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A few counterpoints; >This establishes that nothing outside of the project has an impact on the project itself.
1. Clause 11 does. Let's abstract the example of the social pariah you gave, since as you pointed out, Godwin's already got your number. Let's say we were talking about the sub-human degenerates, the utter voids of moral thought and character, the unforgivable scum, that are pro-skub. Now, while I hate them as much as any upstanding conscientious person does, I have to grant that this code of merit does not give them a remit to advance their hideous philosophy through the use of the software (as long as the society they are in is civilized enough to ban all of the actions we hate these people for). 2. It is not a given that a private or open-source software project has the social duty to ferret out secret pro-skubists. If I, for example, were to allow my neighbors the use of my lawn for social events, am I responsible for validating that none of the, in their heart of hearts, secretly desires the spread of that plague upon our species? Should I conduct a personality test on a fellow before holding the door for him, to ensure that I never help one of these vile cretins? 3. Even if this "person" is known to be pro-skub, are we obligated to refuse them any access to our community? If one of them, like the proverbial monkey at the typewriter, can cease his endless spewing of nauseating ideology to write valid helpful code, am I under a moral obligation to refuse it? If so, why? As long as they keep their disgusting opinions out of the professional space in which said code is offered and judged, I can isolate them in my mind as a code fountain and think nothing more of them. And if they do so dare to proselytize their villainy, this code of merit gives us the authority to remove the post-haste. 4. On a strategic anti-skub level, I disagree that total shunning accomplishes a useful objective. Ideally, we want the to understand that they are wrong people with bad opinions. Refusing any interaction with them will not accomplish this, as they will simply be led into more extreme pro-skub echo chambers that reinforce this twisted, amoral world view. How will they ever be led to the righteous path, if every guide shuts the door in their faces? |