
Richard Stallman’s rider - robinhouston
https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/pipermail/developers-public/2011-October/007647.html
======
Anechoic
I've helped to organize large conferences in the past, and right now I'm
organizing a reception to honor some prominent Boston-area acousticians. Given
those experiences, I would absolutely _love_ to have this kind of a rider for
honorees and speakers. It removes a lot of guesswork in planning large events
and would make things go smoothly.

Sure, some of the statements in the rider might seem odd, demanding or even
irrelevant, but it's all there black and white. It would save a ton of time
coordinating with speakers beforehand making sure everything is in accordance
with their (and our) expectations, and also save time in putting out fires
during/after events when we find out that things are _not_ set in accordance
with their expectations.

I've never seen RMS speak at an event (although I've been to events where he
has attended), but from reading this I now know what to expect if I ever
wanted to him to speak at an event. I would request that other notable
speakers develop a similar rider, especially if you've had unpleasant
surprises at past events. Let everyone know what they're getting into when
they invite you.

edit: I accidentally a couple of words

~~~
cdcarter
Agreed, I started reading it thinking I'd be very frustrated afterward, but
this has the right amount of detail and no requests that are too unreasonable
for a venue to handle. The event sponsor may have to deal with some of the
more tricky ones, but I really wouldn't mind executing this rider. Especially
compared to some of the ones I've seen.

~~~
Anechoic
Actually I think that some of those details _are_ unreasonable, but at least
(as an event planner) I would rather know that up front rather than finding
out midway through the planning process and it being to late to find another
speaker.

Put it another way - if I had invited RMS and he sent that rider, I'd probably
say "no thanks, we'll find someone else" but at least it would be at an early
enough point that there would be time to find someone else.

------
heyrhett
All of his demands are either directly related to his health or the moral
causes that he champions. He is specific and verbose.

Some of these things might seem strange to people who are younger than 50
years old, and aren't flown around the world to give hundreds of talks.

I think that this demonstrates the value of a clear and verbose contract.

~~~
astine
"All of his demands are either directly related to his health or the moral
causes that he champions."

Did you read the same list I did? He requests to stay in somebody's home but
specifies a list of foods he doesn't like and demands he be consulted on any
meals he's served. Some of his demands relate to his cause, and a few to his
health, but overall I'd say he comes across as overly particular and
demanding. I guess if he's heavily in demand he can get away with it as there
will always be someone willing to accommodate him, but that someone won't be
me.

~~~
drivingmenuts
Written out in black-and-white it seems rather cold and heartless, but it
merely clarifies what would be a normal practice.

If a guest in your house is uncomfortable/unable to eat what you're having,
and has given no prior notice, then it can be quite a problem to find out
right when mealtime is approaching.

This is a sensible way of avoiding unnecessary conflict.

~~~
jtheory
Right -- I've done my share of being a guest of and a host to many people of
different cultures, and a decent share of his points are either a "how to be a
good host" checklist, or removing the difficult aspects of being a good host
to him (i.e., guessing the needs of a guest who may not express them
directly).

I think I'm generally a good host, because I read people well. But armed with
a document like this, even someone who reads people terribly could be a good
host to rms with minimal effort. It doesn't look very hard once you know what
he's hoping for; some of his points (like saying he sometimes makes
suggestions that may cause inconvenience, and please let him know... like his
request that hosts not offer to help him with everything) are basically "I
know how to be a good guest if you let me."

I've been in those situations (carefully avoiding praising things for fear
that your hosts will find some way of giving them to you...), and it's really
quite frustrating.

If I was a constant guest (and constantly faced with the same frustrations),
I'd start compiling a document like this. Over time -- and I'm pretty sure
this has been underway for a long time (notice the reference to changing the
tape when recording him?) -- I suspect it would grow as this one has.

------
joshaidan
My funniest memory of Richard Stallman is once he was invited to give the
commencement speech at my local university, Lakehead University. He was pretty
oblivious to the fact he was at a graduation, and not at any point in his
speech did he address the students and their future. All he talked about was
free software, how copyright was bad, and that the university should be using
free software. Most of the students were pretty pissed off at him because he
ruined one of the most significant moments in their life. He didn't even say,
congratulations well done on graduating, or even a simple "hello." He only
spoke about free software.

I think the video is still up on the university's website somewhere. If you're
interested in it, I could try to find it and post it.

~~~
deadcyclo
You can't blame that on Stallman. He has always been completely clear and up
front about what he will and will not speak about. And he always agrees on the
topic ahead of time with who ever is arranging the event.

In other words. Who ever arranged this graduation obviously did a horrible
job, and is the person you should blame.

~~~
maximusprime
I think it's fair to assume most people have basic "people" skills, humility,
manners etc. Unfortunately that isn't the case with Stallman. He's an
obsessive fundamentalist only concerned with one topic.

~~~
Duff
That fact is well known.

