Contributors disgruntled with the recent direction of cross-platform FOSS audio software Audacity are forking the sound editor to a version that does not have the features or requirements that have upset some in the community.
One such project can be found on GitHub, with user “cookiengineer” proclaiming themselves “evil benevolent temporary dictator” in order to get the ball rolling.
Oh boi, #audacity issue regarding legal terms and privacy policy exploded yesterday. Like, for real.
I created a fork that removed all those features, and we’re currently working on a rebrand, github orga, and automated builds via GitHub actions:https://t.co/6hOI5oHVGF
— Cookie Engineer (@cookiengineer) July 5, 2021
“Being friendly seemed to have invited too many trolls,” observed the engineer, “and we must stop this behaviour.”
Presumably that refers to the trolling rather than being friendly. And goodness, the project has had somewhat of a baptism by fire in recent hours as a number of 4chan users elected to launch a raid on it.
This is why we can’t have nice things.
The project is blunt with regard to the causes of the fork – Audacity’s privacy policy updates, the contributors licence agreement, and the a furore over introducing telemetry have all played a part.
- Not for children: Audacity fans drop the f-bomb after privacy agreement changes
- The Audacity: Audio tool finds new and exciting ways to annoy contributors with a Contributor License Agreement
- Audacity’s new management hits rewind on telemetry plans following community outrage
- ‘A massive middle finger’: Open-source audio fans up in arms after Audacity opts to add telemetry capture
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Robin Edgar
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