The dire state of NixOS's moderation culture(github.com)
github.com
The dire state of NixOS's moderation culture
https://github.com/nrdxp/rfc-evidence/blob/master/rfc_evidences_experiences.md
94 comments
As someone with decision making power in a small Canadian robotics firm that occasionally does military work (mostly environmental monitoring), this does make nixos a lot less attractive. The reproducible builds make it very attractive for reliable robotics, but if the nix community is that against me taking money from the military, well that's going to present a whole other set of challenges. Even for the 90% of our work that doesn't involve any potential military use.
> if the nix community is that against me taking money from the military
As far as I understand it, the objection would be if
Surely, the usage of Nix in any domain is a free choice. You can't really police that anyways.
As far as I understand it, the objection would be if
- you were simultaneously a key person in Nix, like a release manager
- your company officially sponsored events that associated Nix with military
- several of your employees were active contributors to core parts of Nix
Surely, the usage of Nix in any domain is a free choice. You can't really police that anyways.
I think the main objection was Anduril sponsoring NixCon, because a lot of people see it as the Nix community advertising a miltech company in exchange for money the foundation doesn't necessarily need.
Correct, there was an open letter [1].
And to clarify above, there was no "contributors of this company" dynamic to the outrage.
"jobs" are things which come and go, not a lot of people are will to burn their personal image for a [potentially] uncaring company. And I'm certainly not one of them either.
[1]: https://nixos-users-against-mic-sponsorship.github.io/
And to clarify above, there was no "contributors of this company" dynamic to the outrage.
"jobs" are things which come and go, not a lot of people are will to burn their personal image for a [potentially] uncaring company. And I'm certainly not one of them either.
[1]: https://nixos-users-against-mic-sponsorship.github.io/
The main problem is
* taking non-anonymous donations, making Nix seem like the extended arm of the military industrial complex
* DetSys being the de-facto nix consultancy due to employing the BDFL, not moving work done / guarantees given (installer, flake stability) back into the foundation and taking money from the same military industrial complex
FOSS is open to everyone and one can't stop people from using it; that doesn't mean the foundation (and it's de-facto corporate arm) need to openly become dependent on military contractors either.
* taking non-anonymous donations, making Nix seem like the extended arm of the military industrial complex
* DetSys being the de-facto nix consultancy due to employing the BDFL, not moving work done / guarantees given (installer, flake stability) back into the foundation and taking money from the same military industrial complex
FOSS is open to everyone and one can't stop people from using it; that doesn't mean the foundation (and it's de-facto corporate arm) need to openly become dependent on military contractors either.
> this does make nixos a lot less attractive
Why should they care? You try to make yourself sound like some kind of important user they should cater to, which is absurd. They don't want you to use it for military stuff, so it's not a big gotcha that someone with "decision making power" (wow!) doesn't want to use it.
Like, most FOSS projects just gets abuse and entitlement from their users, but actually little value from their users. You would be no different, and frankly sound entitled just from the get-go.
Why should they care? You try to make yourself sound like some kind of important user they should cater to, which is absurd. They don't want you to use it for military stuff, so it's not a big gotcha that someone with "decision making power" (wow!) doesn't want to use it.
Like, most FOSS projects just gets abuse and entitlement from their users, but actually little value from their users. You would be no different, and frankly sound entitled just from the get-go.
I personally hope some sort of reasonable policy will come from this whole situation and that the community will be stronger for it. I've seen some discussions over this on Discourse, but the community doesn't seem to be in any state to agree on something like this currently.
Eelco (alongside his co-founder) is Determinate Systems, and their active refusal to answer if they are involved in the military contract likely means they are.
> The sponsorship was eventually pulled, because the on-site video team for the conference (https://c3voc.de/) threatened to pull out on their own over this sponsorship.
This isn't accurate.
Per a summary at the time, https://discourse.nixos.org/t/nixcon-2023-sponsorship-situat...
- c3voc resolved to not redistribute talks from Anduril (or with Anduril branding), but would otherwise cover the event.
- Anduril was withdrawn as a sponsor, since the venue had a policy against military funding (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_clause), and time constraints didn't allow for clarity about whether the event could be held with Anduril as a sponsor.
FWIW, at the time of writing this post, Anduril is a sponsor of Nixcon 2024. https://2024-na.nixcon.org/
This isn't accurate.
Per a summary at the time, https://discourse.nixos.org/t/nixcon-2023-sponsorship-situat...
- c3voc resolved to not redistribute talks from Anduril (or with Anduril branding), but would otherwise cover the event.
- Anduril was withdrawn as a sponsor, since the venue had a policy against military funding (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_clause), and time constraints didn't allow for clarity about whether the event could be held with Anduril as a sponsor.
FWIW, at the time of writing this post, Anduril is a sponsor of Nixcon 2024. https://2024-na.nixcon.org/
people that have a problem with Anduril should really grow up.
This submission link concretely and factually documents the various malfeasances of the NixOS moderation team in the last few months, and is linked from NixOS RFC 175 as supporting evidence:
https://github.com/NixOS/rfcs/pull/175
The two authors of this RFC, shortly after they opened the PR, got banned by the NixOS moderators.
You may join the following Matrix room to discuss the RFC openly, https://app.element.io/#/room/#rfc-175-all-together:matrix.o...
The two authors of this RFC, shortly after they opened the PR, got banned by the NixOS moderators.
