<story><title>Richard M. Stallman resigns</title><url>https://www.fsf.org/news/richard-m-stallman-resigns</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>nabla9</author><text>RMS has called himself &amp;quot;borderline autistic&amp;quot;.  His socially clueless black and white thinking makes it look like he is  far in the spectrum.  RMS is anal about meanings of terms and their use. That&amp;#x27;s not working well in the current climate where words carry perceived intent. I find myself agreeing with RMS with most of the terminology and its use in this case. Women who tell stories about him paint a picture of  lonely socially incompetent man who makes super creepy attempts to connect opposite sex.&lt;p&gt;I have worked in jobs where there have been very strange creepy people, both women and men. Some are angry and tense. Some are odd and talk restless or slightly disturbing stuff that make everyone  uncomfortable. But if they do their work well they can stay. Others give them some room. It&amp;#x27;s called tolerance.&lt;p&gt;If RMS was just random superhacker doing his thing. I would defend him. His boss should find a position for him where he can contribute and other people should feel free to feel uncomfortable and avoid him.&lt;p&gt;But RMS is de facto leader and public figure in  movement that is also political. He does not deserve the same level of consideration as normal HR headache would. Even if everything against him would be completely unjust, there is no requirement for just treatment for top leaders. They can be sacked for any reason whatsoever.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>kelnos</author><text>Can we please stop excusing bad behavior with some form of &amp;quot;oh because autism&amp;quot;?  It&amp;#x27;s an insult to the many, many neuro-atypical people who don&amp;#x27;t say shitty, stupid things online, who don&amp;#x27;t act creepy around women, who don&amp;#x27;t have a sign on their MIT office that says &amp;quot;Knight for Justice (Also: Hot Ladies)&amp;quot;, who don&amp;#x27;t have a gross mattress in their office where they encourage people to lie topless, who don&amp;#x27;t try to pressure women into dating them by saying they&amp;#x27;ll kill themselves otherwise.  All of those things describe RMS, things that have been mostly quietly ignored and hand-waved away for decades.&lt;p&gt;We don&amp;#x27;t have to tolerate people who make women feel unsafe and unwelcome in our (or any) industry.&lt;p&gt;You seem to be arguing the usual tired old thing: &amp;quot;but he&amp;#x27;s a genius and does such great work that we should tolerate the bad things he does&amp;quot;.  I &lt;i&gt;really&lt;/i&gt; thought we&amp;#x27;d started to move past that over the last few years.</text></comment>
<story><title>Richard M. Stallman resigns</title><url>https://www.fsf.org/news/richard-m-stallman-resigns</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>nabla9</author><text>RMS has called himself &amp;quot;borderline autistic&amp;quot;.  His socially clueless black and white thinking makes it look like he is  far in the spectrum.  RMS is anal about meanings of terms and their use. That&amp;#x27;s not working well in the current climate where words carry perceived intent. I find myself agreeing with RMS with most of the terminology and its use in this case. Women who tell stories about him paint a picture of  lonely socially incompetent man who makes super creepy attempts to connect opposite sex.&lt;p&gt;I have worked in jobs where there have been very strange creepy people, both women and men. Some are angry and tense. Some are odd and talk restless or slightly disturbing stuff that make everyone  uncomfortable. But if they do their work well they can stay. Others give them some room. It&amp;#x27;s called tolerance.&lt;p&gt;If RMS was just random superhacker doing his thing. I would defend him. His boss should find a position for him where he can contribute and other people should feel free to feel uncomfortable and avoid him.&lt;p&gt;But RMS is de facto leader and public figure in  movement that is also political. He does not deserve the same level of consideration as normal HR headache would. Even if everything against him would be completely unjust, there is no requirement for just treatment for top leaders. They can be sacked for any reason whatsoever.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Scarblac</author><text>Well, he started the movement and got it very far, with the dominant OS using his foundation&amp;#x27;s license. Despite his limitations. There is no one in the movement who should have the authority to sack him.&lt;p&gt;But, he resigned himself. This is moot.</text></comment>