I'm gonna try something a bit heavy here, and I'll ask that you read with a bit of nuance (with the caveat that nuance is not inherently good or bad, some things should be nuanced, other things shouldn't be). I don't ask good faith, as I don't think that's a reasonable policy, but I do ask that you read the following few posts *carefully* especially if you disagree.
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This is obviously contrived. While there are outspoken Nazis in open source (DHH and the hyprland folks come to mind), they generally engage in more cryptonazi shit and don't advertise quite that way.
But this is a thought experiment. It is, moreover, *my* thought experiment that I'm inviting you on.
Given those caveats, that this is contrived and artificial, what emotions would you find yourself feeling in that moment, launching a previously beloved app?
It is, to be absolutely clear, *not your project*. In a very real (if narrow) sense, the developers and maintainers are well within their rights to publish that update to *their* application, to *their* project. There might be issues with the code of conduct or terms of service on their forge, but that's aside from the point of the thought experiment: there is a thing you use on the daily that now presents very clear and strong fascist imagery directly into your eyeballs.
A few questions, then, with respect to this *highly contrived* thought experiment:
• What right, if any, do the developers and maintainers have to push that update onto your machine?
• What right, if any, do you have to object to how the developers and maintainers manage their project?
• Do your answers change if the fascist imagery is softer; say it's a MAGA hat instead of a swastika, perhaps.
• Do your answers change if the fascist imagery is soft enough to be plausibly deniable?
@xgranade This is why I disagree with your point that developers own their own projects and have no responsibilities. I think we should have made software developers an actual type of engineer, legally liable if their software gets hacked or kills someone, the same way it is with a bridge falling down.
With that hell of a preface in place, consider a thought experiment. There's a piece of open source software you use on the daily, offered by its developers and maintainers completely free of monetary cost.
It is, notably, somewhat aggressive about auto-updating. Perhaps it has a nontrivial security surface, such that this is justified, but it's part of the thought experiment regardless.
Suppose one day it gets a new splash screen, including a very prominent swastika.
How should you respond?