If your university hired someone who only spoke Mongolian, would you be upset
at the speaker, or the idiot who hired him?

~~~
fleitz
If your university hired someone who only spoke Mongolian but spit in people's
faces when they extended their hand for a handshake, would you be upset at the
speaker or the idiot who hired him?

RMS lacks basic social graces. He preaches to the choir but somehow still
manages to piss them off with pedantic shit like GNU/Linux. Why doesn't he
just copyright it so he can plaster the GNU logo all over everything and be
done with it.

~~~
burgerbrain
_"If your university hired someone who only spoke Mongolian but spit in
people's faces when they extended their hand for a handshake, would you be
upset at the speaker or the idiot who hired him?"_

If their spitting was common knowledge, as RMS's eccentricities are, then yes.
Of course I would be upset primary with whoever booked them...

------
mjs
This is wonderful, in so many different ways. I've read quite a bit of the FSF
material--which is invariably specific, clear and verbose--and it's
interesting to read material in the same style, but about a completely
different topic.

For example, under "Hospitality":

"In some places, my hosts act as if my every wish were their command. By
catering to my every whim, in effect they make me a tyrant over them, which is
not a role I like. I start to worry that I might subject them to great burdens
without even realizing. I start being afraid to express my appreciation of
anything, because they would get it and give it to me at any cost. If it is
night, and the stars are beautiful, I hesitate to say so, lest my hosts feel
obligated to try to get one for me."

~~~
nobody3141
Ever visited an Arabic country?

Whatever an American might think, this is THE major problem - not terrorism -
but being 'hospitalitied' to death!

~~~
colton36
You are so right. When I visited Egypt years ago, the amount of "helping" was
so over the top. It really does get in the way.

------
iqster
Heh ... reminds me of the story of Van Halen's rider - no brown M&Ms or they
have the right to not play the event (without penalty)! This actually served a
purpose. The had exacting specs for some of their pyrotechnics. They reasoned
that if someone had adhered to the rider carefully enough to notice the M&Ms
clause, they likely would have been exacting for the other specifications as
well.

~~~
derleth
> The had exacting specs for some of their pyrotechnics

... and their electrical gear (amps and so on), and possibly the sheer weight
of everything they'd be bringing on to the stage, and the simple fact that, at
the time that rider was drawn up, Van Halen was playing venues that had never
had a serious rock band of their kind before and were likely to be unprepared
to the point of putting the fans at risk of being killed, which has happened a
few times (that Whitesnake concert is the most recent, I believe).

~~~
mikey_p
Are you thinking of Great White and The Station nightclub fire?

~~~
derleth
Yes. Thank you.

------
tptacek
This is charming; gives a sense of the guy; seems like it would be useful
information. Who thinks to say "do not buy me a parrot"?

~~~
seiji
For such a specific rule, it must have happened before.

I'd wager somebody once gave him a parrot for breakfast.

"Good morning, sir. Your host ordered you a breakfast of eggs over easy and a
parrot we've named Lenny, The Open Source Linux Parrot sponsored by Coke®."

~~~
tptacek
I mean obviously, I bet nothing happened before. Who gives someone a parrot?

But he has a short graf on why you shouldn't give him Coke. I had no idea
about the "Killer Coke" story. Clearly, he reads up on this stuff; he just
wants to share how inhumane the parrot pet trade is, I'd guess.

But still! It's charming in this context.

~~~
cryptoz
It may well have happened. I helped organized his talk at Concordia University
a few years ago, and this text was slightly different back then. It specified
that he'd like to meet a parrot. But that's it. Just was one sentence, giving
little information. Given that this is his standard text, I bet someone bought
a parrot at one point over the last few years, and that prompted this
seemingly peculiar addition.

------
phzbOx
I, too, was disappointed by Richard Stallman' talk. We were a bunch of
students in a conference in general software engineering. And he was invited
to give a talk about copyright and freedom.. cool, right?

Not exactly. He came in and started acting like he really didn't wanted to be
there and didn't care at all about us, the place and the organizers. I'm
usually not the kind to judge someone else dressing but Stallman' look was
terrible. Not terrible like in "old geek" or whatever; terrible like I had
pity of him. Seems like he didn't washed for days.. anyhow, let's continue for
the talk.

Before even starting, he started yelling "OPEN THE LIGHT", " I SAID OPEN THE
GODAMN LIGHT". That was crazy as hell. Basically, what he wanted to say is
"Please, open the light because I don't want my audience to fall asleep". But
jesus, there's a way to say things and a way to _say_ things.

And, as much as I wanted to like him and the talk, it was extremely boring and
even false at some points.

And, with all that, it just makes me really sad. It makes me sad because this
is such a genius and a legendary hacker but it seems that he stopped _trying_.

It's like if you see someone trying to open a door by pulling really hard when
it's clearly written _push_. And, you see that person getting frustrated and
over frustrated about the fact that the door doesn't open.

For me, Richard seems like that. There _are_ ways to make things change. But
you have to adapt. As someone already said "It's easy to go outside and whine,
but true revolutioners dress up and change things from inside the system." (or
something like that).

