Hey
@Grummz , not sure where to put this where you'll read it. If anyone knows how to get him to read that, plz retweet or PM him so he gets this info. I've been following Godot for a long time, both on Twitter and their blogposts. I'd like to give a rundown of things the way I understand them.
One,
@reduzio is not a political guy. He has some "enemies" but clearly dodges politics like the plague. His twitter is 99% technical and he always gives your typical naive responses to anything political ("I don't believe in conspiracy theories" or "this policy is about equality, there's no problem with it" even as it gets everyone banned for not being far left). You're putting a lot of pressure on him right now and I think you're barking up the wrong tree. He is certainly "the Godot guy" but I'm 99% sure he didn't set up these policies or chose that CM, he trusted the wrong people around him. He worked on Godot for nearly 10 years, carried it and basically developed it alone for a long time. It's a wonderful project, he is very talented and doesn't deserve the shit he's getting right now. The pressure shouldn't be on him, so I want it put on the right people instead.
There have been numerous odd signs around Godot in the past 6 months to a year.
@YuriSizov , who was one of the top contributors, suddenly got fired. The weird part about it is that he stayed very active and tried supporting the engine even after he got fired, so clearly didn't want to be kicked out. When people asked in the old Discord about why, the answer was an incredibly strange "we can't say, if Yuri wants to talk about it, he will", which makes no sense. Either he was fired for a clear reason, either he left and doesn't wanna say why. My guess is that he was fired for purely political reasons. He's Russian, he was fired over Ukraine war reasons and basically not wanting to say "Russia is evil". You can have your own opinions about him not being against his own country, but he clearly didn't bring politics in the engine and his work was top tier, has numerous blogposts on the official Godot website too. He was heavily dogged around by an (obviously Ukrainian) hater, but that guy got kicked out of the engine too and still goes around throwing hate posts, including against Linietsky.
Some few months ago, the current CM was introduced. Green hair and all. I immediately saw the writing on the wall and got worried. My worries got confirmed when two things happened:
- They immediately decided that the longstanding Godot Discord server, now renamed Godot Café, was just "not good enough" despite years of good functionality and a community of 90000+, and wanted an "official server". The justification for the official server was to "prevent hostile takeovers" and "get the people the moderation they deserved". I.E, a power grab. I immediately assumed that this was the green haired trolls wanting full control of the system and ability to ban anyone they didn't like. And I didn't miss. Apparently the new server is full of far left crap and every obsession with LBGTQIAGRGAERYHZRFEZ+++++++++++ being enforced as the main subject, while the old Godot Café is still active, fully apolitical and is all about Godot and gamedev.
- The new server was followed by a new Code of Conduct which was, through and through, about far left crap. It was basically "kiss the trans dick or get banned". Really, no surprise from me. I didn't even enter that one. Despite having been publicly vocal about the current issue + numerous screenshots of my posts online, Godot Café hasn't banned me yet, which I think speaks a lot about it. It's still the functional hub of historical Godot users IMO.
I think you are mistaking the scapegoat, Linietsky, with the true culprit here, which I am 90% sure is
@Akien . Akien is a known far left advocate and has many, many political posts. I can't get any out because, well, he blocked me same as I got blocked by the official
@godotengine when I denounced all this crap yesterday.
To illustrate just how far left the guy is, I remember this kind of conversation:
Linietsky: "This engine is so everyone can do gamedev, it's not really about the poor or the rich or any political camp"
Akien: "I wouldn't say that, we're doing this engine for a good cause, to push the right camp up"
Words are apocryphal, but the spirit is that. Linietsky always did this with the intent to make Godot a true FOSS engine. Akien/Verschelde absolutely wants to use it as a vessel to push the "right" ideologies and concepts forward. His twitter is full of political crap and has been for years.
I'm telling you this because Linietsky is taking a lot of pressure that shouldn't be on him at all. It is the typical far left scumbag strategy of doing all the shit they do, then shove off responsibility to a good man in charge that's trying to do the right thing and keep everyone happy. They are openly sabotaging the engine and community and all the pressure is being eaten by Linietsky. The guy doesn't deserve this at all, and more than that, I think it's just their goal: to antagonise Linietsky into a small little box with only them vs the rest of us.
I may sound like a fanboy, and I am, but he is a genuine good man that's never blocked or rejected talking with anyone, even when I told him plain in his face that he was being a naive fool. He still hasn't blocked me, meanwhile the official godot account and Akien have both blocked me while I never interacted with either.
These scum are pushing him to take the pressure and hiding behind. They are disgusting to that level.
The reason as to why Akien was allowed to push his little far left scumbag friends is because he is the project manager and effectively merges nearly all pull requests to the engine. Typical far left/commie tactic of holding control over what gets in and what doesn't. I don't know if he's abused that position or not.
To summarise:
- Linietsky is an apolitical trying to please everyone and is being manipulated into taking all the pressure and conflict, and is entirely the victim here
- I suspect Akien/Remi Verschelde to be fully the one pushing for far left infestation of Godot and to have been the one pushing for this CM (and to be forcing them to stay in right now)
- People like Yuri Sizov shouldn't have been fired and were fired for political reasons
- Linietsky needs to be spared, not pressured
- Akien should be directly seen as the problem
Of course I want that CM out, the old Godot community to return to being only gamedev oriented and apolitical. I think Linietsky has been/is being naive and is being heavily manipulated, even possibly threatened from the inside of Akien leaving the project if the far left crap isn't allowed to continue. Frankly, if Akien is on a "my far left ideology or I leave the project" route, he's already left the project and is only using it as a political vessel. This kind of hostage taking, especially from someone doing all the merge request control, is not acceptable.
The politicization of Godot must stop. Contributors should be allowed in based on contribution quality alone. And Linietsky shouldn't be tanking all that pressure.