You may join the following Matrix room to discuss the RFC openly, https://app.element.io/#/room/#rfc-175-all-together:matrix.o...
Good.
I can't believe some people are upset because other people don't want to take money from a company that specializes in killing people.
I can't believe some people are upset because other people don't want to take money from a company that specializes in killing people.
That's who sponsors safe programming systems. It's why we have Ada.
America is very naturally safe because we're on another continent than everyone else, but eventually if you don't build weapons someone else will and fire them at you.
America is very naturally safe because we're on another continent than everyone else, but eventually if you don't build weapons someone else will and fire them at you.
From this document, it appears something obviously wrong is happening in this community, but as an outsider new to all this, it's very hard to understand what's going on.
The document is very long and I don't really get the structure. It's very hard to make anything of it really. It somewhat makes me suspicious, even. I would write exactly like this if I knew how to do this and had to sidestep an issue. Long, hard to follow stuff filled with words.
Is there a clear summary, an easy-to-follow timeline? (of course these are always going to be presented from one side)
Also,
> Simultaneously, this group, still upset about the failure of RFC 98, is using the myth of fascism combined with an abusive extension of the paradox of tolerance
- What is the myth of fascism?
- What is the abusive extension of the paradox of tolerance?
I get the paradox of tolerance is that you can't really tolerate intolerance or else you'll be eaten. [1]
> The paradox of tolerance states that if a society's practice of tolerance is inclusive of the intolerant, intolerance will ultimately dominate, eliminating the tolerant and the practice of tolerance with them
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance
The document is very long and I don't really get the structure. It's very hard to make anything of it really. It somewhat makes me suspicious, even. I would write exactly like this if I knew how to do this and had to sidestep an issue. Long, hard to follow stuff filled with words.
Is there a clear summary, an easy-to-follow timeline? (of course these are always going to be presented from one side)
Also,
> Simultaneously, this group, still upset about the failure of RFC 98, is using the myth of fascism combined with an abusive extension of the paradox of tolerance
- What is the myth of fascism?
- What is the abusive extension of the paradox of tolerance?
I get the paradox of tolerance is that you can't really tolerate intolerance or else you'll be eaten. [1]
> The paradox of tolerance states that if a society's practice of tolerance is inclusive of the intolerant, intolerance will ultimately dominate, eliminating the tolerant and the practice of tolerance with them
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance
If you want a summary I can give you a really quick one. I've watched this bias, manipulative and corrosive moderating action escalate from the moment the team was created.
I was there arguing against the moderation team when it was first founded because I believe in principles of consent and civility, not compulsion and coersion, which were already starting to manifest themselves in argument for the moderation team to begin with. I was very vocal at the time, but not radical, when I lost I didn't fight it. I just consented and watched as things got worse.
I've watched a lot of people, some who were quite prolific contributors walk away, I've watched extremely well reasoned positions, including some of my own going completely ignored or silenced, and I've watched technical problems that could and should have been addressed by some of these very same people (some of which were actively being worked on previously) go completely stale.
I understand the document is "a lot of words", which I am not necessarily a big fan of either. But we have tried several times to give specific examples of corruption and been shot down, so we felt the only way to show proper cause at this point, that would be impossible to dismiss, would be to compile a much longer and more thorough narrative.
And as it states at the top, it is by no means exhaustive. Only a few months worth of activity in the 4 years or so I've been watching this trainwreck. Also, the last few days have shown us almost and equal if not moreso amount of strife.
I was there arguing against the moderation team when it was first founded because I believe in principles of consent and civility, not compulsion and coersion, which were already starting to manifest themselves in argument for the moderation team to begin with. I was very vocal at the time, but not radical, when I lost I didn't fight it. I just consented and watched as things got worse.
I've watched a lot of people, some who were quite prolific contributors walk away, I've watched extremely well reasoned positions, including some of my own going completely ignored or silenced, and I've watched technical problems that could and should have been addressed by some of these very same people (some of which were actively being worked on previously) go completely stale.
I understand the document is "a lot of words", which I am not necessarily a big fan of either. But we have tried several times to give specific examples of corruption and been shot down, so we felt the only way to show proper cause at this point, that would be impossible to dismiss, would be to compile a much longer and more thorough narrative.
And as it states at the top, it is by no means exhaustive. Only a few months worth of activity in the 4 years or so I've been watching this trainwreck. Also, the last few days have shown us almost and equal if not moreso amount of strife.
It appears the bulk of the actual requested changes are here: https://github.com/NixOS/rfcs/pull/175
When there's stuff like this going on, I don't think it's helpful to try and do a full review of who did what wrong, or what the hypothetical motivations of any of these groups of people are, but instead to just review the actual proposed policy changes.
When there's stuff like this going on, I don't think it's helpful to try and do a full review of who did what wrong, or what the hypothetical motivations of any of these groups of people are, but instead to just review the actual proposed policy changes.
Yes and no.
It's often useful to know the motivation / reason behind a change. Especially a policy change. Maybe the change can subtly enable harmful stuff you don't see coming if you don't have the context around the change.
You also want to know the intents being a change to know if the change actually works towards the intended goal while reviewing. Or else how do you check if the change help?
It would be like a code change that doesn't say what it fixes or add, how do you check it does the right things?
It's often useful to know the motivation / reason behind a change. Especially a policy change. Maybe the change can subtly enable harmful stuff you don't see coming if you don't have the context around the change.