Stallman could give _so much_ if he wanted just a little bit, but he decided
to keep _pulling that door_.

 _Look, we get it, it's supposed to be called GNU os and not Linux._ But
there's a way to explain that to total newbies that don't know the history of
_unix_ es. It's not by being frustrated in front of an audience that people
will _understand_ and _change their minds_.

Or when he talks about freedom, it seems so theoretical. Yeah right, Ubisoft
should publish their code open sources and preserve the right on their assets.
But comon, there are lots of money and families involved. Even thought it
would be nice to have everything open source, in practice, you have to make
trad-of. And, in my opinion, it's better to be practical and try to make the
world a little better, rather than being an extremist and changing nothing.

There's a reason why it's called Linux and not GNU; and yelling after everyone
won't change that.

~~~
billpatrianakos
I feel for you. Stallman seems to think we all live in some free love hippie
commune where we can all just give source code away. The world doesn't work
like that and his fundamentalist attitude doesn't take people's need to eat
lunch into account. You can't deny his skill and the great work he's done.
Free software has its place in this world but so does proprietary code too.

This rider while not being supremely high maintenance is riddled with
superfluous explanations and liberally sprinkled with his own politics. Just
write a damn list and get it over with. Save your speeches for the events, not
the rider.

~~~
bad_user
Stallman has an uncanny ability to predict the future in regards to our
industry. Everything he predicted has happened already or it will.

Trusted computing? It is here, it is popular and because of Apple it is also
considered cool. It doesn't matter that the device you paid for is not your
property anymore, people love shiny. Also, trusted computing got rejected by
the market when Microsoft tried it, but now Microsoft is back on the horse and
this time they'll succeed, because hey, we'll do anything for the sake of our
grandmas, including giving up liberties for our future children.

Building proprietary lock-in on top of open-source? Yep. Before 2001 when OS X
got released, Linux was the future of computing in our eyes. Fast forward 11
years later, go to any software-related conference and you'll see 85% of all
software developers with a MacBook in their lap. Basically OS X destroyed
Linux's chances on dominating the future desktop.

Uncompetitive advantages by any means necessary, including patents (which is
something new)? Yep ... Java may be GPL.v2, but Oracle can kick the living
crap out of you by using their patents and trademarks on it. On the whole, Sun
releasing OpenJDK was nothing more than a publicity stunt of a dying company,
just like the JCP was, to give the illusion of an open standard.

    
    
        The world doesn't work like that and his 
        fundamentalist attitude doesn't take people's 
        need to eat lunch into account.
    

I think he earned the right to behave like a fundamentalist. You can agree or
disagree with him, but if you do disagree, you should give a more detailed
answer than " _the world doesn't work like that_ ".

Because in fact the world does work like that. People have always helped each
other in return for favors or for the greater good. The emphasis on
individuals and individual gains is rather new and our economy is the one that
resists, but considering the depression we are in, our economic systems don't
really do a good job apparently ;-)

You may not feel it now, even though it's 2011, but our lives and the lives of
our children will depend greatly on software functioning for us. When certain
software will stop functioning for individuals, make no mistake about it, that
will be life-threating.

Also, software companies can yield great control over our lives and can do
great damage already. Remember when Google was the underdog just 11 years ago?
Look at them now ... with a push of a button they can delete you from the
Internet.

Proprietary software pays the bills, but that doesn't mean it isn't a really
big socio-political problem that needs to be fixed, sooner rather than later.

So yeah, keep buying iPhones, but when the shit hits the fan Stallman will be
there to teach you again why it was a bad idea; or he'll be dead with nobody
to take his place.

~~~
glaurent
> Basically OS X destroyed Linux's chances on dominating the future desktop.

Yeah, because the constant feuds within the Linux community, the failure to
settle on a common desktop platform, the crowd of "I-want-to-write-yet-
another-irc-client" devs, and the utter lack of appreciation for end-user
needs all have nothing to do with it.

What Stallman in particular and the Linux community in general fails to
understand is that a broken or badly designed software for which you have the
source is more of a prison to the user than a well-made, closed source one.

Before you flame me, I've been part of the Linux community from 1995 to 2008,
and I dare say I was more than an annecdotic contributor. I still support the
idea of free software, but community development simply doesn't scale.

~~~
bad_user
Considering the huge progress that was made in the 90'ties on Linux and the
lack of progress done after OS X came, I think it is safe to assume that OS X
played a major role here.

Software needs resources to get created and lots of it. As a company or as an
individual, you can't sink time and resources into software that isn't at
least popular. You can try to invest in something, but sooner or later
resources dry out, priorities change, etc, etc...

Desktop Linux seems to me that it was created by stitching obsolete software
and quick hacks together with glue and spit. Even broken as it is, I still
marvel at how functional it is for me. And even unpopular as it is, there are
some normal people using it, which goes to show that it isn't totally broken
or insane.

