Do you think it works to have an account and use commercial things like Facebook in order to get your Free Software / Freedom movement going in a way you would like to spread it?
@UniversalVortices@mastodon.social @freeschool
By using nonfree software to support free software, you are making a redundant moot point for free software.
The best way to promote is to do without nonfree- otherwise you're just promoting the case against it
Do you think it works to have an account and use commercial things like Facebook in order to get your Free Software / Freedom movement going in a way you would like to spread it?
@lucifargundam @UniversalVortices@mastodon.social @freeschool
That is the irony. Lots of FLOSS projects have proprietary social media accounts to promote their project.
In the end it depends what your goal is. Proprietary social media might be a good way to hook new customers. One could for example watermark the content or only create a small snippet. Though this will only really create passive engagement.
Active engagement would be the better approach. Find potential customers on proprietary social media. Meetup in a way that you are using FLOSS software or communicate your interests in FLOSS software/projects.
There are two big concerns I hear all the time:
1. "I never knew of an open source alternative" or better "I never knew of open source".
2. "I just want things to work".
Firstly, if you don't know what you don't know, then no matter how much effort you put in to market yourself as completely free, you will never spark the interest of someone who has never heard of FLOSS. (Ignorance)
Secondly, is just laziness.
Do you think it works to have an account and use commercial things like Facebook in order to get your Free Software / Freedom movement going in a way you would like to spread it?
@barefootstache @lucifargundam @UniversalVortices@mastodon.social
Good Points! I'll add them to my lists! lol...
"I never knew of open source" rofl
(which I guess is our lifelong 'job')
and "I just want things to work" (which is probably true for us maybe in non-tech fields IF everyone has a blind-spot but maybe Techie have less blind spots / more awareness and ignorances )
Do you think it works to have an account and use commercial things like Facebook in order to get your Free Software / Freedom movement going in a way you would like to spread it?
@freeschool @barefootstache @universalvortices@lugnasad.eu @universalvortices@turkum.site @UniversalVortices@leafposter.club Relevant comment from the Sofware Freedom Conservancy:::
https://lwn.net/Articles/899612/
Do you think it works to have an account and use commercial things like Facebook in order to get your Free Software / Freedom movement going in a way you would like to spread it?
@lucifargundam @barefootstache @universalvortices@lugnasad.eu @universalvortices@turkum.site @UniversalVortices@leafposter.club
That was useful thanks!
Was thinking it might be more conclusive or definitive but I'll re-read it and have a look at links... (haven't yet)
Copy below of the text (no hyperlinks)
SFC's use of Twitter.
Posted Jul 1, 2022 13:23 UTC (Fri) by bkuhn (subscriber, #58642)
In reply to: Software Freedom Conservancy: Give Up GitHub: The Time Has Come! by Karellen
Parent article: Software Freedom Conservancy: Give Up GitHub: The Time Has Come!
Karellen, I feel you could have made your point with less sarcasm, but raising the question that SFC organizationally uses Twitter is a reasonable thing to ask about. But, I would encourage in future that you perhaps frame your inquiry with some like “I do feel it as somewhat hypocritical that SFC has called for folks to give up GitHub, but they aren't calling for folks to give up Twitter — and in fact SFC is using Twitter actively!” That would be a respectful way to ask your inquiry.
Speaking as the person at SFC who's primary job (as Policy Fellow) is to analyze and consider and recommend policy of how we approach these proprietary software situations, I'll note that we now live in a difficult and complex world where it has become increasingly difficult (at least in industrialized countries) to engage with communities and pursue the normal functions of life without interacting with proprietary software. Personally (outside of my work at SFC), I refuse to use Twitter also. It was a difficult decision for SFC to continue using Twitter (which, BTW, I prefer to call Agrawaland — and I used to call Dorseyville (and I guess I'll be calling Musktown soon?) — all to note that Twitter is not a democratic platform, it is a for-profit company's property under the autocratic control of its CEO).
My colleague Karen Sandler and I gave two keynotes (at FOSDEM 2019 and 2020, respectively) about the challenges FOSS activists face in choosing when to use or refuse to use proprietary software. These are hard issues to decide. In fact, we internally talked quite a bit while planning the Give Up GitHub campaign to determine if GitHub had crossed enough lines that they are substantially worse in their behavior than other proprietary software companies. We believe they are, which is why we launched the campaign, but we understand that you may have a different opinion.
Meanwhile, I'll put it on the agenda for future blog posts that I should write explaining how SFC came to the decision to keep participating in Agrawaland — particularly after they previous regime (Dorsey's) cut off the federation features abruptly (which lead to identi.ca's demise). Thanks so much for your inquiry and this will make a useful blog post. I can't promise a timeline for it as we have a lot of writing in the pipeline, but I will look into it!
Do you think it works to have an account and use commercial things like Facebook in order to get your Free Software / Freedom movement going in a way you would like to spread it?
@freeschool @barefootstache @UniversalVortices@mastodon.social
I guess when you put it that way you have a point.
When's the last time Mozilla shoved "We're open source" in the face of the average user when launching Firefox? It would have to hit them in the face in order for it to remotely register into their memory.