You don't have to agree with it, but I think it's fair to parrot a take from people who have invested a lot of time and effort into considering why free software is good.
The linked page has a clear explanation for why one might consider nonfree software to be unethical.
Sometimes people take the time to read and understand something and conclude that this is the best way to express it, better than they themselves can paraphrase.
And sometimes they just collect opinions and follow suit, instead of forming their own ones. How do you know which one happened here, are you a mind reader?
> How do you know which one happened here, are you a mind reader?
If you admit that they could be doing one of two things ("And sometimes ...") but you assume it's actually one of them in particular ("I think they asked for your take, not GNU's."), then this question could similarly be asked of you.
A bigger problem with my model is that it's a false dilemma. These are both just characterizations. Both can be true at the same time just fine, and so can neither.
It even does my own sentiment poorly. My actual issue with this whole exchange was not that their thoughts are unoriginal (although I'd be surprised), but that this way of responding I find extremely lazy and disrespectful, as well as generally unreasonable. They were asked for their opinion. It doesn't have to be good, it doesn't have to be rigorous, it just has to be theirs.
Linking out to some reading material and adding nothing else of substance fails even this most basic expectation. It's a discussion thread, not a newsletter. But then just like in the other subthread where the person above found me from, I'm sure they'd argue that this is just, like, my opinion. And that it sure is.
Could ask the same from you really, but then you followed me here out of spite from the other subthread to just loosely regurgitate another person's reply [0], along with your lackey [1], trying to make it a touch more hostile on the way, so I think I do know the answer to that one...
> If you're not interested at all, why did you even join the conversation?
Or was this a genuine question? I don't think you do those though. Are you then maybe getting tripped up on your own dumb headcanon? Cause honestly, given that this would be the third time in this thread that you're conjuring up a strawman and twisting words, you have to appreciate I have a hard time believing anything coming out of your mouth (keyboard?) at this point. It's almost as if there was a reason I went off about what I did, and it's coming back to bite you in the ass now...
To you, is a suggestion for someone to explain their own thoughts in their own words, rather than link to someone else's, a sign of no interest at all? Did I really say that I wasn't interested in what their take was, or did I say that I wasn't interested in receiving another barrage of GNU links? Careful, the latter one doesn't even require thinking, only bare minimum intellectual honesty, seemingly your Achilles heel.