    
    
        broken or badly designed software for which 
        you have the source is more of a prison to the user 
        than a well-made, closed source one.
    

I don't agree there - having the source is a huge advantage, even if you
aren't capable of modifying it. Just as with cars, you don't necessarily have
to go to the parent company and you don't have to fix it yourself. You can
always choose a local shop for repairing and tunning.

    
    
        community development simply doesn't scale
    

I wonder why are you saying that, when server-side Linux and related software
is such a huge hit.

You can also point out to some desktop software that is free software, that is
sponsored and yet community driven and that is usable. That's Firefox and it's
the reason why we came out eventually from the dark-ages of IExplorer's
domination.

~~~
glaurent
> Considering the huge progress that was made in the 90'ties on Linux and the
> lack of progress done after OS X came, I think it is safe to assume that OS
> X played a major role here.

Progress in software development is not linear. You quickly get the basics
done, and then the devil in the details. Also, the Gnome vs. KDE feud didn't
help one bit.

That said, OS X being exactly what Linux dreams to be (Unix with a beautiful
and useable UI, scriptable apps, reusable components, and a modern development
platform), I know I'm not the only one to whom it provided a haven after years
of Linux-induced frustration.

> Desktop Linux seems to me that it was created by stitching obsolete software
> and quick hacks together with glue and spit. Even broken as it is, I still
> marvel at how functional it is for me. And even unpopular as it is, there
> are some normal people using it, which goes to show that it isn't totally
> broken or insane.

No disagreement here.

> I don't agree there - having the source is a huge advantage, even if you
> aren't capable of modifying it. Just as with cars, you don't necessarily
> have to go to the parent company and you don't have to fix it yourself. You
> can always choose a local shop for repairing and tunning.

In theory it's true, in practice it rarely is, since taking over a code base
of any significant size is a very hard challenge. I've yet to encounter a
situation like you describe, or even hear about one. When the software doesn't
work, you replace it, source available or not.

> I wonder why are you saying that, when server-side Linux and related
> software is such a huge hit.

Because the audience being other tech geeks, it's a much simpler endeavor.

> You can also point out to some desktop software that is free software, that
> is sponsored and yet community driven and that is usable.

Sponsored free software is usually mostly developed by the company sponsoring
it, the community comes a distant second. This is a scheme which works,
though, as the company has the final say. I hope it will keep on growing.

~~~
quanticle
_In theory it's true, in practice it rarely is, since taking over a code base
of any significant size is a very hard challenge. I've yet to encounter a
situation like you describe, or even hear about one. When the software doesn't
work, you replace it, source available or not._

Even if you're replacing the software, having the source allows you to ensure
that your replacement is fully backwards compatible with the original, and, if
it is not, enables you to implement a compatibility shim that fixes those
issues.

 _That said, OS X being exactly what Linux dreams to be (Unix with a beautiful
and useable UI, scriptable apps, reusable components, and a modern development
platform), I know I'm not the only one to whom it provided a haven after years
of Linux-induced frustration._

You can't _just_ blame the Linux community, though. I agree that the community
could do a lot of things better (especially with regards to UI development).
However, one big obstacle the Linux community has to work against is hardware
support. Windows is the dominant OS - manufacturers essentially subsidize
Microsoft by providing Windows drivers for their product. Apple, by choice,
writes OSX to only work on a very limited subset of devices that have been
approved by Apple. Linux has neither of those advantages.

In theory, the fact that Linux is open should make it easier for programmers
to make their own drivers and release those drivers to the community at large.
In practice, because of many of the concerns that you've cited, proprietary
drivers still outclass Linux drivers for a number of components, including
WiFi, ACPI power management, and graphics.

~~~
glaurent
_Even if you're replacing the software, having the source allows you to ensure
that your replacement is fully backwards compatible with the original_

Same answer : True in theory, very rarely practical in reality. The only thing
that really matters is the spec of the data format used by the program.

 _You can't just blame the Linux community, though._

I agree, it's not just that, but it's the main reason. 15 years since the
start of KDE and there's still no sign of a unified, viable platform. If there
was one, hardware support would follow.

------
mef
"I do NOT use browsers, I use the SSH protocol. If the network requires a
proxy for SSH, I probably can't use it at all."

I wondered if this applied to all net usage or just email, turns out he never
uses a web browser, ever. If he needs the contents of a web page, he emails a
daemon which wgets the page and emails it back to him:
<http://lwn.net/Articles/262570/>

~~~
muyuu
This takes me back. In the early/mid 90s, particularly in Universities,
internet was slow as molasses and many of us used these mail interfaces, for
web and also for FTP (FTPmail). In many places email was given most of the
bandwidth and it was a lot faster like that. Big files would come Uuencoded in
several parts. In Uni, usually pics of Cindy Crawford and Erika Eleniak among
others.

