What story does an institution tell about itself?
To whom does a governance structure and its leadership serve?
To what degree are leaders within a governing institution subject
or exempt to the rules of the governed?
We use this framework to discuss the unexpected announcement of Richard
Stallman's re-appointment to the FSF board, by the FSF board.Content warning: depression and sexual harassment are both mentioned
in this episode.Links:Founder's Syndrome
(Wikipedia article)Statement on the Re-election of Richard Stallman to the FSF Board by the EFFAn open letter to remove Richard M. Stallman from all leadership positionsMicroblog post expressing lack of foreknowledge of announcement by FSF staff and Libreplanet volunteersNot The First Time We Tried (FSF, GNU, RMS, etc.) by Sumana HarihareswaraKat Walsh's statement of making arguments in opposition to RMS's reinstatement to the board (Twitter version) and announcement of resignation (Twitter version)The Free Software Foundation and Richard Stallman by Benjamin Mako Hill, longtime FOSS advocate, former member of FSF boardProgramming is Forgetting: Toward a New Hacker EthicDocumentation of accusations of women being harassed by RMSPolitical cartoon between RMS and Chris from when Chris was in collegeRe: Bug in emacs tetrisGNU Emacs and XEmacs2018 Letter to the board in response to RMS's behavior and the board's lack of responseMarianne Corvellec’s Libre Planet 2017 talk “The GNU Philosophy: Ethics beyond ethics” where RMS says "I'm the president of the Free Software Foundation... so I don’t have to follow the rules"