My position is that his reelection is a good thing. I've analysed the both the open letters for both the for and against him positions, and I ended up signing this one: https://rms-support-letter.github.io/
What is your position on this?
Oh boy.

Quite a few people here would sign (some have, already) the opposite one, let me link it since you did that for the other one: https://rms-open-letter.github.io/

Which points in particular made you decide to sign the support letter btw?
The fact that the other one amounts to a purge.
Whoa. For now, before assuming you've jumped the shark, I'll assume you've simply been misguided and you didn't fully understand what you signed for and most of all, who you're siding with... but seriously, siding with RMS's staunchest supporters by signing that ***wipe (yes, I mean, the support letter) is a very bad taint on one's reputation, as you'll see Wink

It's a fact that the vision RMS had 30-40 years ago, and pursued for at least the couple next decades, is great, and has shaped computing history in a positive way.
However, his terrible social skills and multiple loathsome public statements are rightfully making people uncomfortable, and acting as a deterrent for the free software movement (which already suffers from pretty low diversity). As such, he's become more of a liability than an asset for the progress of the free software movement... and the FSF screwed up majorly by enabling him a bit further back.
That's why many of the signatories of the open letter - many of whom are well-known names in the free software and open source movement, BTW - have signed the open letter.
And way too many people who support RMS focus on his contributions but overlook the bad ideas and behavioural aspects of the character. Then there are those who try to misguide others.

Make no mistake, the stupid RMS support letter has a strongly auto-generated aspect with suspiciously low diversity (too high a proportion of Russian-sounding names with young Github accounts created nearly only for signing the support letter, seriously ?). Almost looks like the result of a Russian troll factory spewing yet more divisive and anti-diversity output (just like in the '2020 US presidential campaign).
One of the signatories of the RMS support letter is one of the most destructive and hated persons in the TI graphing calculators community, with a memory passed down to newcomers by old-timers like me. Despite all of the people trying to educate him on how his behaviour was bad and how he could fix it, he also applied his dogmatism and disrespect to other free software communities later, with the same, predictable results... getting ousted as well.

An application of the paradox of tolerance: tolerating RMS's continued intolerance and refusal to fix his positions is not tolerable.
Well, what bothers me about the open letter:
Quote:
Richard M. Stallman, frequently known as RMS, has been a dangerous force in the free software community for a long time. He has shown himself to be misogynist, ableist, and transphobic, among other serious accusations of impropriety.

I see no evidence of him being a misogynist (or at least none is quoted)
ableist? By promoting abortion?
transphobic? By dedicating time and coming up with new pronouns and supporting trans rights?

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=site%3Astallman.org+transgender&ia=web

And the fact that apparently being accused of stuff makes him evil?

I think his insensibility is just him being weird: https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/8isw5/richard_stallman_eats_something_from_his_foot/

EDIT: You know, I'm gonna remove that signature.
My final opinion on the topic is this:
RMS is weird. He's not the monster that the letter claims he is, but... do you really want someone who eats off of his foot to be the human face of the Free Software movement? I don't entirely agree with the other one, but...

======SUMMARY======

I don't agree with much of the open letter stuff. Actually, both are pretty crappy. The anti-Stallman one tries to portray him as a kind of rapist, which he's not, and calls for a purge of the FSF board. I agree that we should have a new leader, one who's less creepy. The pro-Stallman one calls for him to be put back, which I disagree with. I think he has a lot to contribute, but he's not the best one to be in charge.
I opened an issue and asked them to remove the sig, and I'll just leave both unsigned.
Good. You're making the right choice Smile

Clearly, I won't pretend that the open letter is perfect, and I won't pretend that I'd have done a better job wording it, either. However, between:
* hundreds of well-known free software developer names with a large body of work in the FLOSS community over the years - many of whom have actually met RMS IRL - and who are fighting for a more diverse, more inclusive development community (higher participation from anybody who's not a white cis heterosexual male, and in fact, probably higher participation of tolerant open-minded white cis males as well - the intolerant ones can remain outside, we've already got enough brilliant ***holes in computer science), and:
* an army of mostly trolls, or at least one person who actively worked against inclusiveness and community attractivity (along with my help at some point, yes)
it's pretty clear where the side of history is.

EDIT: forgot to mention that soon after signing the open letter, I and a couple dozen other persons received an e-mail attacking us for doing so. Surprisingly, the tone was civil, but the meaning was not just in line with supporting RMS's views (e.g. considering a tolerant majority as a bad thing), it was beyond respectful disagreement. Still, that's what signing the support letter means (not necessarily voluntarily, of course) siding with, too.
  
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