Eelco Dolstra steps down from NixOS Foundation board

Posted May 6, 2024 20:15 UTC (Mon) by rgmoore (✭ supporter ✭, #75)
In reply to: Eelco Dolstra steps down from NixOS Foundation board by atnot
Parent article: Eelco Dolstra steps down from NixOS Foundation board

I think the issue is mostly about external politics rather than partisan politics specifically. How do you even define partisan politics for a group where not everyone is part of the same political system? What people who complain about politics seem to be unhappy about is issues they see as outside the scope of their project intruding. They like to see their project as a refuge from the outside world and get annoyed when that outside world intrudes. The question of whether NixOS should be tightly aligned with Anduril seems like a good example. It isn't explicitly partisan, but it's definitely an example of the non-software world intruding into a mostly technical project.

I think this makes complaints about "politics" more understandable. It is annoying when concerns external to whatever you're working on interfere; it makes everything that much more complicated. That said, I agree that criticism of topics as "political" is often used to shut down uncomfortable discussions.

Eelco Dolstra steps down from NixOS Foundation board

Posted May 6, 2024 20:44 UTC (Mon) by atnot (subscriber, #124910) [Link] (1 responses)

Personally, I don't find the subject of discrimination at all external to my participation in a community. It is in fact pretty hard to ignore such things when they happen to you. Nor do I have any desire to be in a community where existing requires me to actively ignore such things. But I understand you may be in a more luxurious position there.

I also have to say I'm struggling to sympathize with the plight of someone being reminded that minorities exist while coding. I'm reminded of them pretty regularly and I don't find that particularly distressing myself. Even for people who's right to exist is highly politicized. But you may differ of course.

Eelco Dolstra steps down from NixOS Foundation board

Posted May 6, 2024 21:58 UTC (Mon) by rgmoore (✭ supporter ✭, #75) [Link]

I hope I didn't sound dismissive of people who are mistreated because of who they are. I agree that the way the project treats its members is a core governance issue and is absolutely not a matter of external politics intruding. It's a great example of people using "let's not talk about politics" as a way of shutting down discussions they want to avoid. I thought about using it as an example but foolishly decided it would just stir up trouble.