Main reason to disapprove public shamings on GNU and Guix pages is the purpose to encourage contributions by everybody without discrimination, see: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/kind-communication.en.html
Quote: ====== Purpose The GNU Project encourages contributions from anyone who wishes to advance the development of the GNU system, regardless of gender, race, ethnic group, physical appearance, religion, cultural background, and any other demographic characteristics, as well as personal political views. There are some references to teach and educate people on what is exactly public shamings, and there are referenced reasons why such shall be avoided by any current or future GNU governance hierarchy. Since the Guix leaders initiated public shamings of Stallman on their Guix pages, it is evident that some people were discouraged from further contributions to Guix. One can review logs and see that some of them are way to careful in communication and my impression is that they are discouraged and less dare to communicate. Excerpt from Guix IRC log from http://logs.guix.gnu.org/guix/2019-10-07.log <quiliro> I will not retire from gnu...just from signer's projects...and convince all my contacts too and <superkuh> You guys are actually buying into this media circus? <superkuh> Shameful. and <quiliro> well, it hurt Guix...I am leaving...that is not hypothetical and maybe one other person from: http://logs.guix.gnu.org/guix/2019-10-08.log <rain2> if guix cares so much about inclusion why did you let thaht guy bully me off of contributing for helping somebody set up gnu linux libre and <dkorzhevin> Hilarious is that "Joint statement on the GNU Project" listed on subproject page and <dkorzhevin>I can't recall that guix represents "GNU Project" <dkorzhevin> https://www.change.org/p/the-gnu-project-action-proposal-to-joint-statement-on-the-gnu-project-485e8f9a-1505-40c0-89b4-582a4f0e8288 If we guide ourselves with the purpose: Purpose The GNU Project encourages contributions from anyone who wishes to advance the development of the GNU system, regardless of gender, race, ethnic group, physical appearance, religion, cultural background, and any other demographic characteristics, as well as personal political views. then some of those people would not be discouraged to contribute to Guix. References: The shame of public shaming https://theconversation.com/the-shame-of-public-shaming-57584 Quote from above link: "Public shaming is not new. It’s been used as a punishment in all societies – often embraced by the formal law and always available for day-to-day policing of moral norms. However, over the past couple of centuries, Western countries have moved away from more formal kinds of shaming, partly in recognition of its cruelty. Jon Ronson explores some of the darker sides of public shaming. Pan Macmillan Even in less formal settings, shaming individuals in front of their peers is now widely regarded as unacceptable behaviour. This signifies an improvement in the moral milieu, but its effect is being offset by the rise of social media and, with it, new kinds of shaming. Indeed, as Welsh journalist and documentary maker Jon Ronson portrays vividly in his latest book, social media shaming has become a social menace. Ronson’s So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed (Picador, 2015) is a timely contribution to the public understanding of an emotionally charged topic. Shaming is on the rise. We’ve shifted – much of the time – to a mode of scrutinising each other for purity. Very often, we punish decent people for small transgressions or for no real transgressions at all. Online shaming, conducted via the blogosphere and our burgeoning array of social networking services, creates an environment of surveillance, fear and conformity." Online shaming, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_shaming Quote from the above link: "without wanting intended public broadcast using technology like social and new media. Proponents of shaming see it as a form of online participation that allows hacktivists and cyber-dissidents to right injustices. Critics see it as a tool that encourages online mobs to destroy the reputation and careers of people or organizations who made perceived slights.[1] Online shaming frequently involves the publication of private information on the Internet (called doxing), which can frequently lead to hate messages and death threats being used to intimidate that person. The ethics of public humiliation has been a source of debate over privacy and ethics." The price of public shaming in the Internet age https://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/16/living/feat-public-shaming-ronson/index.html Quote from the above link: "It's so corrosive to create that kind of society," Ronson said in a phone interview. "This desire we have to be like amateur detectives, (looking for) clues into people's inherent evil by finding the worst tweet they ever wrote, is not only wrong; it's damaging." Father James Martin, the editor-at-large of America magazine and a Roman Catholic priest, observes that what starts out as disapproval ends up "as a complete shaming of the person." The biblical admonition of "an eye for an eye," after all, was a way to describe proportionate justice, not go overboard. The new shaming is much more relentless. "There's a real cruelty that comes with this mob mentality," he said. "I sometimes compare it to bullies in a schoolyard all ganging up on person who, for one second, said the wrong thing." Public Shaming Is Out Of Control, And It’s Hurting All Of Us, by Christine Organ: https://www.scarymommy.com/public-shaming-hurting-us/ Quote from the above link: Public shaming is out of control, y’all. And the ones who suffer the most are the kids. Remember the story about the 13-year-old girl who committed suicide after her father recorded a video of him cutting off her hair as a punishment? Or what about the mom from South Carolina who made her son walk around Walmart wearing a tutu and a women’s undergarment with the word “bad” written on his shaved head? A few weeks ago I heard about a mom who not only made her kids give away all their toys but took a photo of their sad little faces next to piles discarded toys and posted it to Facebook asking for likes and shares. And recently a video went viral after some guy decided to publicly shame two parents for leaving their baby in their restaurant booth while they went to the buffet. Part of me wonders what the hell these public shamers are thinking. The head-shaving video or the photos of kids holding signs listing the details of their various “sins” are over the line and cruel. And part of me tries to understand why people are driven to share private mistakes in very public ways. I suspect the parents are desperate, confused, and willing to try anything to keep their kids in line. I don’t agree with this kind of discipline, but I don’t necessarily think they intend to harm their children either. My final comment on public shamings withing GNU project: It is injust and cruel to use the RMS's statements from the private mailing list, such as those from MIT, not related to GNU project, and then use media accusations to cause damage to GNU project by calling-out RMS to step down. It is even ridiculous to misuse RMS's statements which purpose was to point out to inflated accusations and bad journalism to inflate accusations against RMS in his own web and communication space of GNU. Few of current GNU maintainers, in Guix community could find it justified and started public shamings campaign on Guix pages. That is uncalled for. That is not kind and not manner and spirit of the GNU project. I do not know how to tell that more kindly, it is necessary to say so. Public shamings and inflated accusations including any kind of other politics shall be disallowed by current and future GNU governance and any persons that have power to govern it, even if not under official position. Jean
