Re: Working for free [was: Offensive variable names]

[Celejar <celejar@gmail.com>]

On Wed, 14 Jul 2021 07:45:08 +0100
Joe <joe@jretrading.com> wrote:

> On Tue, 13 Jul 2021 19:17:37 -0400
> Celejar <celejar@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > On Tue, 13 Jul 2021 21:09:32 +0200
> > Alexandre Garreau <galex-713@galex-713.eu> wrote:
> > 
>  
> > > 
> > > No, they’re not submitted to network effect, Debian is not a social 
> > > network.  Moreover, Debian is non-lucrative.  Currently nobody can
> > > get *power* from it.  
> > 
> > I'm not sure what you mean by non-lucrative, but even though
> > there's no money involved, that does not mean that there's no power.
> > The power to decide what software to include in the distribution and
> > what to exclude is certainly power. Debian has an elaborate
> > constitution, with all kinds of rules, and the organization has
> > considerable power over the distribution. This is similar, in my mind,
> > to the power that an organization like Facebook has over its network.
> > 
> 
> I think in this context that 'power' means power over the real world,
> not just within a medium. It is unlikely that Debian can swing an
> election result. Debian has rules, but not over what people are
> permitted to discuss.

I concur completely with your distinction, and I agree that it's an
important one. The original topic of the conversation, however, was
Github and friends, and I doubt that Github can swing an election
result, either.

Celejar