Now it seems incredibly geeky but back then it wasn't anything remarkable at
all.

~~~
vidarh
My first web usage was via message exchange with a local BBS which did UUCP
e-mail exchanges every 4 hours. I e-mailed my request to an e-mail <-> web
gateway at CERN, and got my page back in the next exchange.

Thankfully that only lasted a year before I got proper access.

And yes, I remember FTPmail, as well as similar gateways for Gopher, Veronica,
Archie, WAIS... I feel old now.

------
mark_l_watson
Love the part about the parrot, and Richard is right about never buying a wild
parrot as a pet. My parrot was hand raised from an egg until he was old enough
for us to care for him.

Richard is also right not to own a parrot himself because he has to travel a
lot. When I have to occasionally travel, a lady who my parrot likes a lot
takes care of him (expensive!) but he still gets some separation anxiety being
away from me and my wife.

I can't imagine not owning a parrot, but I advise other people to not get them
unless they have a lot of time for a pet. I literally spend over an hour a day
playing with him, in addition to his hanging out on my shoulder while I work
and write (My wife and I both work at home). It is great when he flies about
20 miles per hour to me, flairs up and thump!, lands on my shoulder. One
issue, at least for my parrot, is that he always needs to be in the same room
as either my wife or I if we are home. He seems really happy as long as he is
with us.

------
mikeryan
My favorite

 _If you can find a host for me that has a friendly parrot, I will be very
very glad. If you can find someone who has a friendly parrot I can visit with,
that will be nice too._

------
quanticle
I don't see anything there that's especially unreasonable. When Stallman gives
a speech he knows he's representing GNU and the FSF. The rider basically
obligates the organization to tell Stallman in advance what kind of venue he's
going to, and warns the organization that there will be a large crowd, so that
they should plan accordingly. In his position, I'm sure that I'd have similar
clauses in any agreement to talk.

~~~
runjake
I'm not sure if the message was posted to the list to criticize Stallman or
whatever.

And I was thinking the same thing as you, _until I got down to the second
half_ of the rider.

Spoiler: it involves cats, parrots, hygiene, social awkwardness, and just
about every other minute little detail. The sheer length of the piece might
also be considered a turnoff.

~~~
pmattos
Yep, it gets scary...

Tip: _never_ use the word breakfast near him.

~~~
pjscott
Alternate interpretation: he has had overly solicitous people fret over why
he's not eating breakfast, and would rather simply put the topic out of
everyone's minds. He comes off as a solidly decent person in the rest of this
letter; losing his composure at the mention of breakfast seems out of
character.

------
bitwize
"So there I am, in Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, at 3 in the morning, looking
for 1000 brown M&M's to fill a brandy glass, or Richard Stallman wouldn't go
on stage that night."

~~~
drivingmenuts
Just fill it with parrots.

I mean, that wasn't specifically mentioned as a no-no.

------
slowpoke
I'm still amazed at this man. You can like or dislike his views, but he has
more dedication and, more importantly, integrity in every hair of his
impressive beard than most people can ever hope to have in their entire body.

~~~
maximusprime
Many insane people get obsessed by things. That doesn't make them impressive.
It's sad IMHO.

~~~
slowpoke
There's a fine line between genius and madness, and in my opinion, rms treads
it rather nicely. As I said, if anything, you have to acknowledge him for
sticking to his beliefs no matter what. Whether that's obsession or dedication
is subjective and for everyone to decide for themselves.

------
gonzo
Whatever you do, do _NOT_ let him stay in the home of someone you respect or
like.

I've done it twice, and both parties ended up literally burning the sheets,
and wouldn't discuss further what had happened.

~~~
pwaring
Bit late, I've already done that. :) Although I don't remember hearing any
horror stories, other than an amusing anecdote about how his ultra-free
netbook wouldn't connect to the wireless, whereas the proprietary Macbook
worked perfectly...

<http://www.ukuug.org/newsletter/17.2/#repor_paul_>

~~~
jrockway
Why would you expect any different? Wifi is pushing the bleeding edge of how
proprietary a technology can be. Short of buying a semiconductor fab and
replacing every access point and wlan chipset on earth, there is not a lot
Stallman can do to prevent this problem. (Even then, the FCC does not care for
radios that can be modified by their users. So this is why he has to advocate
for Free Software: it's already illegal in some applications.)

------
gokhan
His demands are surely the cumulative result of years of travelling, giving
speeches, dealing with cat fur, losing numerous tickets etc. I would be
surprised if he wasn't this systematic.

------
pygorex
The man is thorough. This line made me lol:

"I do not eat breakfast. Please do not ask me any questions about what I will
do breakfast. Please just do not bring it up."

------
libraryatnight
I think my favorite piece, aside from the parrots, is this: "If the police
want information about free software, they are welcome to come to my speech."

------
Androsynth
Given the kind of talks he does, I can see where he's coming from with this;
it sounds like the kind of list that was built up over time.

In general, I would imagine he doesn't want to repeat the kind of incident
that happened at linuxworld 99, where the he was given the torvalds award[1].

1 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDxMJQLXmBE>

