[FFmpeg-devel] [PATCH] Revert "Remove battleforthenet widget"

[Michael Niedermayer]

On Sun, Mar 04, 2018 at 09:45:03AM -0500, Ronald S. Bultje wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> On Sun, Mar 4, 2018 at 9:24 AM, Compn <tempn at mi.rr.com> wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, 1 Mar 2018 06:59:45 -0500, "Ronald S. Bultje"
> > <rsbultje at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Again, please: no advertising, no politics. It was fun while it lasted
> > but
> > > it's turning into something semi-permanent now, I really have significant
> > > issues with this.
> >
> > this isnt advertising.
> >
> > what is your significant issue with the politics?
> 
> 
> I'm so sick of everything being about politics, everything being
> politicized, everything being presented about the end of the world, and
> everything being pushed in my face and everyone being forced to
> continuously pay attention, have an opinion and to care.
> 
> Because it's just not true. It's just a spin. Sure, some things are
> important. But the end of the world? Hardly. To put our reputation as a
> prime, pristine, independent and unpartisan collection of multimedia tools
> and experts on the line for an unlikely and minor moment of partisan gain
> in a single country. Really? Why? I just don't get it.
> 
> If you want to play politics, join a political movement or party, attend or
> organize rallies, run for local, state or federal office, create a
> politically motivated youtube channel or facebook group. But don't use our
> website.
> 
> My issue is this: this advertising turns FFmpeg into a political movement.
> But I don't want FFmpeg to be a political movement, or to be political at
> all. I would like FFmpeg to be an opensource (or free software) project
> where people with various interests in multimedia can come together -
> regardless of background - and create cool technical innovations.

After reading todays IRC backlog, i think i understand your position.
And i agree with you that FFmpeg should not take sides in politics.
Where i disagree is not that. I understand the disadvnatges here and
i understood them long before.

First lets try to investigate if this actually is a issue with a side
that is against it. Because IIRC noone expressed opposition to net
neutrality here or in fact in any other technical environment that i
read except as "devils advocate".

If i search for net neutrality poll 2018 on google and pick
the 1st and 2nd links
http://variety.com/2018/politics/news/net-neutrality-fcc-democrats-1202711864/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/12/12/this-poll-gave-americans-a-detailed-case-for-and-against-the-fccs-net-neutrality-plan-the-reaction-among-republicans-was-striking/

The first claims 72% of people claiming to understand net neutrality are in favor of it
The second claims 83 percent of Americans do not approve of the FCC proposal. Just 16 percent said they approved.
and "About one in five Republicans said they were in favor of the FCC's proposal."

But the main reason why iam writing this mail is that the whole discussion
seems to have missed a important point so far and that is

By doing nothing at all, we take a political position as well.
And its one that least represents us.

The apolitical thing to do would be to write a apolitical news entry that
informs our users about the facts, risks and arguments around net neutrality
in relation to FFmpeg and multimedia.

We also would tell our users if FFmpeg would become 5% slower or faster.
We similarly should tell them about the use of FFmpeg in relation to network
transmission in the future potentially costing x% more

You want FFmpeg not to harm itself by taking side in politcal debate.
I agree with this, it makes sense

But i do not want us to be afraid to inform our users about things that
could make their use of our tools more expensive or slower.

My oppinion is that a news article should be written that everyone here
is happy with. And that helps users better understand what effects
net neutrality and its removial could have on them and multimedia and FFmpeg.
That way they can better make an educated decission on what position to take
if any. Or if they dont care they can just ignore the article, neither side
would feel offended. And we would do the morally correct thing to inform
our users about something that may affect their use of our software.

Thanks

[...]

-- 
Michael     GnuPG fingerprint: 9FF2128B147EF6730BADF133611EC787040B0FAB

"You are 36 times more likely to die in a bathtub than at the hands of a
terrorist. Also, you are 2.5 times more likely to become a president and
2 times more likely to become an astronaut, than to die in a terrorist
attack." -- Thoughty2

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