[kwlug-disc] Richard Stallman announcing his return to the FSF's Board of Directors

Wed Mar 24 20:26:25 EDT 2021

I've served as a board member with 2 non-profit organizations. At both organizations, the board members felt unqualified for the job, so in both cases we hired an outside consultant to give us board-of-director training.

As a result, I have a clear idea about the duties and responsibilities of a non-profit board of directors.

The fact that the executive members of important free software organizations like the Gnome Foundation and Mozilla are calling on the FSF board to resign is a good indication that the FSF board has screwed up badly. A well run organization, with a diligent board that knows its responsibilities and acts on them, would not have let the situation get this bad.

The issues with RMS's destructive behaviour are long standing and go back decades. The FSF board evidently sat on their hands and did not address the issues for *years* until RMS blew up the organization with his Epstein comments, at which point they fired him. This could have been handled much better. Admitting RMS back into the board indicates the board still doesn't get it.

If you want to know what specific duties the FSF board is derelict in, see:
https://www.fsf.org/about/the-role-of-the-fsfs-board-of-directors

Here's one: "maintains the legal and ethical integrity of the organization;".
Permitting RMS to sexually harass low ranking female FSF staffers is not acceptable. The man printed "please fuck me" business cards and routinely handed them out to "hot women". This is not acceptable when you are in a position of authority over the "hot woman". Nobody seems to have explained this to him.

Here's another one: "enhances and protects the FSF's public image;"
For years, RMS was a public advocate of pederasty (adults having sex with children). Nobody explained to him why it is a bad idea for the Director of the FSF, who is also the public face of the FSF, to publicly advocate for pederasty. This behaviour is documented in the rms-open-letter website, at:
   https://rms-open-letter.github.io/appendix
Somebody finally had a talk with him about this in September 2019, at the time he was fired, at which point he renounced his views and apologized. Why didn't this talk happen much earlier?

Doug Moen.

On Wed, Mar 24, 2021, at 6:26 PM, Ron Singh wrote:
> 3 years ago when I found KWLUG, some of my inquiries and questions were met by a certain degree of sharpness. 
> This is absolutely no longer the case.
> In the last 2 years, I have found folks on this LUG to be kinder and more tolerant than ever. 
> I feel fortunate to be able to access the hyperbrains who reside here. Very kind, bloody brilliant and often funny!
> On this subject of RMS, I feel KWLUG's kolks will be civil and patient in their comments.
> 
> As an aside, I have a 27yo son with Asperger's, I glue individuals like him into face-to-face conversations(as best as I can) on a monthly basis. 
> 
> Man, it's exhausting work keeping them in conversational synch. 
> Pick any social-oriented topic and engage them; it can be pretty dismaying what comes out of their mouths. 
> Like anyone else, Aspies have perspectives and a desire to be heard. They want to be heard as a rational and knowledgeable person. 
> More often than not, what they say can come across as harsh/unfeeling/misogynistic/sexist and immoral.
> Erecting a scaffolding of humanity around their conversations is where the real hard work lies, very few can be bothered.
> 
> I think RMS shares some of the same attributes as folks with Aspergers' and I will hope that his circle will find a reason to help him present his thoughts and ideas in a more socially responsible way. 
> 
> Just found this on my YT feed -- Distrotube, a passionate Linux advocate on Lbry and YT, does a fine job of presenting(calmly and rationally) a pro-rms position for being allowed on the board of directors at the FSF despite being appalled by *some* of the stuff that came out of RMS's mouth over the years. 20-ish mins long, might be worth a listen.
> 
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uun2YhnUNGc
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Ron S.
> 
> 
> On Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 1:48 PM Paul Nijjar via kwlug-disc <kwlug-disc at kwlug.org> wrote:
>> 
>> I do not feel comfortable commenting on this issue too deeply in this
>> thread, but I do want to put on my moderator hat for a moment: 
>> 
>> - This is a contentious social issue. 
>> 
>> - In my opinion (which may not be the correct one) it is fine to
>>   discuss this issue (in the sense that it is pretty relevant to the
>>   free software movement), but let's make sure we keep the discussion
>>   civil. 
>> 
>>   I think the comments so far have done a reasonable job of remaining
>>   civil, but I would like to be pre-emptive, because conversations
>>   about contentious social issues can get heated fast.
>> 
>> - I know for a fact that there are people within the KWLUG community
>>   who have strong opinions about cancel/consequence culture in general
>>   and the issue of RMS in particular. People supportive of the removal
>>   have not been speaking much in this thread, but they do exist.
>> 
>> Basically, my hope is that in discussing these issues we maintain
>> kindness. It is important to me that people in the KWLUG community
>> feel as if they belong in the KWLUG community, even though others hold
>> very different views. That may be naive or even a form of oppression
>> in itself, but that remains my hope.
>> 
>> - Paul
>> 
>> On Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 12:55:04PM -0400, Ron Singh wrote:
>> > Oh  man, I hope this cancel-culture thing runs it's course before too long.
>> > Silencing of voices that one might find disagreeable at times is simply
>> > wrong.
>> > 
>> > I would like to sign that letter supporting RMS, I suppose I need to create
>> > an account on Github?
>> > 
>> > Thanks,
>> > 
>> > Ron S.
>> > 
>> 
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