Tag Archives: richard stallman

Richard Stallman’s rider

October 27th, 2011

Everyone and their mother’s dog is linking to Richard Stallman’s rider but it is simply too good to pass up. It is laugh-out-loud funny and so incredibly detailed that I highly recommend, if you haven’t already read it, that you grab your favorite evening beverage and read the entire thing. I recommend a Jameson and cranberry…

Here’s a snippet under Hospitality regarding Stallman’s dislike of being offered help of any kind.

“One situation where I do not need help, let alone supervision, is in crossing streets. I grew up in the middle of the world’s biggest city, full of cars, and I have crossed streets without assistance even in the chaotic traffic of Bangalore and Delhi. Please just leave me alone when I cross streets.”

Richard Stallman’s approach to email

January 24th, 2010

I wish I could handle email this way. Richard Stallman, the guy behind GNU and a self-proclaimed free software advocate and campaigner, only signs onto the Internet to send email a few times per day.

“Most of the time I do not have an Internet connection. Once or twice or maybe three times a day I connect and transfer mail in and out. Before sending mail, I always review and revise the outgoing messages. That gives me a chance to catch mistakes and faux pas.”

I try to edit emails before I send them but I admit I don’t do it with every email. I also only try to only check email once per day for a fixed amount of time but that ends up in some major email stacking so then I’m forced to take an entire morning to catch up during the week.

After 16 years of reading and writing email I’ve yet to find the right way to handle it. I’ve found that it is typically those that send you email that are at fault for email problems.

/via The Setup.