Re: Thanks to the culture of the Code of Conduct, I'm leaving

[FranklyFlawless]

Sure, chronological order starting at the very beginning:

@rideordie

I’m less than expert on the topic of smartphones. However, I sense that having a secure OS running on a device designed to steal your information is counterintuitive. Both Apple and Google have been caught red handed “accidentally” gathering location data. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.

My sense is that there is no way to secure a smartphone. Not because the OS is insecure, but because the very platform is insecure. There is no way to secure a device designed to track all of your movements while bringing cameras and microphones everywhere you go, while dumping everything by default to the cloud scanned under government duress.

When I think of a smart phone, I see a rapist. GrapheneOS is the smile of a rapist.

@anon40932131 then responds to this exact quote via private message to @rideordie:

@anon40932131

When I think of a smart phone, I see a rapist. GrapheneOS is the smile of a rapist.

–

did you experience rape and think its appropriate to make such a statement?
if not, how to think people who experience the trauma of rape will handle such a statement? …
if so, do you think your experience reflects on other people who might have not fully processed their trauma?

please refrain from making such statements to keep this community a safer place.

Then the aforementioned topic was created:

@rideordie

https://forum.qubes-os.org/u/ymy

If I get more unsolicited harassment from @anon40932131 in my inbox, I’m going to leave the community.

The official purpose of the Code of Conduct is to enable people who feel uncomfortable to participate in a wider community. A well-known side effect of the Code of Conduct is to permit busy bodies to police people’s language.

According to @anon40932131 I’m not allowed to use the word ‘rapist’ unless I’ve actually been raped. He (his pronouns are in his bio) implies that I’m making the forum less safe by using that word. This is a ridiculous accusation.

Am I banned from using the word “American” unless I am an American? Of course not. What this language and tone policing reflects is covert power plays that privilege certain groups of people over others. It’s about sussing out whether you’re part of the ingroup or the outgroup. As someone put it, it’s about inEXclusivity.

This is why I’m against Codes of Conduct. As anybody knows, forums have always had rules. Codes of Conduct are political in ways that the rules never were, authorizing the application of covert power and influence.

Actually, you know what? I’m leaving. I’m not interested in being dragged into a Code of Conduct debate. My time is too valuable.

Anyone who wants to read my posts can read them at the Whonix forum. They are very clear about banned topics: nothing about Kali Linux or penetration testing. That’s a sensible “code of conduct”. Whatever is going on here, I don’t want to be a part of. If Qubes wants to authorize these kinds of people to police ordinary words, there’s no point in contributing.

I can ride or die alone, build my own tools and platforms.

There were further responses to this topic, but the damage had already been done at this point.