On Tuesday 28 Sep 2010, V. Sasi Kumar wrote:
> On Tue, 2010-09-28 at 09:58 +0530, Raj Mathur (राज माथुर) wrote:
> > *Sigh* I'm sure there must be some connection between this and free
> > software in India, but I'm stupid and fail to see it. Would
> > someone be kind enough to enlighten me?
>
> As I understand it, Free Software is about freedom. If we don't have
> the freedom to say what we would like to, and point out cases of
> corruption, then there is no meaning in talking about the freedom of
> software. I think our basic freedoms are much more fundamental than
> the freedom of software. And we need all possible people to fight to
> protect them. So we make use of all available fora to request people
> to contribute their mite. Those who are willing to can contribute to
> the efforts. Those who don't want to, for whatever reason, ignore
> it.
Let me explain it in words of two syllables:
There is a concept called "being on topic"; there is also a concept
called "topic for a forum". This forum is about free software and
directly related issues in India. Being on topic in this forum implies
that posts are to be somehow related to software freedom in India.
Corruption of the judiciary, the failure of the CWG, the difference
between the Congress and the BJP, the bust measurements of Bollywood
actresses -- all these, however interesting to some participants, are
NOT related to software freedom in India.
If you claim that they are, then I shall henceforth write about whatever
comes into my mind and use this list as a personal blog until the admins
decide to either (a) ban me from the list, or (b) take a clear stance on
on-topic and off-topic postings.
I joined this list to discuss software freedom in India and directly
related issues. Now it seems to be a public forum for airing pet peeves
and drumming up support for causes and topics completely unrelated to
software, software freedom, personal privacy or technology in India.
Fair enough, I have pet peeves and causes that need support too, and
since this is the place to bring them up, I shall do so without any fear
from now on.
End of this discussion from my side.