immerse myself in porn for a day to get that image out my head. Disturbing
You don't have to be smart to use a Mac, you just have to be smart enough to buy one
It will be tough for Debians to accept Ubuntu but there's no alternative. While Ubuntu has made the deb package format state of the art, it will also squash Debian out of the market. It's just a matter of time until Ubuntu will become the single most important distribution. So instead of cursing about this fact Debian developers should just go over to Ubuntu and accept it. It might not make everybody happy but that's normal in real live.
O. Wyss
See http://wyoguide.sf.net/papers/Cross-platform.html
Again, no one has been willing to state a real reason why he was attacked or kicked out of the project. Even when I tried to personally inquire in a polite and honorable fashion, then wouldn't tell me or just make some mention of emails accusing them of being unfair, which at this point is starting to seem very much true.
Even a wacky conspiracy theorist starts to look credible when some one trys to assasinate him.
Does kicking someone out of the project involve not telling them at all. Or for what reason even after the fact.
They invited him there! He went there at great expense with the sole intention of trying to make peace and mend relationships. It seems as though the intention was to lure him there and beat him senseless in the middle of some forign country!
He didn't do anything while at Debconf to provoke anyone as far as I can see. Please someone tell me a specific case if he did do anything, but wearing a plastic crown and carrying a foam rubber bat, that was just a prop to be the jester of the crowd. Isn't cause or provocation. He didn't hit anyone with the bat, nor did he act agressive or even speak to any of his attackers.
Had this been in the US, I'm sure police and lawyers would be involved.
I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso
Err... what part of suggesting that people tried to assassinate Ted is not a wacky conspiracy theory in its own right?
Who are you claiming invited Ted to DebConf? The conference was widely announced in the Debian developer community, with information on how to register and apply for travel sponsorship; obviously these announcements didn't claim "Ted need not apply", but did he receive a personal invitation from the organizing committee that none of the rest of us did? If not, in what sense was he being "lured" to Mexico? It would require a remarkable degree of naivete for him to believe he would be welcomed warmly by everyone on the organizing committee, after making unsubstantiated claims of sponsorship favoritism based on fabricated details, accusing the organizers of religious discrimination for being unable to accomodate his singular dietary requirements, and describing the venue as a "second-rate hotel in a third world country."
While some of the behavior I witnessed at the formal dinner was disappointingly uncivilized, it does say something about how much he actually "mended relationships" there that people found the rumors credible enough to warrant attempting to eject him from the dinner. (No, not "assassinating" him, not "beating him senseless" -- generally if you're trying to injure someone you don't do so by pushing them towards the door on the far side of the building...) I don't know if someone in Ted's company thought it would be funny to let people think he had brought a prostitute, but evidently others at the event didn't find this idea humorous at all.
I have seen the debian private list posts, Ted isn't the only friend I have on the inside there.
... Well draw your own conclusions.
I still fail to see a real reason. How can holding a foam rubber bat be so offensive to people that they should try to beat him up or remove him from debian?!
If you read Anthony's letter it never states specifics just "disruptions", "disturbances", "provoke"
As example requesting Kosher Food. Oh my god! If requesting Kosher food is disruptive then
For me personally I don't eat Pork and it was impossible to tell what the meals were made of some really look like pork. Being Pork free in Mexico and at the Debconf when you don't speak the language was a serious problem.
Then later claims such as "Nazi propaganda and Holocaust denial information" this is based on them never having read what he had, or the context that it was in, which was in a very pro-jewish, we must never let it happen again light. I also believe that people need to see these documents! That hiding them will only doom us to repeat the past.
Well which is it Anthony? Is he a NAZI or a JEW!
"Why Didn't King Solomon Kill The Two Prostitutes".
Did anyone bother to read this one!!!
It's all bible quotes. But for many I'm sure the bible is too offensive!
From that very blog post:
You cannot hit one party with the full penalty then let another get off free for the same crime. It is better to err on the side of mercy, so if you do not convict one, you should not convict another. This is violated daily by un-Godly governments who selectively enforce their laws to "make examples" of people. Such selective enforcement is neither fair or just.
How appropriate since they did just what he spoke against the very next day.
from the Debian private list that I am not bound to silence on
Anthony Towns
to debian-private
Hi,
It's my regret to report that the Debian Account Managers, James Troup
and Joerg Jaspert, have decided to expel Ted Walther (aka Jonathan
Walther, with IRC nicks SirDibos, SirDinosaur, Dinosaur, and account
name krooger@debian.org) from the project.