~~~
mekoka
_...so we can call it "GNU slash Linux"_

I never knew he pronounced the _slash_ in GNU/Linux. Not very brandable IMO.

~~~
pluies
I think he pronounced it "GNU plus Linux" the time I attended one of his
speeches. I don't know if he keeps on doing that, but it seems more elegant
and positive than the slash.

------
metafour
I apologize up front to those of you who take the following comments as me
being purposefully obtuse. That's not my intent.

I am not familiar with the intricate details of his message but on the surface
it seems to me to be at odds, at some level, with the idea of it being ok to
have a parrot as a pet. Software needs to be free or humans have a right to
have free access to software but it's okay to keep a bird in a captive
environment. Birds are meant to fly. Even if parrots aren't kept in a cage
they're still kept within some confines. For those of you who have ever seen
first hand a bird who surfs on wind drafts, remaining stationary in the air in
the process, either on the edge of a canyon or just in a field somewhere; or a
bird swooping through the Grand Canyon gets a sense of the freedom I'm
inferring these birds are being deprived of.

I'm perfectly willing to admit that I'm missing some piece of the puzzle but
it seems hard to me to be able to reconcile these two ideas. Do you think he's
ever thought about this?

~~~
outworlder
I had a parrot once. I have the following to say:

Parrots should never be physically confined, either by cages or (god forbid!)
chains. If they like you, they will hang around you on their own accord. After
a while they seem to regard some humans as family. Mine would follow my mom
around like a dog.

As far as I know, they do not surf wind drafts, but they do require exercise.
Therefore, you should have an open space. Either that, or take it outdoors at
a safe location (no roads!) for it to fly. But most importantly, let it climb
some tress, they love it - even more if it has fruits or seeds. It was
difficult convincing mine to get out of trees - we usually had to resort to
bribing.

They can eat human food to some extent, mainly fruits and grain. I had trouble
with parrot rations, because it was very picky and only ate what it wanted to
(mostly the peanuts) and left the rest.

If you do get a parrot, get a couple. It makes them happier and safer (a cat
might attack and seriously hurt one - but it is unlikely to kill). A cat
attacking two parrots would die before doing much.

I don't really think that a pet parrot would be unhappy per se, provided the
above holds. I can agree with RMS when he says that wild parrots would become
unhappy.

Unfortunately, mine was a wild one. What's more, judging by the behavior, he
seemed to be the leader of his group - the others seemed to follow and imitate
him. However, it was also the most docile and appeared to be the happiest one.
The others didn't seem to be so well. But we did treat him as well as we
could.

The vet could not determine the cause of its death. I get the impression that,
since it is an uncommon pet even here, he didn't have any previous experience.
I think whatever it was, an experienced vet could have saved him. And I found
years later that sunflower seeds have to be eaten in moderation, as they are
very fatty.

I am having a hard time using the pronoun "it". His death haunts me to this
day and it's been almost two decades now.

I never got any other pets.

~~~
mhb
How do they feel about breakfast?

~~~
forensic
No one has ever asked and lived to tell the tale.

------
ethank
This is one of the least crazy and nicest riders I've ever read.

~~~
_delirium
It's also nicely explicit and consists of a lot of "tell me if you plan to do
[x] up front so we can agree or disagree".

The more common "policy" is for speakers to not list all these things in
advance, but then threaten to pull out at the last minute when they find out
they were paired with another keynote speaker they don't like, causing mad
panics to smooth things over or find replacements.

~~~
ethank
That is what is so great about it: it's specific.

If you look at the smoking gun's archive, you'll see the more seasoned touring
bands have the same level of specificity.

When you are respected, in demand, etc you know how people will screw you and
prevent it in writing.

------
robfig
""" Food:

I do not eat breakfast. Please do not ask me any questions about what I will
do breakfast. Please just do not bring it up. """

Love it. Anyone know why?

~~~
gwillen
As someone who does not eat breakfast, I imagine it's to avoid the kind of
response I get when I tell my host I don't eat breakfast:

"Oh, are you sure? It's no trouble? It's good for you! Breakfast is the most
important meal of the day! Why not just eat breakfast with us?" etc. etc.

~~~
rbonvall
I can empathize with that, since I also have some traits that raise similar
responses, which I'd rather avoid.

But I'd better word my request as "please don't question my choices" instead
of going into that much detail about them, which is precisely what I'd like to
avoid in the first place.

------
eliasmacpherson
Thanks for this, but I can't help feeling like something of a voyeur for
reading. It really is a burden to be in a position where your communications
are divulged publicly, to be dissected. He's hardly Van Halen.

~~~
Semiapies
This is a document designed to be given to complete strangers while making
arrangements for his speaking engagements. It's not _that_ personal, really.

------
joshu
TLDR: Don't buy a parrot for RMS's sake.

------
jackvalentine
I detest Richard Stallman, probably not justifiably because I respect the work
that he did 20 years ago, but cannot stand the man's absolutism today.

However "I can speak in English, French, and Spanish." surprised me, and I see
him in a different light, strangely.

