[License-discuss] Thoughts on the subject of ethical licenses

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Gil Yehuda via License-discuss (license-discuss at lists.opensource.org):

> I think discussions are good. But Coraline's message this morning is
> that she's not continuing to be part of this discussion. Moreover her
> message indicates that she's been gathering feedback from this
> discussion in service to enhancements to her work. Which means that we
> should consider the value of continuing this conversation. We have an
> open list (consistent with our ethos), the ethical source movement's
> communications channel is not open. So this is asymmetric at best. The
> way she framed her message makes it seem exploitative.

Gil --

I see no reason at all to accept the above conclusion.  And, even where one
feels compelled to _privately_ conclude bad faith, it is almost never
_either_ good manners _or_ good tactics to voice that belief in public.
Impugning motives openly in a public discussion tends to have a variety
of poisonous effects, and substitutes for discussion of issues one of
the personal merits of individuals subjected to remote second-guessing
over the Internet.  (That's aside from it being very heavily
discouraged by this mailing list's posted rules.)

There are, obviously, actually innumerable reasons someone might choose
to disengage from a public discussion.  How about taking a more-decorous
approach and assume, at least for the sake of public discussion, that
the person's reason was one (or more) that reflected well or at least
neutrally on the character and motives of the person in question?

(I deliberately let your posting sit for two days before responding,
which IMO is often a good idea to give one time to respond in a spirit
of charity, either real or -- just as good, for public purposes --
feigned.)

-- 
Cheers,                             Simple systems are not feasible because 
Rick Moen                           they require infinite testing.
rick at linuxmafia.com                             -- Augustine's Law Number XLII
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