[fastball]

yeahhhhhhh, that's not how this works.

Unless this authority has some ownership over the term and can prevent its misuse (e.g. with lawsuits or similar), it is not actually the authority of the term, and people will continue to use it how they see fit.

Indeed, I am not part of a movement (nor would I want to be) which focuses more on what words are used rather than what actions are taken.

[JoshTriplett]

> people will continue to use it how they see fit.

People can also say 2+2=5, and they're wrong. And people will continue to call them out on it. And we will keep doing so, because stopping lets people move the Overton window and try to get away with even more.

[fastball]

2+2 is a mathematical concept. Definitions do not need to be agreed upon beyond fundamental axioms.

The same is not true for "open source", which is a purely linguistic construct.

[whimblepop]

What the symbol "2" refers to is a matter of convention, just like with any ordinary word.

[whimblepop]

There's no authority that will punish you for misusing legal terms of art, or engineering terms of art— in everyday speech like this discussion— either. The vibe this gives is frankly "I just learned trademark exists and I think I'm very smart now".

[JimDabell]

> people will continue to use it how they see fit.

And whenever they do so, this pointless argument will happen. Again, and again, and again. Because that’s not what the word means and your desired redefinition has been consistently and continuously rejected over and over again for decades.

What do you gain from misusing this term? The only thing it does is make you look dishonest and start arguments.

[fastball]

Prescriptivists about language always lose in the end. That is the only point I am making. Words mean what people use them for, not what you want them to mean.

I am not misusing the term, but people are, according to your standards. And it is easy for them to do so, because "open source" was poorly named to begin with.