Re: Documentation of what is appropriate for #guix?

[raingloom]

On Sun, 20 Feb 2022 11:41:23 +0900
Yasuaki Kudo <yasu@yasuaki.com> wrote:

> Or even better, create an alternative community of practitioners who 
> don't give a damn (for their purposes)...   Let me know if other
> people also want to create a corruption-admitted-community as well
> 😁.  We can work together.  -Yasu
> 
> On 2/20/22 11:33, Vagrant Cascadian wrote:
> > Every now and then someone stumbles into #guix and ask questions
> > that I've gleaned over time are off-topic (e.g. non-free software).
> > While I have a pretty good idea what is appropriate for the
> > channel, it is not clear to me where that is documentated.
> >
> > I figured maybe it is referenced in the code of conduct, but then I
> > see no reference to the code of conduct on https://guix.gnu.org,
> > although it is in the toplevel directory of guix.git as
> > "CODE-OF-CONDUCT".
> >
> > Still, the CODE-OF-CONDUCT doesn't really say anything about what is
> > on-topic for #guix on irc...
> >
> > It would be helpful to have a link to be able to point to more
> > easily whenever either subjects come up in the irc channel, ideally
> > somewhere a little easier to find. :)
> >
> >
> > live well,
> >    vagrant  
> 

Something like that already exists for The Channel That May Not Be
Named.

By the way, I think it's kind of silly that that is completely banned
from discussion. When I wanted help on getting my GPU to work, I
mentioned for reference purposes that I tried the proprietary driver
from The Forbidden Channel - and was subsequently warned that I must
not do that. Which I find ridiculous. You can't even discuss results
obtained by running closed source drivers and firmware, so how do you
debug the libre firmwares and drivers, when you have nothing to compare
against?

Also, I think people who want to overwhelmingly use free software but
need proprietary drivers for their computer to function should be
offered better help than "buy a new computer". Currently I'm a mostly
happy user of an AMDGPU based desktop, which lets me create creative
commons artwork in Blender, that I would not be able to do without
proprietary firmware.

I think The Forbidden Channel should be raised to a status similar to
the AUR: it's recognized and its existence is documented, but all
responsibility is very explicitly disclaimed and support is relegated
to special channels.