Re: My resignation from Emacs development

[Adam Porter]

Dear Alan,

I have not corresponded with you before, but as a user and contributor
myself, I appreciate your contributions to Emacs.

Now, I usually steer clear of threads like these; I see little benefit
to taking sides or passing judgment on those who are implicated.  Were
you simply saying farewell, I'd be glad to wish you the same, and leave
it at that.

But I can't, in good conscience, stand by and say nothing after your
comments like this:

> This "be nice to everybody no matter what they do" and "always 
> assume the best of everybody" creates the perfect atmosphere for a 
> monster to flourish in.  Stefan is such a monster; not all the time,
> not even most of the time, but in doing the things detailed above,
> and other things, I don't understand why you are defending him.
>
> I've had continual trouble over the last ~20 years with what Stefan 
> has done, and how he's done it.  Nobody else even comes close.  As I
> said, this is the root cause of why I'm leaving the Emacs team. Most
> of the time, he is extremely helpful and efficient at maintaining,
> and I'm grateful for all the help he has given me over the years. As
> I said, a Jekyll-and-Hyde character.
These accusations are beyond unfair and unkind.  You even followed it up
immediately with:

> I have not come anywhere near ad hominem.
If calling someone a "monster" is not ad hominem, I don't know what is.
 As well, your other comments about Stefan M., including your list of
historical grievances, are essentially a form of character
assassination.  I have watched as you have publicly impugned Stefan's
motivation and character several times before; it was wrong then, and it
is even more so now, as you essentially accuse him of being a bully--
ironic, since "bullying" seems like an apt characterization of your
comments about him.

> It is true that many forums degenerate into slanging matches which 
> repel decent posters. emacs-devel is the opposite extreme, sort of 
> touchy-feely where nobody's allowed to offend anybody else at all, 
> no matter what they do, why and how they do it.  This is just as 
> unhealthy as the the continual abuse forums; it leads to the build 
> up of repressed resentment.
I don't find that characterization of this mailing list to be accurate
at all.  There is infrequent, but consistently repellent content from
certain participants; thankfully, it is usually not repaid in kind;
occasionally it draws a tame chastisement.  It's to be expected, when
you consider the variety of backgrounds present, combined with strong
personalities and enthusiastic participation.  There are far, far worse
forums to be found.

As to participation, everyone is a volunteer here; everyone is free to
contribute or not, as he sees fit.  You should do what seems best to 
you, whether that means continuing to contribute, scaling back your 
contributions, or ceasing to contribute.  If it is no longer enjoyable 
for you to contribute, for whatever reason, then you probably shouldn't, 
for your own sake.  I would say that to anyone, including myself.  At 
the same time, I would encourage you to reconsider the decision to cease 
contributing altogether, for your sake and others', as your 
contributions have been valuable to innumerable people; and as hobbies 
go, this is a pretty good one.  And there's nothing wrong with taking a 
break.
But it is not okay for you to blame Stefan for your decision to leave.
 As you know, in the past he served as the Emacs maintainer, and now he
remains a prominent contributor, and a maintainer of some parts of
Emacs, but not of the overall project.  So if you can't abide some
technical decisions that have been made by Stefan M., you ought to take
them up with Eli, Andrea, and Stefan K.  And if they disagree with you
and won't overturn those decisions, and you decide to leave, you ought 
to ascribe that responsibility simply and honestly, not by publicly
defaming Stefan M. like this.  It does not behoove you, nor the GNU
Emacs project, to act this way.

Sincerely,
Adam