• ram
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    1 year ago

    I mean, dude’s not CEO, he doesn’t control the instances. He does own a very large instance, but I don’t think it’s even the most dominant instance post-redditting.

    I disagree with his views, though I will admit to some sympathy on some aspects (not the genocide stuff), but ultimately, he’s just a dude who makes this software. He doesn’t own it, he doesn’t have a monopoly on its control, and really, the entirety of the Fediverse could, if he went full Huff, say “fuck you” and defederate his instance. That’s the power of a distributed service. Heck, your own instance, kbin.social, could lemmy.ml at any time and it’d have little impact overall.

    Even were I to concede to him being “Huffman-like” (which I do not agree with), I don’t think he’s actually relevant enough in the real-world usage of the software to care about as far as that goes.

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      1 year ago

      Having gotten involved a bit over the last week, I think he’s generally a good guy. I disagree with his politics, but none of that has anything to do with software development. He writes good code, and when he’s not overwhelmed with nonsense, he’s quite helpful.

      There’s another major dev, but I don’t know anything about him. I think they just want to build a cool tool that they can use to provide a safe space for discussion, and they want to make that available to others as well. That’s pretty cool, and that’s something I can support.

      • ram
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        1 year ago

        Ya, I don’t have any personal interactions with him and am withholding real judgement without. Even his politics, it’s hard for me to really condemn him when I don’t even know the lens he’s viewing things through. End of the day, I’m taking a best guess based on a few (3?) instances where he’s ever been recorded saying something that’s shit.

        But also, even the worst tankie’s better than the best right winger, any day.

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          1 year ago

          Eh, I consider myself to be the opposite of both politically, but I have no problem contributing to FOSS projects lead by either. But I agree in general, I’ve had better luck with socialists than fascists when it comes to FOSS.

          • TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            I am not offensive when I say this, but I think you will treat socialists as a lot more friendly when you stop being bombarded with and/or consuming media that propagates Cold War McCarthyist crap. We live in very turbulent and toxic times, and I think if you can see some light now, you could make it to the end of this tunnel.

          • GarbageShootAlt2@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            Slightly contra- the other user that responded to you, I need to ask: You’ve spoken with rightwingers before, right? Most westerners have had the “privilege” at least a few times to allow such people to speak for themselves. Have you ever had an even slightly comparable interaction with a “tankie” where they also got to speak for themselves, rather than be told about what they believe third-hand?

              • GarbageShootAlt2@lemmy.ml
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                1 year ago

                I’m an ML too, they aren’t rare here, but extended dialogue between liberals and MLs is rare from what I’ve seen (though not totally unheard of). Usually the liberals are either very avoidant or combative (and sometimes the MLs get pretty combative too, tbf), which prevents there being any kind of understanding. between speakers.

                • Red Army Dog Cooper@lemmy.ml
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  Oh I am so sorry, I miss understood what you where saying, in that case 100% agree with you, liberals are both more likely to talk to a right winger and to hear them out.

                  • GarbageShootAlt2@lemmy.ml
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    ·
                    1 year ago

                    No worries :) Yeah, I think the main thing is just that an open Marxist is really rare in western society outside of some academic spheres (which is, uh, not always a glowing recommendation, and there are many more anti-marxists there anyway) so we just don’t “really exist” in a neoliberal’s personal experience and therefore can be written off without consequence in their view.

    • GarbageShootAlt2@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      though I will admit to some sympathy on some aspects (not the genocide stuff)

      I mean, no one is supporting a genocide or speaking in favor of one, and the US has a documented history of using atrocity propaganda that is completely without basis. Probably the most powerful thing about that particular genre of slander is that it is taboo to denounce it for fear of looking like a “denialist” in the manner of a Holocaust denier, allowing the west to cynically exploit the generational trauma of a genocide it subsidized in order to degrade the reputations of its opponents on the imperial periphery.