You also want to know the intents being a change to know if the change actually works towards the intended goal while reviewing. Or else how do you check if the change help?
It would be like a code change that doesn't say what it fixes or add, how do you check it does the right things?
The Nix moderation team is woke and they're purging non-woke people from Nix.
The entire thing seems like a takeover attempt partially because of dislike towards Eelco partially due to some peeps being power hungry. First RFC98, now the open letter. Kinda reminds me the ffmpeg/libav situation.
OP is also the one that was banned from nix communities. How did such a childish ban appeal could reach top HN ???
I have no idea. Reddit seems to mostly be on this dude's side too, while most other places I frequent related to Nix do not.
There's certainly a lot to break down, but I'll start with Jon calling the behavior of associating him with Anduril "doxing", when it's literally on his linkedin and his buddies are doing full-name callouts in this supplementary article to RFC 175, or how he starts a reddit thread that he says isn't meant to stir the pot, but then goes on in the comments about being a brave fascist-labeled throught-criminal, when he mostly got banned for being extremely abrasive / concern-trolling alongside injecting himself into every single conversation, including approving the PR that removed person with the 4. most commits leaving due to his employer.
There's certainly a lot to break down, but I'll start with Jon calling the behavior of associating him with Anduril "doxing", when it's literally on his linkedin and his buddies are doing full-name callouts in this supplementary article to RFC 175, or how he starts a reddit thread that he says isn't meant to stir the pot, but then goes on in the comments about being a brave fascist-labeled throught-criminal, when he mostly got banned for being extremely abrasive / concern-trolling alongside injecting himself into every single conversation, including approving the PR that removed person with the 4. most commits leaving due to his employer.
I wonder what will happen if one starts developing, say, a RTOS for cruise missiles in Rust. Will this be controversial enough to destroy the Rust community?
> I wonder what will happen if one starts developing, say, a RTOS for cruise missiles in Rust.
It is already happening and with the help of some known personalities in the Rust community [0].
[0] https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonhoo/
It is already happening and with the help of some known personalities in the Rust community [0].
[0] https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonhoo/
Rust has had at times multiple members of its leadership team employed by Palantir and not imploded, so probably not.
Sheesh. And you can't write a reproducible compiler for Rust either, because every version of rustc was compiled with the previous version. What are the chances there isn't a backdoor?
> What are the chances there isn't a backdoor?
mrustc, an independent implementation, has produced identical output.
> rustc bootstrap tested and validated (1.19.0 isn't fully repeatable, but later versions are)
https://github.com/thepowersgang/mrustc?tab=readme-ov-file#p...
This means you'd have to land the same attack in both mrustc and rustc, making the possibility infinitesimally small.
mrustc, an independent implementation, has produced identical output.
> rustc bootstrap tested and validated (1.19.0 isn't fully repeatable, but later versions are)
https://github.com/thepowersgang/mrustc?tab=readme-ov-file#p...
This means you'd have to land the same attack in both mrustc and rustc, making the possibility infinitesimally small.
These documents always seem so desperate, as if the authors are fighting to defend their families.
I wonder how much of it is because they have over invested in this community versus their local ones.
I wonder how much of it is because they have over invested in this community versus their local ones.
It's always good to see such statements with a poisoned well from the start. I have no investment in any of this, but this looks really like the authors of this are the root issue here.
And I also agree with - what they call - the opponent, that politics should not be forced upon an open-source project. Proclaiming these are fascists, identitarians or otherwise using the Nazi stamp doesn't really help the author's position either.
I'd say this document doesn't belong on HN.
And I also agree with - what they call - the opponent, that politics should not be forced upon an open-source project. Proclaiming these are fascists, identitarians or otherwise using the Nazi stamp doesn't really help the author's position either.
I'd say this document doesn't belong on HN.
>Proclaiming these are fascists, identitarians or otherwise using the Nazi stamp doesn't really help the author's position either.
The document isn't the one saying "fascists", it's criticizing the people throwing that term around.
The document isn't the one saying "fascists", it's criticizing the people throwing that term around.
I must assume that the quotes presented are the best they have on them and the word fascist comes from the author(s). It's just very involved and the author(s) look therefore very bad to be honest.
why must you assume that? there are examples linked, like here https://hachyderm.io/@leftpaddotpy/112248186696362113
remember the so-called """fascists""" being denounced here are just a defense contractor, and by extension anyone who doesn't have a problem with them funding a nix conference.
remember the so-called """fascists""" being denounced here are just a defense contractor, and by extension anyone who doesn't have a problem with them funding a nix conference.
People for whom gender is part of their identity are covertly hostile towards people who don't care. The people that are expelled are never those who have pronouns in their bio's. Respecting (=affirming) gender identity is part of every CoC.
Just a feeling. I have no proof.
Just a feeling. I have no proof.
While I believe one should not put their gender into their identity, the vast majority does, and is also not hostile towards those who don't care, and you can't really ignore gender-related issues and discrimination of current society right now because, while I think it ought not be, gender is a big deal and you can't ignore this.
And, It should go without saying, respecting one's identity is the least we can do, including the gender since it's in there. Except, of course, for horrible stuff, but surely gender is no such thing.
Actually, while I don't care about my gender, if you are not ready to respect my fellow human beings and their identity, I don't really want to have to interact with you.