~~~
johkra
If you want to get to know him a bit better, read his (freely licensed)
biography: <http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/faif-2.0.pdf>

~~~
jackvalentine
Thank you, I'll read it over summer.

------
code_duck
Very thorough... even includes advice about parrot acquisition.

------
ddol
We invited rms to speak at SkyCon '07[1], but he double booked and ended up
not coming to Ireland.

The rider has changed significantly since I received it in late 2006 -
<http://diffchecker.com/851d9eU>

Can anyone point me toward more unique copies of this rider? I would like to
be able to keep track of the changes over time.

[1] <http://skycon.skynet.ie/2007/>

------
brownie
For a rider so detailed, I'm shocked that there are no details on performing
"Free the Software". How will I know which key it is supposed to be?

------
smacktoward
For comparison purposes, you can download the Foo Fighters' concert rider
here:

[http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/celebrity/foo-
fighter...](http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/celebrity/foo-
fighters-2011-tour-rider-872903)

Perhaps Stallman's rider would be better received if he had provided it as a
coloring book...

------
Artagra
I had the opportunity to see Richard Stallman speak, to participate in a Q&A
session afterwards, and to ask him a few specific questions. I think he's a
great man, whose acting with a huge amount of conviction and commitment to
what he believes in - I have huge respect for this.

I also think he's a bit crazy, but then so am I! I feel he could make a bigger
impact for his cause if he was more moderated and accessible in his views, but
I respect his views none the less.

I think a detailed rider like this is generally a good thing, as it allows
people to prepare more effectively. And from talking to the people who
organised the event I attended, I think he's actually much more chilled out
and reasonable than some of the things in the rider make him seem.

------
mwexler
I particularly enjoyed this part of the rider:

" Bus and train tickets:

If you buy bus or train tickets for me, do not give my name! Big Brother has
no right to know where I travel, or where you travel, or where anyone travels.
If they arbitrarily demand a name, give a name that does not belong to any
person you know of. If they will check my ID before I board the bus or train,
then let's look for another way for me to travel. (In the US I never use long-
distance trains because of their ID policy.)

Don't give them your name either: please pay for the ticket in cash. "

It's fascinating to see how far into the experience he lays out his
expectations and concerns. The "no Coke" mentioned elsewhere here is also an
interesting requirement.

------
VonGuard
you need to know what I dislike:

    
    
       avocado
       eggplant, usually (there are occasional exceptions)
       hot pepper
       olives
       liver (even in trace quantities)
       stomach and intestine; other organ meats
       cooked tuna
       oysters
       egg yolk, if the taste is noticeable, except when boiled completely hard
       many strong cheeses, especially those with green fungus
       desserts that contain fruit or liqueur flavors
       sour fruits, such as grapefruit and many oranges
       beer
       coffee (though weak coffee flavor can be good in desserts)
       the taste of alcohol (so I don't drink anything stronger than wine)

~~~
slipperyp
By pure coincidence, the exact set intersection for "things rms has stuck up
his ass and been unable to extract."

~~~
sneak

        T

------
LeafStorm
Some of the things in the rider are definitely odd, but the only one that I
would really consider unreasonable is the "GNU/Linux" thing. Yes, I know that
the GNU project has done a lot of work for Linux, but on the other hand there
are a lot of Linux distros that do not use an all-GNU userland anymore.

~~~
chwahoo
I wonder what the "least-GNU" distro is at this point. Are there any that use
LLVM/clang and uclibc, for example?

~~~
apostlion
Android is essentially GNU-less.

~~~
officemonkey
Well, the Linux kernel is GPL.

------
masterponomo
I wonder: If he's sleepy and you don't provide a couple of Pepsi's, does he
just nod off in mid-speech? "Let me remind you, it's not just Linux, it's
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..."

------
damncabbage
ESR looks infinitely more reasonable by comparison:
<http://www.catb.org/esr/travelrules.html>

~~~
sneak
The fact alone that he can make ESR seem like a reasonable person by
comparison must be a legitimate superpower of some kind.

------
Lighting
> Please do not ask me any questions about what I will do breakfast.

Is this a dialect or a typo. I would have thought he'd have said "... about
what I will do FOR breakfast"

------
alimbada
I'll just leave this here: <http://edward.oconnor.cx/2005/04/rms>

------
dhechols
Mr. Stallman is neither nice in manner or smell. His ideas, while visionary at
times, are not pragmatic. He is his own worst enemy. Perhaps, however, it
takes an unfriendly, smelly man to trumpet the ideas of freedom in the digital
age. I'm ok with that.

~~~
Udo
I thought about voting that down or not. Instead I'm just going to comment.
This smell thing is really uncalled for, isn't it. I must admit that I always
admired what he does, but - maybe like you - I have come to the conclusion
that this guy is probably not a nice person. Probably.

