[Fsf-friends] Re: QuiTing designs and a rant

[Mahesh T. Pai]

Populating  the list and  its archives  with erroneous  and misleading
messages is not a very good thing to allow.  Repeated misleading posts
are like  urging the FSF-I to adopt  a message contrary to  what it is
trying to  spread.  People  are free to  have their own  opinions, but
IMHO, when such  opinions conflict with the explicitly  stated goal of
the FSF, a FSF-I forum is not the place to propagate them.

Newbies do  read the  archives, and unrebutted  wrong messages  in the
archives  are not  exactly conducive  to  work of  the FSF-I.  Flaming
people  who correct wrong  messages too  is not  a very  good practise
either. 

 > Imagine the "good" publicity we would have got in slashdot,

<rant>

Earlier  soft-glove  approaches to  people  deliberately making  wrong
statements and flaming people trying to correct them, have resulted in
kind of messages quoted below, which  you can find at
http://mm.gnu.org.in/pipermail/fsf-friends/2003-August/001145.html

I have slightly modified the original to appear as if it a /. post.

<quote from an imaginary /. article>

   FSF INDIA CORRECTS ITSELF
 
   THE FSF-I has  finally agreed that imposition of  the terms such as
   "GNU" and "Free Software" is not justifiable as these word contains
   only manufactured  messages to convey.  FSF-I has  decided that it
   is not  advisable to urge others to  use a term whose  message is a
   manufactured one. Advocates of  these terms may have some emotional
   satisfication in  using these terms and  need not be  the case with
   all who campaigns for the freedom.

   In  a  press note  issued  today,  the  FSF-I acknowledged  that  a
   movement  or philosophy  is called  after its  originator.  However
   common sense  requires that a  product is referred by  its shortest
   name for convenience.  The note  goes on to admit that though major
   portion of the Linux OS is  developed by the GNU project, (a) linux
   sense is  better than  common sense  (b) 3 is  greater than  5, (c)
   there is no Linux OS other than GNU/Linux.  The FSF-I therefore has
   consented to the usage of "Linux" is justified by ease of use.
   
   The note goes  on to say ''... There are  spatial variations in the
   meaning of certain  words. The word "Free" for  us is actually more
   linked  with  'free of  cost'  than  to  "freedom". However  it  is
   understood that there is concerted effort by FSF team to use "Free"
   for freedom whenever it is linked with software.  In other sectors,
   advocates  of imperialist  globalisation  use the  term "Free"  for
   freedom  where freedom  is  a psuedo-freedom.   And FSF-I  consider
   "Free" as propaganda term by advocates of imperialist globalisation
   in other  fields.  It  is found that  nowadays even members  of FSF
   teams  are  using the  acronym  "FLOSS"  to  avoid these  confusion
   created by the term "Free".

<end imaginary /. post>

</rant>



-- 
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+
                                          
  Mahesh T. Pai, LL.M.,                   
  'NANDINI', S. R. M. Road,               
  Ernakulam, Cochin-682018,               
  Kerala, India.                          
                                          
  http://paivakil.port5.com         
                                          
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+