Who controls glibc? [LWN.net]

Who controls glibc?

Posted May 18, 2018 6:29 UTC (Fri) by HelloWorld (guest, #56129)
In reply to: Who controls glibc? by mjg59
Parent article: Who controls glibc?

The point is: if somebody can't handle this sort of joke, they are not human beings capable of functioning in a free society. A society where you can't make political jokes - whether it's because you'll be locked up like in the country I was born in, or because you risk societal death for triggering some crybaby - is not a free society. The problem is that by purging this kind of silly little thing you're establishing an atmosphere that will prevent people from making jokes (or even serious statements) that would actually *not* affect anyone negatively out of sheer fear that they might and that they'll be judged for that.

In fact I would argue that that is already happening in the US, especially on campus. And you have yet to prove that the joke has *actually* negatively impacted anyone.

Who controls glibc?

Posted May 18, 2018 7:15 UTC (Fri) by karkhaz (subscriber, #99844) [Link] (4 responses)

> A society where you can't make political jokes - whether it's because you'll be locked up like in the country I was born in, or because you risk societal death for triggering some crybaby

Nobody suggested either of the above consequences happen to rms. Although I recall various other incidents that I suppose you're referring to, where a developer was pilloried for making offensive comments, this is not one of them. The only "punishment" here is the removal of the joke from the manual.

> by purging this kind of silly little thing you're establishing an atmosphere that will prevent people from making jokes

In this case, I don't see much evidence that anybody is calling for censorship of abortion jokes anywhere outside the technical reference. This was a patch to remove the joke from the manual, not a mandate to prevent rms from making these jokes on his own spare time.

> The point is: if somebody can't handle this sort of joke

The strongest argument I've heard from removing this from the manual isn't that some people cannot "handle" the joke, that it is offensive, or anything of the sort. Rather, it's a totally inappropriate comment to have in a technical manual.

(Somewhat contrived) analogy: suppose that in the documentation for posix_spawn, rms had written a snarky cartouche about his favourite restaurant for eating caviar. Totally uncontroversial, nobody gets offended. But the comment ought to be removed on exactly the same grounds as the abortion one: it doesn't belong in a technical manual, and the vast majority of readers didn't ask to be belaboured with rms's sense of humor.

Who controls glibc?

Posted May 18, 2018 9:35 UTC (Fri) by HelloWorld (guest, #56129) [Link] (3 responses)

> Rather, it's a totally inappropriate comment to have in a technical manual.
I disagree with that notion. I don't see anything wrong with having a joke in a technical manual.

Who controls glibc?

Posted May 18, 2018 23:10 UTC (Fri) by anselm (subscriber, #2796) [Link] (2 responses)

I don't have a problem with jokes in a technical manual but I prefer it if the jokes are actually funny.

Who controls glibc?

Posted May 19, 2018 9:17 UTC (Sat) by HelloWorld (guest, #56129) [Link] (1 responses)

OK, suppose there was an absolutely hilarious joke about US abortion laws in the glibc manual. Would you support that?

Who controls glibc?

Posted May 19, 2018 10:26 UTC (Sat) by anselm (subscriber, #2796) [Link]

OK, let me rephrase that. I have no problem with jokes in a technical manual as long as the jokes are actually funny and are about the technical subject matter at hand.

This would exclude jokes about US abortion laws, however hilarious, in the glibc manual because the connection – via the word “abort” – is pretty tenuous at best and may not even work in translation (both because the target language may not use the same vocabulary, and because the legal situation around abortion may be different so the “joke” is not funny at all). It would also exclude political propaganda camouflaging as lame jokes in general. The reason for this is that when you're trying to be entertaining in a technical manual, it is best to do that in a way that, as far as possible, all readers of the manual will find enjoyable, not just the ones who happen to agree with your politics.