When you say "not caring", do you mean "Can't be bothered to use pronouns people wish to be referred to" or "don't mind being called with whatever pronoun?" Because the phrasing is ambiguous and two of the possible meanings are radically different things.
And, It should go without saying, respecting one's identity is the least we can do, including the gender since it's in there. Except, of course, for horrible stuff, but surely gender is no such thing.
Actually, while I don't care about my gender, if you are not ready to respect my fellow human beings and their identity, I don't really want to have to interact with you.
When you say "not caring", do you mean "Can't be bothered to use pronouns people wish to be referred to" or "don't mind being called with whatever pronoun?" Because the phrasing is ambiguous and two of the possible meanings are radically different things.
Actually they are hostile if you are non-conforming (not all but many enough that its a problem). This results in the discrimination you speak of.
At this point im not sure if socially constructing your identity is that common outside of your teenage years.
At this point im not sure if socially constructing your identity is that common outside of your teenage years.
So to clarify, you mean cis people caring too much about their gender being hostile towards LGBTQIA+ people / people not caring about their gender and causing discrimination?
then I'm with you, a part of the problem is there.
Actually this doesn't match your first sentence, trans people pretty much care about their gender. I believe only a part of the non conforming people don't care about their gender.
Anecdote but as a cis male not caring about his gender, I never quite felt hostility against me in particular (against the male gender, sure, but I understand this hostility)
then I'm with you, a part of the problem is there.
Actually this doesn't match your first sentence, trans people pretty much care about their gender. I believe only a part of the non conforming people don't care about their gender.
Anecdote but as a cis male not caring about his gender, I never quite felt hostility against me in particular (against the male gender, sure, but I understand this hostility)
No. Read my posts again. I didn't say "cis" or "trans".
I know you didn't but at this point I don't understand what you mean, or I'm really wrong on my interpretation on your use of the "non-conforming" qualifier.
I'm confused by your comments so I'm trying to clarify by making things more explicit.
To me, "non-conforming" here means LGBTQIA+. "cis" is the closest thing to "conforming". "trans" is pretty much "non-conforming". I suspect we are not agreeing on this. What do you mean by "they" and "non-conforming"? If we don't agree on those words, it most likely follows that I don't agree with your following sentence "This results in the discrimination you speak of."
I'm confused by your comments so I'm trying to clarify by making things more explicit.
To me, "non-conforming" here means LGBTQIA+. "cis" is the closest thing to "conforming". "trans" is pretty much "non-conforming". I suspect we are not agreeing on this. What do you mean by "they" and "non-conforming"? If we don't agree on those words, it most likely follows that I don't agree with your following sentence "This results in the discrimination you speak of."
I did not mean "non-conforming" like having a non-conforming identity. I meant "non-conforming" because im ignorant of the expectations of my peers and i transgress their expectations unintentionally. I sort of do not have a mental concept of masculinity and femininity so my transgressions bring no discomfort to me, but to some others.
This is very abstract. An practical example: Answering "How would i know?" to "What are your pronouns?" will get you this kind of covert hostility.
This is very abstract. An practical example: Answering "How would i know?" to "What are your pronouns?" will get you this kind of covert hostility.
Trans people are not usually hostile to someone making genuine mistakes. It becomes an issue if one makes them intentionally, or if one appears to be careless.
It's also ok to ask trans people what are their pronouns. They should be glad most of the time.
About cis people, I don't know. I don't have much experience in the topic. I've never seen anybody misgender a cis person. Sometimes there is a doubt but it's vanishingly rare. It's also uncommon to ask a cis person their pronouns, and I believe a cis person won't expect to be asked this because for them it should be obvious what their gender is, though it would be logical to do so because you are not expected to notice a trans person is trans and some places push for it.
I personally won't explicitly ask pronouns unless absolutely necessary and didn't have the chance to pick the information up passively. I certainly don't need this on the internet.
On the internet, the rule is simple: you should not use a gendered pronoun to refer to someone without checking first. "they" is safer if you don't want to spend time checking their profile and sometimes you just can't know. That's what I do most of the time.
Now, trans or cis, if you keep misgendering the same person, it's a bit like using a wrong name several times with the same person. People don't usually like this. Since gender identity is (unfortunately; my opinion) a big deal in our societies you have no choice to care if you don't want to piss people off. It's general politeness, if you don't want to appear rude, you need to care, remember, etc, just like you need to remember the name. Though forgetting names is quite generally understood and accepted. I'm of people who don't easily remember names at first.
tl;dr: I use "they" on the internet or check the profile. In real life, I try to pick it up and remember the information. It has not happened to me that I misgender someone, but I consider it is fine once but will not make the mistake twice.
It's also ok to ask trans people what are their pronouns. They should be glad most of the time.
About cis people, I don't know. I don't have much experience in the topic. I've never seen anybody misgender a cis person. Sometimes there is a doubt but it's vanishingly rare. It's also uncommon to ask a cis person their pronouns, and I believe a cis person won't expect to be asked this because for them it should be obvious what their gender is, though it would be logical to do so because you are not expected to notice a trans person is trans and some places push for it.
I personally won't explicitly ask pronouns unless absolutely necessary and didn't have the chance to pick the information up passively. I certainly don't need this on the internet.
On the internet, the rule is simple: you should not use a gendered pronoun to refer to someone without checking first. "they" is safer if you don't want to spend time checking their profile and sometimes you just can't know. That's what I do most of the time.
