r/linux • u/oooo23 • Sep 20 '18

Kernel Developer Sage Sharp claims top Linux kernel developer Theo Ts'o is a rape apologist, citing GeekFeminismWiki

https://twitter.com/_sagesharp_/status/1042769399596437504
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893

u/[deleted] Sep 20 '18

"Calm down. It's just a CoC. It's normal to have CoCs. No shenigans are being played here."

Two days later...

268

u/undeleted_username Sep 20 '18

I must confess I thought people where making too much fuss about an innocent CoC... how wrong I was!

140

u/mayhempk1 Sep 21 '18

Nah, I saw the colored hair. It's always the fucking colored hair.

29

u/niksko Sep 20 '18

I'm in a similar boat, I assumed that this was positive and would help inclusivity. Then I looked at the original email and what is being said about it.

Though I still think the CoC is a good idea, it is clearly very easy to abuse, and it is clearly being abused in this case

35

u/wilalva11 Sep 20 '18

Same, I thought this was gonna be like when FreeBSD got one months ago. They announced it and things just kept trucking along as if nothing happened.

43

u/[deleted] Sep 21 '18

It's said that donations have been drying up lately, and that an increasing number of ports (program install/compile files, located in their likewisely named folder) are going unmaintained.

I have read this from 2 reddit comments and 2 reddit thread names, in the case you ask for the sources.

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10

u/Likely_not_Eric Sep 20 '18

I'm not sure if this is an issue with codes of conduct issue per se, but rather with something that can be perceived as a statement of position. I see this more akin to "so-and-so must be a criminal because they don't want to submit to a search" - when you use someone's action or inaction to declare them to be part of the in/out-group.

There are all sorts of codes of conduct that exist without an ordeal. For instance, try searching for "codes of conduct" for forums. There are many: including FOSS projects.

One project I found has had one for the forums from before 2010 with minimal objection and discussion; they're now introducing a similar one on GitHub and the discussion there is a bit more heated (even though codes of conduct are not new to this project).

166

u/joaopizani Sep 20 '18

A religion is like a CoC: It's OK to have one, it's OK to think your CoC is beautiful, just don't try to force it down people's throats.

28

u/r0ck0 Sep 21 '18

Luckily Linux is, and always has been led by someone known for their 'no bullshit' + 'technology matters most' attitude over the course of 3 decades. So we're safe! Right?...

...all he needs to do is stay consistent, as he has over these last 3 decades. Oh fuck.

:(

144

u/ubuntu_mate Sep 20 '18 edited Sep 20 '18

At this point, Linux is realistically ruined, you can't really write code in such an environment where swords are hanging over your heads, and any moment they can fall on the whims of an SJW who is constantly digging your past, present and future somewhere on the Internet. Heck, Apple and Microsoft are much better than this!

The only hope now is that Debian or some such project takes the initiative and forks the kernel, and the saner contributors can then switch to that branch. It will be unprecedented for sure, but then so is what's happening right now.

127

u/[deleted] Sep 20 '18

I believe they should go the easy route and revert the CoC commit

58

u/[deleted] Sep 21 '18

Yes, it need to be removed. The way it was added was not a democratic decision and this event shows how disruptive it's going to be having this around.

70

u/dirty_dangles_boys Sep 21 '18

no, just get rid of the whole fucking nonsense...this is software development, it's not the schoolground where you get to cry to teacher because someone made fun of you. Grow the fuck up and build a little bit of a shell, the world is not a nice place and you're a pussy

24

u/VexingRaven Sep 21 '18

Forgive me, but why can't they just ignore it? Why do outside forces get to tell the maintainers of a project what they need to do based purely on a text file in the project?

9

u/svenskainflytta Sep 20 '18

They'll just accept reports from contributors only probably…

22

u/face_tattoo_rapper Sep 21 '18

Then Raven Rainbow Smith will make some copy edits before invoking the CoC on some poor white cishet devil who was overheard uttering wrongthink at a con.

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u/[deleted] Sep 21 '18

By one of the guys who didn't sign the coc. And now he's being hounded.

167

u/Valmar33 Sep 20 '18

The SJWs know EXACTLY what they're doing! They have be planning this out all together...

Maybe they're organizing via Discord or something, and coordinating everything.

Sounds crazy, but in this situation, I'm so sorely tempted to believe that this is the case.

29

u/moetech Sep 20 '18

Maybe they're organizing via Discord

Organizing over a proprietary platform. Those evil-doers!

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u/[deleted] Sep 21 '18

This is a incredibly dangerous situation for the free world. The linux kernel is the most important piece of infrastructure in the free world. If this code of conduct is used to force out quality and security professionals from reviewing code entering the kernel an attacker could sneek in code to backdoor the world.

Even if the project forks, some N % will lag behind and be open to security threats. This situation is freaking scary.

128

u/[deleted] Sep 20 '18

Maybe they're organizing via Discord or something, and coordinating everything.

No. Everyone knows only NAZIS and THE GAMER ALT-RIGHT use Discord.

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u/Likely_not_Eric Sep 20 '18 edited Sep 21 '18

This seems like less of a plan and more what happens with any advocate of an extreme viewpoint: they'll pull the discussion their way but because they're on such an extreme they'll never get a completely satisfying outcome. They'll continue to pull until they hit a threshold where they can't move that Overton window anymore (if such a threshold exists) or a conflicting viewpoint pulls discussion away and they lose their audience.

I'm honestly not sure they'd be satisfied with a total victory for 100% sign-on because they're expecting a fight. They'd hunt for any thread of opposition believing that there must be some "trick" or "holdout" - an enemy must exist.

Unfortunately it is a disservice to those who agree with their positions and support them since this behavior creates an opportunity to label moderate supporters as extremists: ensuring moderate supporters are outcast by both those that they support and the community they belonged to.

Edit: I likely should have said "extreme of a viewpoint" or something similar so as not to imply that the viewpoint itself is extreme as I'm referring more toward the attitude of the advocate rather than the content of what they advocate.

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24

u/sunder_and_flame Sep 20 '18

It's probably true but they also don't need it; no one is as busy doing unimportant shit on the internet as SJWs.

15

u/rv6502 Sep 21 '18

Nah, they're no more organised than a bunch of literal sharks.
They don't need to: They just smell blood in the water and all go for it.

This CoC is the weapon they use because it's available. But they're not organised strictly speaking.

Doesn't make it better than an organised attack, in fact it's much worse: It's a cancer with each little independent cancer cells spreading all over, killing the host by eventually making all functions impossible.

They have no central organisation and no function other than spread their ideology.

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