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When Enthusiasm For Free Software Turns Ugly
An anonymous reader writes: Bruce Byfield writes for Linux Magazine about the unfortunate side-effect of people being passionate about open source software: discussions about rival projects can get heated and turn ugly. "Why, for example, would I possibly to see OpenOffice humiliated? I prefer LibreOffice's releases, and — with some misgivings — the Free Software Foundation's philosophy and licensing over that of the Apache Foundation. I also question the efficiency of having two office suites so closely related to each other. Yet while exploring such issues may be news, I don't forget that, despite these differences, OpenOffice and the Apache Foundation still have the same general goals as LibreOffice or the Free Software Foundation. The same is true of other famous feuds. Why, because I have a personal preference for KDE, am I supposed to ignore GNOME's outstanding interface designs? Similarly, because I value Debian's stability and efforts at democracy, am I supposed to have a strong distaste for Ubuntu?"
Indeed, those who use the phrase as a pejorative essentially label themselves as angry idiots. It also doesn't mean anything. I've seen SJWs blames in the comments on almost everything including quite diametrically opposite things.
I even saw them get blamed for making sci-fi about dystopia, and that was an AC modded up to +3 insigntful so clearly some people agreed.
So, I'd like to challenge anyone actually using the phrase to actually define what it means in a way that isn't a catch-all of "crap I hate on the internet".
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Tribalism a.k.a. "us" versus "them" is one of the oldest and deepest-seated human instincts (chimpanzees are also very tribal, which suggests that the instinct goes back to the common ancestor of humans and chimps).
The overwhelming instinct is to choose a group to belong to and to want to see competing groups humiliated. Breaking out of this is very uncomfortable, as the effort will not be appreciated by your "tribe mates", who will consider you a traitor.
This is what happens when the users have NO WAY to influence direction, you get [stuff] like Pulse and Systemd rammed down your throats.
I've been pondering the creation of a corollary to Godwin's Law that'is specially formulated for Slashdot. Just substitute "systemd" for "Hitler."
(Oops, looks like I just invoked both Godwin's Law and its new corollary - all in a single sentence!)
http://whatwillweuse.com/fodde...
http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=1310
No we cannot when cunts have opensource projects who's developers they don't like removed.