Now, trans or cis, if you keep misgendering the same person, it's a bit like using a wrong name several times with the same person. People don't usually like this. Since gender identity is (unfortunately; my opinion) a big deal in our societies you have no choice to care if you don't want to piss people off. It's general politeness, if you don't want to appear rude, you need to care, remember, etc, just like you need to remember the name. Though forgetting names is quite generally understood and accepted. I'm of people who don't easily remember names at first.
tl;dr: I use "they" on the internet or check the profile. In real life, I try to pick it up and remember the information. It has not happened to me that I misgender someone, but I consider it is fine once but will not make the mistake twice.
You seem to have the right gears in the brain so for you, it's a matter of using the right pronouns and names. The rest fits in naturally.
That isn't the case for everyone, tho.
That isn't the case for everyone, tho.
I think what I suggest works for someone who would struggle with discerning between a male and a female (applicable only to binary people, it should be a non issue for non binary ones).
Just use they. Try to remember the gender when told, but if this is still an issue, use they (for the names, I just find workarounds to not have to mention them when I can help it).
(especially in English that seems more and more current; in French iel is becoming more common but still not very widespread)
Surely people can understand and accept your struggle if you explain what's happening, though again, I never met someone like this knowingly, so I can't be sure how that works.
You're too ahead of your time! :-)
Just use they. Try to remember the gender when told, but if this is still an issue, use they (for the names, I just find workarounds to not have to mention them when I can help it).
(especially in English that seems more and more current; in French iel is becoming more common but still not very widespread)
Surely people can understand and accept your struggle if you explain what's happening, though again, I never met someone like this knowingly, so I can't be sure how that works.
You're too ahead of your time! :-)
I agree. Having this added to CoCs is a method of trying to enforce compliance to a controversial ideology.
Those of us who reject the idea that women and men are to be redefined in terms of "gender identity", and consider this to be a sexist belief system, either have to pretend to hold this view or be excluded from participating.
Those of us who reject the idea that women and men are to be redefined in terms of "gender identity", and consider this to be a sexist belief system, either have to pretend to hold this view or be excluded from participating.
Bunching several concerns together and calling everyone who cares about them the 2024 equivalent of "blue-haired SJW" with some extra transphobia sprinkled in is the opposite of intellectual curiosity.
You could've just not commented.
You could've just not commented.
I intentionally did not do that because its unsubstantial flame.
Do you have a better suggestion on whats going on?
Do you have a better suggestion on whats going on?
srid is mad he got banned for inserting "unwoke everything" into nixos discussions and he saw an opportunity to fight the spectre of social justice (trans people wanting a space where people talking shit about them isn't the status quo) while claiming people supporting the open letter are incapable of honestly caring or contributing to Nix?
sowing(1)
These people want to steer away projects from being involved in the military but these people are also always at war with whoever that does not agree with whatever they currently think.
>These people want to steer away projects from being involved in the military
Then they don't understand what free software is.
Not surprising considering these people are primarily activists and software is merely means of gaining personal power in another space.
Then they don't understand what free software is.
Not surprising considering these people are primarily activists and software is merely means of gaining personal power in another space.
I love how in these current years you can shutdown anything with just simply shouting fascism/nazis. Don’t like
something? They are fascists444
On the same note, its hilarious that right now twitter of all the websites on earth has the best fake news detection mechanism in community notes but it's also the single website everyone wants down. I remember before Elon took over, there were daily hitjobs on facebook but just yesterday people were cheering threads having 150M MAU.
This is exactly what the opponents of CoC-culture warned about: it's a clever rhetorical smokescreen to allow leftist freaks to do power grabs like this. Words like "harm", "inclusive", "community" etc have dual-meanings, one for the clique insiders and another for the outsiders.
And lmao wow, one of the mods involved in this is also a mod at lobste.rs. No wonder the "discussion" there looked so uncanny.
And lmao wow, one of the mods involved in this is also a mod at lobste.rs. No wonder the "discussion" there looked so uncanny.
wrt. Lobsters, check your facts.
- Moderation actions are public on lobsters: https://lobste.rs/moderations
- Irene wasn’t active in that discussion.
- Some of the most upvoted comments were against the moderation clique.
- Moderation actions are public on lobsters: https://lobste.rs/moderations
- Irene wasn’t active in that discussion.
- Some of the most upvoted comments were against the moderation clique.
Irene also wasn't involved in me removing srid's attempted brigading or it being the last straw for his ban.
The author of this article doesn't seem particularly interested in checking facts, they implied some nasty stuff about my actions and motivation without bothering to read the publicly available info or contact me.
The author of this article doesn't seem particularly interested in checking facts, they implied some nasty stuff about my actions and motivation without bothering to read the publicly available info or contact me.
I'm not sure if you realize that people aren't as stupid as you seem to think they are, and they are getting tired of this ridiculous rhetoric, and in this particular case, it is quite provable that you are lying.
We know the game well, pretend you are legitimate at all costs, whether you are telling the truth or not. Well guess what? That doesn't inspire anyone to do anything, and only inflates your ego.
You know what does inspire folks? Being honest, even when you don't have to be. This is about more than just the BS unsubstantiated claim that Srid is somehow a "dangerous person" as so often is dubiously suggested, this is about folks being tired of this garbage already. It is quite ironic, in my view, that the only "crime" srid is commiting is being a part of a different culture. I thought we were all about inclusivity? What happened to that?
