[maxkfranz]

Everyone is entitled to their opinions.

My opinion is that open source documentation is like polite dinner conversation: It’s not the proper place to discuss politics.

If an author wishes to use their open source project as a platform to discuss politics, that’s the author’s prerogative. But then, as perhaps in this instance, it could be to the detriment of the project itself.

[cespare]

Skirt too short, in other words?

I'm going to place the blame on the party committing the crimes, not the person exercising free expression.

[jajuuka]

This is a zero sum take. There are no winners, only the people you deem using free expression correctly. Would a developer who names releases like "Ukrainians are nazi's" or "Taiwan is China" be met with this same sympathy? Or would you brush them off as a mouthpiece for those governments? I'm thinking it's the latter. Free expression is rarely anything other than socially acceptable expression.

[mckn1ght]

IMO the ethical response should be positive disengagement with entities with which you disagree, instead of negative engagement.

See something in the release notes of an app you don’t like? Go use a different app, give your money to a different entity. Don’t spend your time and resources messing with the producer or user of the thing you don’t like.

This of course runs the risk of maximal polarization once everyone has filtered themselves into their neat and tidy little bubbles. What happens then, everybody leaves each other alone? Or do the echo chambers slide into further radicalized detachment from each other?

[jajuuka]

I mean it depends what it is. If someone is talking about master races in patch notes I think that can be met with negative engagement. Splitting along an ideology binary can definitely lead to further entrenchment and possible radicalization. I think the danger there though is the binary choice itself. You of course have edge cases where it is a binary, but I think having people with more complex attitudes and opinions can only be a boon to cooperation and progress.

To get back on topic though, I think conflating using Y app with holding X position on a topic like politics is a dangerous road. Which is where I think having a dedicated space for those politics makes more sense. Whether that's a blog, twitter, etc. It allows those most dedicated to you to know you better without making the product or program a political stance. But the developer is ultimately free to do what they want. So it's not like anyone here can tell the developer to change in any way.

[Wilder7977]

What a bad take. Not every political statement is morally equivalent nor worthy of the same respect. Supporting self-determination of people is not the same as supporting oppression of people - for example.

So the free expression is considered by everyone according to their own ethical and moral values.

[jajuuka]

I'm not sure you realize but you're agreeing with my statement. So it's a bit odd that you call it a bad take.

[DirkH]

Then the 2 of you probably just disagree on what constitutes socially acceptable free expression.

[davorak]

> My opinion is that open source documentation is like polite dinner conversation: It’s not the proper place to discuss politics.

I know this is a common turn of phrase, but I can not help thinking that if the political conversation is impolite it is because some in the conversation is being impolite not due to the topic itself.

[ozim]

Other take is … which is cool feature of OSS … you don’t have to use projects that do political statements.

[maxkfranz]

That’s true. My point was intended to be from the author perspective, rather than from the user perspective. Namely that an author using an open source project as a political platform can potentially put the project at risk. Rightly or wrongly, that’s the world we live in. So it’s a trade-off the author has to decide, one way or the other. I’d personally prioritise the project over the political. But the Notepad++ author is free to use their project how they like. It’s theirs, after all.

[neoromantique]

That is a position of privilege.

You can ignore politics, but at certain point, politics cease to ignore you.

[surajrmal]

This is a very head in the sand approach to life that only those who are entitled may partake in. Reality is that most cannot live in ignorance of what is happening around them because it is also happening to them. Obviously not everything needs to remind you of stressful reality, but we also shouldn't avoid reality just because we are privileged enough to do so.

[jojobas]

His code, his rules.