Tough questions.

1. I can only think of extreme cases, so I’d be really grasping in the dark. My thoughts went towards euthanasia and other health and safety standards, but definitely weak legs on this side of the argument. Would you define the moon race as something positive? Because that seems to be based on the wrong things.
2. Cultures aren’t meant to last forever? Or from another end of it, they morph into each and borrow and steal. Maybe I’m skirting that first question. No permanently completed projects, because projects in use need to be maintained. I’d say it’s probably a bad idea to start a project with knowing the other one can rob you of your time.
3. We’re all looking for good curators, but most of us don’t know it. If we don’t give attention to the ‘bad ones’, will the ‘good ones’ prosper? Doesn’t the attention the bad one gets bring light to something that will inspire new good ones to act?

That last part felt a bit unhinged. The heat might be getting to me. Thanks for the thoughts, I tried to leave out the nazi programmer aspect of it all in my reply. I can lean into it for some devil’s advocacy, but I’m pretty sure that’s not why we’re here.

There’s definitely useless data, but information in itself is mostly harmless. Maybe it makes sense working together with someone bad until you have enoughgood people around to branch off and create a well-working, clean version of your product. I am totally in the dark here, the last time I did anything programming related was making a batch file in windows 20 years ago.

apologies for the tone it may had

Right back at ya. But for what it’s worth, I didn’t feel any animosity coming from you, and most of the answers have been pretty tame compared to the weight of the topic.

I do understand now why I shouldn’t trust my data to a bad-faith player. I know where my misunderstanding stems from and appreciate all the input I got from this community. Another big thanks for keeping things on track (re:music).

Yeah, but in that case what keeps me away is that an asshole broke their system.

As it stands, my argument is about bad people writing good code. That is definitely not the case here, so I am sorry if I robbed anyone’s time.

No need to throw punches, comrade.

If you feel you wanna toe my line, we can get into the merits and blind spots of positivism, but please try to see me arguing in good faith about something I either don’t understand or find questionable.

The reason I brought up the comparison is because I think it at least tangentially relates to ethical software usage as well.

I came to a similar conclusion from another comment: nazis are not wholesome people, so they cannot produce wholesome code (I guess music doesn’t need wholesomeness to hit deep). This is my practical stance on the matter. Nazis have not produced a good enough operating system for me to switch to it.

But going back to nitpick, I don’t have a blink of understanding about machine languages (or coding in general for that), but I do have trust in the community, and the community has freaks that speak machine language and can inform me about any hidden malware. But I guess by now I’m just advocating for the devil. Thanks for engaging, it did provide extra gradients in my view.

I can see how propogating their product would intensify their reach, but the problem I am having is that I cannot differentiate a good app based on ideology.

Now that I come to think of it, I might not run into that problem. Maybe nazis cannot make wholesome code, because they are not wholesome themselves. That would make my point moot. Thank you for the gentle comment.

Of course, that’s why I go open source, that’s what brought me here to Lemmy.

Maybe I am wrong to mix music into it, although you might be able to pick up the glove in that aspect too: Morrissey is a narcissistic/racist asshole, yet his music brings me joy. Am I a bad person for that? Should I stop listening to him? I’ve never really bought an album, and I don’t listen to interviews, but his music. Wouldn’t having a nazi OS be the same (mind you not this one, but something without the slop)? Using Temple OS would make me weird, sure, but would that mean I am platforming the mentally deranged?

If it’s open source, I’d read about the nazi breaking his own code and switch systems.

I mean this is all just philosophy right now, cuz I’m super happy with my instance of Endeavour, and to my best knowledge there are no nazis involved. But that being said, I still don’t understand why I shouldn’t use a good product just because the producer’s values are askewed. I guess there is an argument to be made that it might affect their work, but if it doesn’t, what’s the harm?

I wouldn’t want to install anything unvetted. But doesn’t open source mean it’s fully transparent? So if the system had tracking and whatnot (which regimes usually like), I wouldn’t install it.

If it’s a good fit and there is no fallout for me downloading it (I’m not funding them, not giving them info), I think there is no moral problem with me downloading the software.

In this specific case I guess it’s moot, cuz it’s full of slop, but this is the same vein as pop culture consumption: do I hate myself for liking Michael Jackson’s and Morrissey’s music? Should I not pirate it, if it brings me joy? Am I a bad person for liking that music?

The nazi bar problem I understand, but why is using open source provided by a nazi wrong?