Re: Proposal for an Emacs User Survey

[Marcel Ventosa]

On Fri, 16 Oct 2020 15:17:16 +0300
Dmitry Gutov <dgutov@yandex.ru> wrote:

> Do you think the "mockery" is entirely without merit?

Yes, and I think mockery precludes understanding, particularly as we
are dealing with a thoughtful man and a well developed and time tested
philosophy, successfully put into practice against the odds.

> ignore a project that has done a lot to popularize Emacs over the years.

I fail to understand the narrative that pushes popularity over all else.
What would be the use of making Emacs the most popular editor if it
discarded the philosophy that brought it about?

I've noticed a trend of speaking about Emacs and other free software
projects as if they were "commodities" and "products," but as I see
them, it is precisely because they are community driven projects that
they are not "commodities" or "products".

> I think it's both insulting to its developers, and stinks of thought 
> police. Far from the idea of user freedom I hope to expect from GNU and FSF.

You are conflating freedom, as in the freedom to do whatever you want,
with software freedom as defined by GNU, which succintly means that
users have the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and
improve software. 

I don't understand how refusing to draw attention to a repository that
recommends proprietary software turns anyone into the "thought police".

I see no reason why the GNU project or the FSF should raise awareness of
solutions that go against their founding philosophy, except to raise
awareness to its dangers.

Further up the list, I read RMS suggesting mentioning MELPA with a
disclaimer and warning about its use. 

In fact, one of the most worrying aspects of this survey idea, as I see
it, is the suggested use of non-free Javascript to implement it.

> it is unfortunate how Emacs leadership does little to follow the 
> external, "unofficial" polls.

What do you mean by this?