I just want to point out, this conversation has been had over and over, on HN, in the Gleam Discord, and I'm sure in many other places as well - always spurred by the same statement on the Gleam website.
So instead of discussing one of the most beautiful programming languages ever created, we're discussing politics, virtues, and wannabe Nazis. Because of a single sentence on the website...
I don't care either way, but it is notable how distracting that seemingly innocuous statement has become.
Could the community goals not be accomplished in a possibly less divisive way? The first part of the community statement seems entirely sufficient to me.
So, while I don't care and will continue to use Gleam regardless, it does seem to me that greeting curious potential new users with any particular brand of politics (righteous or not) is possibly antithetical to the goals of the language.
I don't believe even a little bit the success of the community has anything to do with this sentence on the website. The success of the community belongs to the relentless hard work of Louis et al.
The sentence is a source of continuous friction between the language, community, and public. It just seems so... unnecessary.
Half of this thread was consumed with people discussing politics and virtues instead of the v1.12 release - that is a pretty large problem for the language, objectively.
When people google Gleam, they'll find pages/discussions like this instead of people discussing the merits of certain syntax or libraries, new features and the like.
There's a reason most businesses/organizations don't engage in politics... even if the founders have very strong political views.
Your metrics for community success might be misaligned with those of the community stewards.
There's more room for interpretation in "all backgrounds, genders, and experience levels are welcome and respected equally" than with the explicit stated support for BLM, trans rights, and anti-nazi ideologies. Room for interpretation on codes of conduct make for more moderation work, allowing more undesirable behaviours to crop up.
> There's a reason most businesses/organizations don't engage in politics... even if the founders have very strong political views
Yes, but that might not be the goals of the Gleam stewards. Maybe they would rather take a moral stance even if it hurts Gleam's reach.
So instead of discussing one of the most beautiful programming languages ever created, we're discussing politics, virtues, and wannabe Nazis. Because of a single sentence on the website...
I don't care either way, but it is notable how distracting that seemingly innocuous statement has become.
Could the community goals not be accomplished in a possibly less divisive way? The first part of the community statement seems entirely sufficient to me.
So, while I don't care and will continue to use Gleam regardless, it does seem to me that greeting curious potential new users with any particular brand of politics (righteous or not) is possibly antithetical to the goals of the language.