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---
title: "Comunidades Foss Devem Ser Construidas Com Foss"
date: 2021-06-17T00:19:43-03:00
draft: true
tags: []
---

Recently, I've been noticed that some free software communities have been set a
foot unto proprietary platforms [^1].

<details>
  <summary>Disclaimer</summary>

  <p>
    In this article I'll be using interchambeable the terms <strong>free
    software</strong> and <strong>open source</strong>. The reason is to use a
    single word, even though I comprehend they represent different concepts.
  </p>
</details>

[^1]: O [libera.chat]() por exemplo, se tornou o lar de projetos FOSS, mas mantém
  seus perfis oficiais em lugares como o Facebook e Twitter

This annoys me for a very obvious reason: I don't expect that a free software be
anchored on a proprietary platform. It seems to me undoubtedly incoherent. Few
people perceive that, but each free software brought unto this world, serves as
a contra-point to it's proprietary peer, a contra-point that believes that the
commoning and the collective is better than individual and property.

With that in mind, it's at least strange when a community of a free
software/hardware is organized around or participate of a proprietary platform.

Some makers, will argue about lacking of good free software to built
communities, and that proprietary software are more friendly, or even that "it's
where our community is". Look, according to the FSF's definition of free
software or even OSI, one of the most crucial points is the fact that free
software empowers people to collaborate, it allows you to contribute directly
with this software. Using this path, you can not only directly build and improve
this so called "bad platforms", the mere act of using them, can help to validate
and boost whoever built or maintain it.

So, if I'm a FOSS developer and whish that the options of free software
proliferate, and that the quality improve and that the ecosystem as a whole
flourishes, it is necessary that I bet my horses on the options that exists
today, and that I build together as well. This bet is only _part of the process_
and can't be see as a mere accessory.

There are dozens of tools built on open protocols, standardized and portable
between different architectures, OSes, etc. Tools that are not isolated into
some proprietary software, surrounded with walls, harvestening everyones data
and even inacessible for a part of people that wishes to be part of your
community.

Some tools, like Discord are well known to

proliferate, you have to cast your lot with more open source tools. They're
equally suited to the task as, say, Discord.

Choosing proprietary tools and platforms can also easily serve to reduce your
pool of potential contributors who don't want to use proprietary tools, and
especially those who don't want to install proprietary software on their own
computers, like the Discord client.

Some people simply cannot use something like Discord at all - it has a high
hardware requirements floor, poor to mediocre Linux support and completely
absent support for systems like BSD, not to mention grave accessibility
problems. Only an open protocol enables anyone to build the clients that suit
their needs, and are not dependent on the whims of some corporate board of
director's determination of your merit (i.e. financial exploitability) as a
participant.

Muitas dessas ferramentas, como por exemplo Discord são conhecidos por exigirem
muitos recursos para pouco benefícios que de fato entregam, lugares como
Facebook também são mundialmente conhecidos por minerar dados e violar a
privacidade dos seus usuários. Qual a justificativa de um software livre
construído como um contra-ponto estar utilizando essas plataformas?

Escolher participar e construir comunidades em cima de softwares proprietários é
uma escolha contraditória por si só, e ela ameaça justamente afastar as pessoas
dos ideais do pelo qual você construiu o seu software em primeiro lugar, dê a
chance e construa sua comunidade em cima do que é aberto, livre e público. E
contribua para que esse ecosistema como um todo cresça ainda mais, esse é o
espírito do software livre.