[License-discuss] Language, appropriateness, and ideas

[Josh Berkus]

On 2/27/20 1:49 PM, Russell McOrmond wrote:
> 
> I think you have this backwards.   The mailing list to discuss ideas
> compatable with the OSD are the lists hosted by opensource.org
> <http://opensource.org>.  This community will (most often politely)
> inform people when their ideas are incompatable with one of the
> fundamental tennants of Open Source.  If people insist on continuing to
> disrespect the community by trying to unethically get around the
> fundamental tennants of Open Source, then the pushback will become
> harder and harsher.   People can't disrespect a community, and then get
> upset when harsh words are eventually used to defend the community.

And yet you just managed to make a spirited refutation of the license
header proposal without once resorting to name-calling and profanity.
So clearly it is possible for any civilized human to do so.

Your other mistake here is assuming that you alone (or, at least, your
viewpoint) speak for the community and that the person to whom you are
speaking is an outsider.  That may be your opinion, but that doesn't
mean it's shared.  It may be *you* who is the outsider.

More than anything, this whole argument is circular reasoning: "we are
justified in using profanity to defend the values of the community, and
those are the values of the community because we defend them."

Well, as published on the website, one of the indisputable values of
this community is a Code of Conduct.  Violating *that* is the way to
determine who is an outsider (or at least can no longer post to the list).

-- 
Josh Berkus