Tell the truth, or stfu so those that do can speak, I leave it in your hands. Please and thank you.
We know the game well, pretend you are legitimate at all costs, whether you are telling the truth or not. Well guess what? That doesn't inspire anyone to do anything, and only inflates your ego.
You know what does inspire folks? Being honest, even when you don't have to be. This is about more than just the BS unsubstantiated claim that Srid is somehow a "dangerous person" as so often is dubiously suggested, this is about folks being tired of this garbage already. It is quite ironic, in my view, that the only "crime" srid is commiting is being a part of a different culture. I thought we were all about inclusivity? What happened to that?
Tell the truth, or stfu so those that do can speak, I leave it in your hands. Please and thank you.
There was no attempted brigading. All srid did was post about a tutorial written on nixos.asia, I don’t see any problem in that. I was involved in the thread and it was hexa who posted an off-topic message in the thread. If anyone was in the wrong here, it was you and hexa.
> srid's attempted brigading
Nowhere in the ban log you mentioned "attempted brigading"; rather what you mentioned, as reasons for the ban, was "lots of off-topic stories" & "[using] Lobsters to fight with the NixOS project".
https://twitter.com/sridca/status/1751586246026313906
Neither of which is true, of course, nor can they be proven.
To let the readers judge for themselves, here are my lobste.rs submissions & comments:
https://lobste.rs/~srid/stories
https://lobste.rs/~srid/threads
And here's the submission that got me banned (after a NixOS moderator, Hexa, commented on it so as to derail the submission):
https://archive.is/Z2BU3
https://archive.is/75A7j
Nowhere in the ban log you mentioned "attempted brigading"; rather what you mentioned, as reasons for the ban, was "lots of off-topic stories" & "[using] Lobsters to fight with the NixOS project".
https://twitter.com/sridca/status/1751586246026313906
Neither of which is true, of course, nor can they be proven.
To let the readers judge for themselves, here are my lobste.rs submissions & comments:
https://lobste.rs/~srid/stories
https://lobste.rs/~srid/threads
And here's the submission that got me banned (after a NixOS moderator, Hexa, commented on it so as to derail the submission):
https://archive.is/Z2BU3
https://archive.is/75A7j
Readers can’t judge for themselves because 23 of your comments and 21 of your stories were removed, mostly for abuse. (For context, less than 0.5% of commenters or submitters ever have a single removal.) You received several warnings about picking fights and you’re understandably focused on your fight with Nix but it only happened to be the last one you tried to start on Lobsters. There’s a pattern in your actions that’s why you keep getting rejected by technical communities, and it’s going to keep happening as long as you imagine a conspiracy or political motivation instead of looking at the pattern and taking responsibility for your behavior.
> Readers can’t judge for themselves [..]
Ah, but they can.
> [your fight with Nix] only happened to be the last one you tried to start on Lobsters.
For example, readers can easily verify that this statement is lie by going to that last submission and see that there was no fight (except Hexa himself fighting into the void):
https://archive.is/Z2BU3
https://archive.is/75A7j
So, once again, where is the evidence for your accusations?
(Incidentally, where you say "23 of your comments and 21 of your stories" -- a figure I can't confirm -- I'm sure none of those happened in the last few months or are related to Nix in anyway, as my involvement have exclusively been technical, ergo they are nothing to do with "[using] Lobsters to fight with the NixOS project", and if they were about "lots of off-topic stories" then I would have been banned long time ago.)
Ah, but they can.
> [your fight with Nix] only happened to be the last one you tried to start on Lobsters.
For example, readers can easily verify that this statement is lie by going to that last submission and see that there was no fight (except Hexa himself fighting into the void):
https://archive.is/Z2BU3
https://archive.is/75A7j
So, once again, where is the evidence for your accusations?
(Incidentally, where you say "23 of your comments and 21 of your stories" -- a figure I can't confirm -- I'm sure none of those happened in the last few months or are related to Nix in anyway, as my involvement have exclusively been technical, ergo they are nothing to do with "[using] Lobsters to fight with the NixOS project", and if they were about "lots of off-topic stories" then I would have been banned long time ago.)
>mostly for abuse
The comments are deleted so nobody can verify that it was "abuse". You're basically saying "source: trust me bro".
Back in the day, forums used to put a big fat USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST sticker on bad posts, but keep it around for posterity so people could see for themselves what the fuss was about. I don't like the secrecy of how moderation is done nowadays.
The comments are deleted so nobody can verify that it was "abuse". You're basically saying "source: trust me bro".
Back in the day, forums used to put a big fat USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST sticker on bad posts, but keep it around for posterity so people could see for themselves what the fuss was about. I don't like the secrecy of how moderation is done nowadays.
A explanation is visible to users on each comment and story, mod actions show up in a public log, and the site's source is available for any remaining questions on how things happened. There are users who store everything as it comes in via RSS or mailing list mode and call out mod mistakes as they see them. More broadly, modern moderation systems have evolved in response to the failures of the systems you describe. It's not about secrecy or power, it's about how leaving up abuse had a lot of bad effects that contributed significantly to the decline of platforms like Usenet.
>A explanation is visible to users on each comment and story, mod actions show up in a public log, and the site's source is available for any remaining questions on how things happened. There are users who store everything as it comes in via RSS or mailing list mode and call out mod mistakes as they see them.