Also, he kind of comes across as a one-trick pony. He literally can only think
about one single issue. I believe when he thinks about the entire universe, he
just looks at free and proprietary software and he's done. There is nothing
else. Yes, maybe that's what it takes. Maybe visionaries can't be nice. Maybe
successful people _have_ to be assholes. Then again, I hope not.

~~~
pnathan
Last time I rummaged around his personal site, he had social and political
commentary not focused on libre software issues.

------
nikcub
Make sure you feed him, otherwise this happens:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I25UeVXrEHQ>

------
vladsanchez
Who the HELL cares about this guy?

------
TruthElixirX
"I usually decline to participate in "open source" or "Linux" events. See
<http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html> for why it is incorrect to refer
to the operating system as "Linux"."

Ah, this never gets old.

Also, using Pepsi to keep awake.

Are all riders this god damn picky? It wouldn't surprise me. I imagine there
is a great amount of antagonism between performers/speakers/etc and the
venues.

~~~
runjake
I've never read GNU's Linux FAQ that I can remember, but this section is
interesting in light of the GNU kernel's history:

Question: Isn't writing the kernel most of the work in an operating system?

Answer: No, many components take a lot of work.

If I recall correctly, work on the GNU kernel began in the mid-80's (HURD in
1990?). I'll leave the correlation to the reader.

~~~
anothermachine
Linux was a good kernel that was better than what GNU had at the time, and it
was compatible (technically/legally) with the rest of GNU, so it deprecated
Hurd.

Sure, if enough folks wanted to, they good finish Hurd. But what's the point?
They should go work on Linux.

~~~
runjake
Hurd isn't deprecated in the eyes of GNU. So far as I'm aware, they still
desire a kernel under the GNU name.

------
jsavimbi
If there is something else interesting and unique in this link, please tell me
about it. Maybe I will be interested.

~~~
0x12
At a guess, then you'll mail your daemon to fetch the page, to be mailed back
by the daemon?

~~~
jsavimbi
Only after I find a trustworthy wi-fi connection that'll allow proxy-less SSH.

~~~
brider
This entire comments thread has a higher than expected level of
subtle/downplayed humor. I appreciate subtle humor, but I don't know if Hacker
News is the place for it.

~~~
jsavimbi
That's odd. I found no references to either subtle or downplayed humor in the
rider.

You sir, are really subtle with your humor.

------
Portmanager
RMS is quite unkempt, his feet stink like a hobo. In general he has a retarded
way of dealing with people, not a nice person to be in touch with.

Just my 2 cents. PS: I did not mention his philosophy, neithe if his ideas are
wrong. I just said he's got a bad personal hygiene and that he is has a
retarded way of dealing with people, here are some quotes:
<http://edward.oconnor.cx/2005/04/rms> It is plain wrong to offer condolences
to a father with a newborn child and thus retarded.

~~~
jolie
RMS is a delightful man (I've had the pleasure of interviewing him at length
in person), and his demands are completely in line with his philosophies. His
dedication to free and open-source ideals, if impractical, is also inspiring
and rare.

Saying he has "a retarded way of dealing with people" is perhaps too general.
I myself found him enchanting and enlightening in our interactions. Maybe you
just didn't like the way he treated _you_.

~~~
JabavuAdams
> open-source ideals,

You didn't read the part of the rider about "open source".

~~~
slowpoke
Your parent said "free and open source". Tiny but important difference.

------
latchkey
I read the entire thing and all I could think about it was: Too Much
Information. Seriously.

~~~
derleth
TMI is what a rider is there for. Its whole purpose in life is to enable
_everything else_ to run smoothly, so _it_ needs to lay things out in detail
that is nothing short of exacting, and if it verges on the anal-retentive
that's just a few fewer things for people to worry about later.

------
snorkel
And yet I doubt that satisfying each of these requirements would actually make
him less cranky.

------
ivankirigin

      If you can find a host for me that has a friendly parrot, I will be very very glad.
    

love it

------
sgt
To be completely honest, after what he wrote about Steve Jobs' death, I don't
feel like paying much attention to RMS anymore.

~~~
Mvandenbergh
Much like Steve Jobs, RMS is a visionary. Most visionaries aren't necessarily
pleasant people in any conventional sense, they can be peremptory,
irritatingly specific and detailed in their demands.

~~~
maximusprime
Please don't compare the two.

Steve Jobs created a massive company. Thousands of jobs. He created products
we all love and use.

Stallman just goes around ranting mad rants at people.

~~~
officemonkey
Comparing the two is a bit like comparing Thomas Paine to Thomas Edison.

Stallman created a movement. A movement that largely predicted the ways
technology and society interact. I think in 100 years people will still using
the GPL. I can't say that about the iPod.

~~~
maximusprime
BS. Free software existed well before Stallman.

~~~
DanBC
Do you have any examples please?

~~~
ghaff
The first BSD work predated GNU by a good seven years.

~~~
officemonkey
The first BSD license is not Copyleft.

