>horrendously, gratuitously crass and offensive way.
And?
It's rms. He's the biggest nerd in the world. Nerds are expected to be horrendously, gratuitously crass, offensive and insensitive of people's emotions.
This is like being mad that the sky is blue. Pointless outrage.
It's not outrage at Stallman's comments, but asking whether someone who is horrendously, gratuitously crass, offensive and insensitive of people's emotions should be "cheerleading" free software.
That wasn't the first time RMS had said something like that, but to say it to a fellow dev, when you're asking that person to fix someone else's bug, seems particularly unaware.
For sure, Asperger's or Autism explains it, but doesn't make it much easier to deal with.
The point of the linked article, as I understood it, was that "it's just Stallman being Stallman" should no longer be an excuse for tolerating this behaviour. It casts bad light on the free software community as a whole.
I guess you need to specify what you mean by "tolerate"
If you're saying it's organizationally foolish to let Stallman be the face of the FSF due to his insensitivity... I can see a good argument there.
If you're saying we need to stop "tolerating" nerd insensitivity by condemning them on blogs and refusing to use their software and stuff like that, then I just think that is childish and pointless.
Gosh, I certainly did not mean the latter. I'm ok with Stallman being crude on his own. I am not ok with this behaviour representing the free software movement.
> Nerds are expected to be horrendously, gratuitously crass, offensive and insensitive of people's emotions. This is like being mad that the sky is blue.
Speaking as one of millions of pleasant, sensitive nerds, I find this offensive.
There are socially sensitive nerds, but "pleasant" usually describes their SELF-image, not the view that others have of them.
Usually nerds like you describe are socially anxious and attempt to "take care" of everyone around them by conforming to their expectations and desires. Normal people actually find it exhausting to hang out with socially anxious "nice guy" nerds.
Also, almost all "nice guys" have a lot of repressed anger and rage from trauma in the past. The "nice guys" have repressed it and so are not aware of it, but others see the anger, usually manifesting as cynicism, sarcasm, or passivity.
Anyway true pleasant, sensitive people are rarely also described as nerds. They'd be described as socially comfortable, pleasant, emotionally sensitive, and intelligent.
"Nerd" would not enter the description unless there is some amount of social anxiety, awkwardness, or intense need for external validation.
RMS has never tried to stop anyone from being a more charming and eloquent and popular advocate for free software. No one has volunteered; everyone has chosen to let him lead.
There're arguably several more charming, eloquent, and popular advocates for free software, notably people like Linus Torvalds, Chris DiBona, Brad Fitzpatrick, etc.
And?
It's rms. He's the biggest nerd in the world. Nerds are expected to be horrendously, gratuitously crass, offensive and insensitive of people's emotions.
This is like being mad that the sky is blue. Pointless outrage.