None of that means anything if I can't see for myself what the purported infraction was. The most important piece of the puzzle is missing! "It's in the RSS feed" -- oh that's so helpful, I'll be sure to look for that in the locked filing cabinet in the disused lavatory, the one with the sign on the door saying "beware of the leopard".
It's a hallmark of a free and democratic society that criminal and civil proceedings are generally public, when someone is punished, we can easily look up what they were punished for. Obviously software forum arguments aren't as important or dramatic as legal disputes, but we imitate in the small what we admire in the large. It is disturbing to me that one side of this culture war calls itself "democratic", but acts like a Star Chamber.
None of that means anything if I can't see for myself what the purported infraction was. The most important piece of the puzzle is missing! "It's in the RSS feed" -- oh that's so helpful, I'll be sure to look for that in the locked filing cabinet in the disused lavatory, the one with the sign on the door saying "beware of the leopard".
It's a hallmark of a free and democratic society that criminal and civil proceedings are generally public, when someone is punished, we can easily look up what they were punished for. Obviously software forum arguments aren't as important or dramatic as legal disputes, but we imitate in the small what we admire in the large. It is disturbing to me that one side of this culture war calls itself "democratic", but acts like a Star Chamber.
The mod that deleted some* comments (wasn't the one related to NixOS) wrote something, so through the public mod actions, think found the discussion you speak of. Was it** https://lobste.rs/s/0qvtim/open_letter_nixos_foundation? Not what expected based on your comment. Seems most didn't align with the open letter and even bring negative points that hadn't noticed when read it.
*Although comments no longer can see based on previous it was becoming a heated conversation.
**For comparison, open letter discussion in HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40107370
*Although comments no longer can see based on previous it was becoming a heated conversation.
**For comparison, open letter discussion in HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40107370
without commenting on this specific case because TLDR: the same argument could be used in a situation where moderators allow harassment against certain groups in the name of freedom of speech, while moderating harassment against others.
moderation is prone to power plays no matter which angle you approach it with.
moderation is prone to power plays no matter which angle you approach it with.
"clever"
There’s always Guix.
I'd love to try it, but they're super-hostile to running on a Mac.
Not hostile. We just can't do it. There is no free toolchain for Mac. So we'd have to arbitrarily cut the trust graph and graft it on top of a huge blob of a proprietary toolchain and set of system libraries. That's like building a completely new distribution. Since I'm not using macos and have no interest in committing my own money to keep paying for freedom restricting software to provide a service that would earn the label "supported" there's no way I'm going to make that effort.
That's really more of a "won't", than a "can't".
Sure, it would be impure, and not top-to-bottom reproducible, and you don't personally have to do it. But it's a choice to avoid a compromise, not an impossibility precluded by the laws of math or anything.
Regardless, I no longer really sympathize with Free software's concept of a "freedom" that results in either (1) obscure purity, or (2) benefits large corporations at the expense of the rest of us.
RMS was economically naive, despite his counter-cultural leanings; I can't help but wonder what Free software would have looked like if he'd imagined the likes of MS/Amazon getting rich off it while creators get a pittance. We can't all have free-floating MIT jobs.
Sure, it would be impure, and not top-to-bottom reproducible, and you don't personally have to do it. But it's a choice to avoid a compromise, not an impossibility precluded by the laws of math or anything.
Regardless, I no longer really sympathize with Free software's concept of a "freedom" that results in either (1) obscure purity, or (2) benefits large corporations at the expense of the rest of us.
RMS was economically naive, despite his counter-cultural leanings; I can't help but wonder what Free software would have looked like if he'd imagined the likes of MS/Amazon getting rich off it while creators get a pittance. We can't all have free-floating MIT jobs.
Well, there's nobody blocking the work. If not I then surely somebody would personally have to do it. And it's akin to building a completely separate distribution on top of a different foundation, so we could only superficially reuse existing infrastructure.
I'm writing my comments in the first person, because I have actually made the effort to investigate this in the past, more than once.
This is precious little to do with some kind of abstract purity. Hell, I've packaged Tensorflow and CUDA crap, which is as far removed from purity as it gets.
It gets a little tiring to read about values that are projected onto Guix, that I can't find in my own work.
I'm writing my comments in the first person, because I have actually made the effort to investigate this in the past, more than once.
This is precious little to do with some kind of abstract purity. Hell, I've packaged Tensorflow and CUDA crap, which is as far removed from purity as it gets.
It gets a little tiring to read about values that are projected onto Guix, that I can't find in my own work.
> that I can't find in my own work
But you're not the spokesperson for Guix, are you?
A quick search of GUIX mailing lists turned up this thread from 2017.
From [Chris Marusich](https://narkive.com/BnGNBXUh.7):
> I don't want to use Guix on macOS to package, promote, or make it easy to use non-free software.
Interestingly, that entire thread is a good faith exploration of what it would take to run Guix on mac at the time, but they conclude that there's no Free Software way to bootstrap the entire process, and rule it out. They consider toolchains, compilers, emulators, VMs, Docker, etc. but not starting with XCode.
Which is fine! Guix simply has different values and makes different choices.
You repeatedly say "can't", but given how Guix shares DNA with nix, which has done it on a mac, I'm a bit dubious about any technical infeasibility.
But you're not the spokesperson for Guix, are you?