Ted has been a continuing source of disturbance within the project, and
whether deliberately or accidently has repeatedly acted in ways to provoke
other members of the project and make their participation in both the
project at large and DebConf 6 in particular difficult and uncomfortable.
The triggering event for this expulsion was a disturbance at the DebConf
Formal Dinner, which I'll detail as best I can in a separate mail.
This has followed a number of other incidents at DebConf 6. The first
of these that has been communicated to me were a number of disruptive
communications with the travel sponsorship team in April, where Ted
attempted to override the deadline for travel sponsorship in various ways
[0].
This was followed in the next few days by complaints regarding the lack
of food conforming to his dietary requirements, which he described as
the "Karaite Jewish version of kashrut" in contrast to Jewish kosher
food. When informed that the vegan/vegetarian menu would conform with
his requirements, and that the hotel would not be able to conform with
his requirements otherwise, he responded by accusing the organisers of
"kosher discrimination", and booking a "second rate hotel in a third
world country" where the cooks are "not worth their salt".
In order to ensure that the debconf lists remained useful, his posts
were moderated, with only the mails containing a question others might
be interested in, or some information others might find useful being
allowed through.
Ted's conference registration was accepted, and he obtained room and
food sponsorship for the period of his stay.
After arriving at DebConf, Ted brought along a foam rubber bat
labelled with "clue", and hit a number of organisers and delegates
with i
I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso
Where do I begin, there is just so much wrong with what your saying.
- ted.html Aigars interview with Ted, I think really clarifies his thought process.
http://www.aigarius.com/2006/03/10/interview-with
Aigars by the way is not a fan of Teds, but is honest and I have a lot of respect for him. He even told Ted to his face that "you're getting under my skin", but have respect for that.
Aigars article really explains the Debian woman situation, and having experienced first hand the clique around Amaya, that would talk behind every ones back and spread rumors and conjecture, and work them selves into a frenzy, as well as act as the PC police. Other than that I thought she was pretty cute.
1) Ted never asked for travel funding, I had already agreed to cover him. He was defending others who were having sponsorship problems, and who still are.
2) Again the context is missing. What he said that if what the organizers was telling him was true then, this must be a "second rate hotel in a third world country" where the cooks are "not worth their salt". , This is because their answers to him were deceptive and conflicting.
3) His documents were on his personal web site and not associated with Debian. And he is far from a racist and Nazi, if he were I'd beat his ass for you.
4) Tyrannically? What are you smoking?
5) Many people have contacted both myself and Ted, privately offering support, but seem to be afraid to come out publicly because of the climate of fear within the debian community. Ted is opposed to some of the things the leadership of debian are doing, and this is real reason for his being attacked and picked on at every turn.
From the Aigars interview about Debian:
Finally, a place free of affirmative action and limits on free speech; just a bunch of people doing their best to make something great. You stand or fall on your own merits. Freethinking and refusal to compromise with political correctness was the order of the day. I was in heaven.
It was this change away from these values and ideas that Ted was attempting to reverse. This change is a part of the new (current) debian leadership. I sense a group of SysAdmin type paranoid thinkers, certainly not kernel hackers.
It's where things are misrepresented, out of context, and done secretly behind peoples backs that I just can't tolerate. I have been though too much of this crap in the past.
Debian started as a democratic organization, and still pretends to be one, but clearly this only superficial now.
Joerg assured me after the fight that I would be include in the discussion of what transpired that evening before a decision was cast. But this never took place, 7am Ted was tossed out, and I left with him.
The leadership has no Honor, or Balls, It did things privately and in secret in a most undemocratic, closed, and totalitarian fashion. I had been keeping and open mind about the whole situation and really remaining unbiased until that point. I really lost all respect for these guys, and after hearing from many South and Central Americans how they where also upset with the way debian was being run, I am totally convinced it's all true and at least as bad as I was hearing.
How can Ted get a GR when he has been silenced and cut off from the community?
Ted may not be leadership material, but neither is Anthony. Ted is one of the most loyal hard working employees I have ever had, he has been thorough a lot with me over the years. He has a very deep sense of honor and speaks his mind when he feels something need to be said even when it's unpopular and might get him into trouble.
But I can respect it.
I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso