Re: Proposal for an Emacs User Survey

[Richard Stallman]

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[[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies,     ]]]
[[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]

  > > We could turn this argument around and ask why the developers who
  > > maintain MELPA don't remove `2-3' packages that promote non-free
  > > software.

  > I sincerely hope it doesn't happen. Those packages might rely on
  > non-free software, but they are still packages that some users find
  > valuable or even vital, and that they would want to find somewhere
  > else if not available on Melpa. Removing them from Melpa would only
  > move the "problem".

I think you have picked up your values (your basis of judging what is
good or bad) from what most people think, and that you took for granted
we have the same values.  But we don't.

The goal of the GNU Project is not simply "to help users."  It is to
help users _escape from nonfree software_ (des logiciels pas libres), and
ultimately to build a world where all software is free.  Nonfree
software is an injustice -- nonfree software subjugates users.
Our goal is to _eradicate it_.

See https://gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html
and fsf.org/tedx for explanation of these ideas.

Suppose that a user finds some nonfree software because a Melpa
package refers to it.  Suppose the user considers that nonfree
software very useful.  What should we say about that?

You, thinking based on your values, seem to consider that a good
thing.  You draw the conclusion that it would be unfortunate if Melpa
deleted the Lisp package which refers to that nonfree program.

We, based on the values we have followed since the 1980s say that it
is bad that someone is using a nonfree program, that we wish the
nonfree program did not exist, and that we hope someone will liberate
its users soon by developing a free replacement for it.  We would
be very glad if Melpa deleted that Lisp package.

If user A says, "I really like nonfree program X," my guess is that
you would say, "I am glad you like it."  If A had found out about X
from you, you might feel proud to have "helped".

We would say, "How sad, one step backwards away from freedom."  If A
had found out about X from us, we would say, "Oops!  An own-goal!
What did we do wrong, and how can we make sure we don't do it again?"

We tend to expect that people joining in GNU Project discussion lists
are familiar with the basic ideas and values of the GNU Project.  But
this is not always the case.  It would be good if we could recognize
this sooner and educate people about the basic ideas of the GNU
Project sooner.

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)