A quick search of GUIX mailing lists turned up this thread from 2017.
From [Chris Marusich](https://narkive.com/BnGNBXUh.7):
> I don't want to use Guix on macOS to package, promote, or make it easy to use non-free software.
Interestingly, that entire thread is a good faith exploration of what it would take to run Guix on mac at the time, but they conclude that there's no Free Software way to bootstrap the entire process, and rule it out. They consider toolchains, compilers, emulators, VMs, Docker, etc. but not starting with XCode.
Which is fine! Guix simply has different values and makes different choices.
You repeatedly say "can't", but given how Guix shares DNA with nix, which has done it on a mac, I'm a bit dubious about any technical infeasibility.
> But you're not the spokesperson for Guix, are you?
I used to be co-maintainer and I'm working close to full time on Guix. I also happen to have worked on Guix on Mac before; in fact I'm involved in the very mailing list thread you dug up.
We are familiar with the way Nix does it on Mac, but I won't repeat my assessment here. Doing it with XCode and adding an arbitrary cut to the graph would get us to something that resembles Guix only in uninteresting ways.
I used to be co-maintainer and I'm working close to full time on Guix. I also happen to have worked on Guix on Mac before; in fact I'm involved in the very mailing list thread you dug up.
We are familiar with the way Nix does it on Mac, but I won't repeat my assessment here. Doing it with XCode and adding an arbitrary cut to the graph would get us to something that resembles Guix only in uninteresting ways.
Guix focuses on free software, not on general usability.
Free software ensures long-term usability.
Last time I tried it was unusably slow
And they actually do full source bootstrapping and signing.
"far-left identitarian" - what's that even supposed to mean, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identitarian_movement is defined as "far-right ethno-nationalism".
"left-wing ethno-nationalism" is an oxymoron.
"left-wing ethno-nationalism" is an oxymoron.
They are trying to "both sides" alt-right extremism in order to make it look more palatable to shift the Overton window further right.
On the subject of nonsense re-definitions, you might enjoy this comic: https://existentialcomics.com/comic/289
> This is a GitHub web page for the repository "rfc-evidence" owned by user "nrdxp". The page contains the file "rfc_evidences_experiences.md" which is part of the repository's master branch. The page includes various HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files that are used to render the GitHub user interface. The page provides metadata about the repository, such as the description, analytics, and social media sharing information. Overall, this appears to be a standard GitHub repository page for a project called "rfc-evidence".
Time saved: 171 minutes.
Thanks Kagi-search summarizer....
Time saved: 171 minutes.
Thanks Kagi-search summarizer....
Did you notice your AI didn't speak at all about the content and only provided obvious info that you get at a glance when loading the page? For the tiny relevant part of the summary anyway.
But I suspect no AI will be able to provide correct understanding of this, we are sorely lacking context here.
Also, you guys providing LLM generated stuff in HN comment keep convincing me I should not invest time in this stuff.
"this page provides HTML and CSS to render GitHub's UI", no joke.
(edit: fixed IA -> AI)
But I suspect no AI will be able to provide correct understanding of this, we are sorely lacking context here.
Also, you guys providing LLM generated stuff in HN comment keep convincing me I should not invest time in this stuff.
"this page provides HTML and CSS to render GitHub's UI", no joke.
(edit: fixed IA -> AI)
The punchline to that was "178 minutes saved", and that the "IA" wasn't able to provide any useful information out of it.
If you're not familiar with these tools, that is very abnormal output for one of them. Normally they'd be able to provide a reasonable summary for all of this.
So taken in that context, the subtext is "is this worth any of our time"?
I did link directly to the RFC in another comment, which I think is more worth people's time.
If you're not familiar with these tools, that is very abnormal output for one of them. Normally they'd be able to provide a reasonable summary for all of this.
So taken in that context, the subtext is "is this worth any of our time"?
I did link directly to the RFC in another comment, which I think is more worth people's time.
Ok, so you just meant you believe there's nothing interesting in there? Because I believe it would be easier to understand phrased this way instead of putting a LLM-generated summary in the middle, and maybe would somewhat invite you to say why you think this.
Many people first degree post clueless LLM-generated stuff indistinguishable from your comment as-is.
Many people first degree post clueless LLM-generated stuff indistinguishable from your comment as-is.
From what I could gather, the main factor that led the community to this point is Anduril's involvement in the community. Anduril is a miltech company and a contractor of the USA DoD. It looks like they use Nix extensively to train ML models and deploy combat drones, and several of their employees have very close ties to the Nix community; Jon Ringer (an Anduril employee, who is mentioned several times in this document) has recently been a release manager for three versions of NixOS, and was nominated to become a release manager for the upcoming 24.05 release.
Anduril wanted to sponsor NixCon last year because of this deep involvement in the community. I was not there to see it, but from what I've seen lately, many members of the community were not happy about it. The sponsorship was eventually pulled, because the on-site video team for the conference (https://c3voc.de/) threatened to pull out on their own over this sponsorship.
From my understanding there has been no official decision taken over Anduril's sponsorship since last year's debacle. Many people in the community think that this is because Eelco Dolstra, the creator and de-facto BDFL of Nix, is currently employed by Determinate Systems, which is rumored to have a contract with Anduril.
Edit: I just want to make it clear that I don't agree with what is presented in this document. I just wanted to present an overview of what, from my perspective, happened up to this point.