Software engineer & founder of @RailsBridge and @LivableCode. Currently stirring the pot at @SalesforceUX. She/her. 
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Without drastic structural change, it is inevitable that the same story will play out again. Activism and harassment need not be so conjoined. A new board, along with internal restructuring, could separate them. Just getting a new president, though, will not be enough.
Right now the @fsf looks like they’re trying to pretend this didn’t happen. Even if that’s not true, it represents a profound misreading of what the situation calls for.
I call on the @fsf board to resign.
If they truly care about the cause of free software, more than they care about their personal empire-building, they’ll do it.
However, if they fail to make structural change in the organization, they’ll continue their descent into obscure irrelevance.
As an industry, we no longer have time or patience for shitty institutions. Our standards have gone up. And right now, @fsf is well below the bar.
All of the (many!) interesting discussions happening in the industry right now about software and freedom are happening without participation (or, seemingly, the notice) of the FSF.
We can decide for ourselves - and we are! - what kind of “freedom” we want in our software. It’s early, yet, but it’s safe to say that even in broad outlines, the type of freedom we need now looks *very* different from the version that the FSF currently champions.
The FSF could lend their support & experience to this process of finding the right modern conception of “software freedom.” I’d love if they did.
But we can do it regardless.
And we will.
Hey @fsf, your supporters are in my mentions defending Stallman and saying he did “nothing wrong.”
Your silence on this matter, along with your attempts to move on without addressing it, indicate that you ALSO think he did nothing wrong.
If that’s the case - just fucking own it, @fsf.
Say you think it was a “witch hunt.”
Say that your sympathy is with Stallman.
Say that the pain his victims endured was worth it for “software freedom.”
SAY IT.
This isn’t going to blow over. Take a stand. Choose carefully.
I think this is spot on I think they hope this will blow over
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![Screenshot of Alexandre Oliva’s post the day Stallman resigned. It says, “my deepest gratitude to RMS [Stallman] for everything he’s done for the FSF, for Free Software, and for my own freedom. whatever else he may have said or done, he didn’t deserve to have everything he built in his life taken away from him. so much for solidarity”](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EFWhWqMUcAAmPtq.jpg)
![Screenshot of Alexandre Oliva’s other post the day Stallman resigned. It says, “I wonder how long will it take for the free software supporters (there are some!) who’ve just destroyed RMS’s [Stallman’s] life to realize what they’ve just done and experience in regret and remorse one thousandth the pain they’ve just inflicted on my dear friend”](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EFWhWqTU8AYZe5f.jpg)
