talks_to_birds's Journal: Groklaw, and Free as in Speech

Having been on /. for what is now quite a while (although not posting very often for various reasons), and having been on Groklaw as talks_to_birds roughly since mid-winter, I thought maybe this might be a good forum to express my growing concerns about what's been going on at Groklaw, regarding:

1. censorship
2. intolerance
3. a group-think, shark-attack mentality
4. and the cult-of-personality that's grown up around Pamela Jones, and that is the cause of 1) 2) and 3), above.
   
   IMHO, of course...

OK: so, at this point, to establish some sort of cred as to having been an active contributor to The Cause® at Groklaw, and not just your random poster there, here's what I've done so far:

http://www.finchhaven.com/TSCOG/index.html

Particularly, I've done an extended breakdown of the (http://www.finchhaven.com/TSCOG/APA_analysis.html) APA and Amendment No. 2 which are what *might* have conveyed something from the Old SCO to Novell around 1995-96 -- something that's still a work-in-progress, and something that I may not get back to, now that all this OSRM/Linux patents shit has hit the fan.

Also, I came across a rather startling revision (http://www.finchhaven.com/TSCOG/SCO_Source_timeline/SCO_Source_timelines.html) to Eric Levenez' Unix (http://www.levenez.com/unix/) Timeline, wherein TSCOG seems quite clearly to be fabricating a direct, unbroken lineage from some Unix variant that TSCOG holds some title to, through Minix, and into Linux itself.

And other than that, I used to hang out on Groklaw *way* too much, adding background to a lot of the posts there, putting the lie to FUD, and just generally fending off the trolls.

But that's "used to" 'cause I've just about bailed entirely.

Why?

Because I cannot, in good conscience, support with my presence and my participation the censorship, intollerance, and group-think that's set in at Groklaw, and I won't be associated with Pamela Jones's continued descent into paranoia and blaming. For whatever good Groklaw is performing, there's a case to be made that it's doing damage as well.

Of that last (paranoia and blaming), here's an example from today (08/06/2004) - if it hasn't been deleted already :-/

http://www.groklaw.net/comment.php?mode=display&sid=20040806043559628&title=Pro%20SCO%20FUD&type=article&order=ASC&hideanonymous=0&pid=180138#c180143

• Pro SCO FUD
  Authored by: PJ on Friday, August 06 2004 @ 07:17 AM EDT
  
  Cute. The truth is I have never yet seen any pro SCO comments on Groklaw.
  
  Actually, not anywhere. The SCO trolls attack me and Groklaw instead of saying pro SCO stuff.

"..attack me and Groklaw.."

That's the way it is now, at Groklaw.

If it's anything that Pamela doesn't want to hear, or doesn't want to deal with, it's an "attack".

Here was my reply:

http://www.groklaw.net/comment.php?mode=display&sid=20040806043559628&title=Pro%20SCO%20FUD&type=article&order=ASC&hideanonymous=0&pid=180143#c180211

• Pro SCO FUD
  Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, August 06 2004 @ 09:14 AM EDT
  
  >>> The SCO trolls attack me and Groklaw instead of saying pro SCO stuff. <<<
  
  So, anyone who has a difference of opinion with you is now an "SCO troll"?
  
  Pamela, you really need to stop talking to yourself in the mirror, or to that very, very ingrown group of people you trust as "friends".
  
  Get out into the real world, and try to realize that just because two adults disagree, they aren't attacking one another.
  
  Now, let's see how long it takes:
  
  1) for this post to be declared a troll
  2) for me to be told to go away "'cause it's PJ's blog"
  3) and finally, for this post to be deleted, along with so many others that have been deleted in the last few days.
  
  /* gasp! did he really say "deleted"? It must be Darl hisself! */
  
  Ready, set, Go!

This was the immediate (six minutes) response:

http://www.groklaw.net/comment.php?mode=display&sid=20040806043559628&title=Pro%20SCO%20FUD&type=article&order=ASC&hideanonymous=0&pid=180211#c180215

• Pro SCO FUD
  Authored by: Latesigner on Friday, August 06 2004 @ 09:22 AM EDT
  
  Cute, very cute. I assume you have a twisted sense of humor but just in cast I'm wrong it is now 9:25 AM.
  
  Go away troll.

And so it goes, at Groklaw.

My response to *that* was this:

http://www.groklaw.net/comment.php?mode=display&sid=20040806043559628&title=Pro%20SCO%20FUD&type=article&order=ASC&hideanonymous=0&pid=180215#c180218

• Pro SCO FUD
  Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, August 06 2004 @ 09:25 AM EDT
  
  Groklaw: home of intolerance and censorship..
  
  What's that got to do with open and free?

Anyway, whatever...

More later, maybe :-/

t_t_b

Re:I agree, and it's a shame

[talks_to_birds]

I think that Groklaw will be an invaluable resource for about as long as all this nonsense goes on, but something needs to be done to reduce the "style" (read: hyperbole) and to open up the floor to different ideas..

Dunno that's gonna happen, though.

I think the seige mentality is setting in, though: I just got blasted by a regular on the Yahoo! Finance SCOX message board who's also a regular on Groklaw, and a big PJ supporter:

http://finance.messages.yahoo.com/bbs?.mm=FN&acti o n=m&board=160068 [yahoo.com]