Drew DeVault has officially lost it [LWN.net]

Drew DeVault has officially lost it

Posted Jan 29, 2025 15:41 UTC (Wed) by notriddle (subscriber, #130608)
In reply to: Drew DeVault has officially lost it by smurf
Parent article: FOSDEM keynote causes concerns

You're not answering the actual question. Which one do you do?

1. Investigate the finances of anyone giving a talk at FOSDEM, to make sure they aren't a billionaire?

2. Allow billionaires to give talks at FOSDEM?

3. Accept the hypocrisy of "not allowing" billionaires to give talks at FOSDEM without actually checking?

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Drew DeVault has officially lost it

Posted Jan 29, 2025 22:19 UTC (Wed) by smurf (subscriber, #17840) [Link]

None of the above. The primary question isn't whether some billionaire or other should get the keynote slot, the question is whether their talk (and/or keynote) has enough I'll-go-to-FOSDEM-because-of-this merit to be there in the first place. Which I kindof doubt at this point.

*Then* if I were to decide this I'd balance that merit against the fact that Jack D. has a heap of other venues to spread his opinions around the globe (some of which he sold to a certain somewhat-decent-guy-turned-alt-right-fanatic who shall not be named here), and thus more weight should probably be given to people who don't.

The consideration that mayyybe speakers and/or organizations with more money than most people can even comprehend should be expected to contribute some of that to the event they wish to participate in … well it's in there too but personally I'd put it firmly in third place.