12.01
So it has occured to me that I have gone slightly off track with this blog. My original intention was to engage the FOSS community in debate to try to bring attention to various issues, and also provide a place I can link people to instead of having to go over the same tired arguments repeatedly.
It’s fairly hard being critical without being exclusionary, and far too easy to get carried away with the ‘you all suck’ aspect. Not that there is anything wrong with angry rants, it’s just not what I wanted to do.
So I am going to start again, with the aim of providing a definitive argument and opinion on a range of challenges and problems facing Open Source in a (hopefully) non-hostile way. After all success and progress in the FOSS community can only serve to help me in the long run, and the community is in dire need of critics.
I have not yet decided if I am going to keep, archive or wipe all the old posts – largely I’ll be rewriting most of the points in them anyway.
Anyway, coming soon, Piestar II. 
Why the change of heart? There’s plenty of “non hostile” commentary out there. At least keep the old rants. There’s good stuff in there.
I would say keep the old posts as well. Several of them are quite insightful.
Keep them!
Please keep the old posts?
I think the rants are constructive. Don’t just keep the old ones, keep writing new ones. You’re far tamer than Linux Hater or .NET Jerkface, but that’s just their style. You offer some of the most irrefutable arguments and criticisms.
I vote to keep them around – they are fine work, even if you are planning on rewriting some of them.
“You offer some of the most irrefutable arguments and criticisms.”
Indeed, this is why this blog and previous posts are so valuable, even if the blog doesn’t have the popularity of LH for example.
I’d say keep the old posts.
Keep the old posts. Sometimes a rant is good for you!
A problem with wanting debate about Linux is that the FSF/FOSS brigade don’t _want_ debate or criticism, they want compliance with their demands, and unthinking acceptance of their ideology. If you question or criticise them, you are the enemy and must be destroyed.
@Ted
It’s like trying to engage in debate with a cult. At the end of the day having a debate isn’t as useful to them as rigid conformity.
I think LH and .net jerkface have decided that it is better to use them for entertainment. LH is supposedly an embedded Linux developer that hates having to work with Linux.
But I think all 3 have something to offer that you can’t get at typical tech blogs. Even the ones that aren’t pro-Linux are too nice when it comes to dealing with the open source movement.
I’ll probably keep them then, maybe replace old ones if I make the same point again.
I find in debates if you go negative you turn the whole thing into a pointless slagging match – the other side needs no good argument as they can just sling names at you. If you make a well made point in a polite way they have no choice but to debate you on facts.
I find in debates if you go negative you turn the whole thing into a pointless slagging match
One of the advantages of running a blog is that you’re the dictator. It’s hard to sling mud when you can’t even get to the level of your opponent. But since you mentioned the word “debate” I’m assuming you’re interested in doing so. Personally, I agree with the guys above: it’s about as productive as arguing with cult members. What’s so refreshing about Piestar, Jerkface, and LHB (or, at least, its former self) is that they really don’t attempt to engage the FOSS crowd and don’t take anything they say at face value. I mean would you give the floor to flat earth or geocentric solar system theorists or tobacco industry shills who maintain there’s not really a link between cigarettes and health problems?
That said, if Piestar II is gonna be like today’s post, keep going. I have no beef with it.
Keep them because 1) They’re fairly well-written and definitely thought-out well, and 2) you’d break hyperlinks, bookmarks, etc. which isn’t always a bad thing, but most of the time it is.
Besides, it’s pretty childish to delete all your old posts. Unless they *really* stank, which yours don’t (as you can see by these comments).
I’ll shut up now.
Piestar, while your approach is noble, it is misguided. My long experience with the FOSS crowd has taught me that politeness and respectfulness is wasted on them. Their entire movement is hostile unto itself and they deserve nothing better in return. Reasoning and pursuing peaceful resolution to conflict is always admirable and should always be the first approach, but, as was the case with Hitler, some folks are beyond reason.