Mastodawn

Vile Lasagna Oct 13

@gardiner_bryant I guess the way I've seen it elegantly put was "if your big tent has nazis in it, it isn't a big tent; it's a nazi bar"

This is the thing that Framework are pretending to not understand so... it's like a swasticar. No one that buys one these days "because they like the tech" or whatever are being honest with their motives. Neither situation is a mystery

And I'm pretty comfortable saying "pretend" here because they've very much heard all the arguments and doubled the fuck down

@VileLasagna @gardiner_bryant

jz.tusk Oct 13

Yup. I read most of the article, and being generous thought "hmm, maybe this guy doesn't know about the n*zi bar problem, because he's not engaging with the issue it raises".

So, OP, read up about the n*zi bar problem, and engage with it. Not knowing about it these days is about as bad as not knowing about race conditions when writing multi-threaded code.

Nick Bisby Oct 13

@gardiner_bryant I've been living under a rock and missed all those things about DHH. Eesh.

@bisby yeah. I wish I didn't have to know this shit. Haha

Jason Evangelho 🐧🎒Nov 9

@gardiner_bryant @bisby And now I feel the exact same! Though I’m grateful to have learned about the situation from your blog post, Gardiner. Im guessing that level-headed coverage about this situation is rare.

Bryan (he/him) 🇺🇸 🏳️‍🌈Oct 13

This is very well thought out and well written. Thank you Gardiner for taking the time to lay it all out like you did.

@resplendent606 Thank you, Bryan. I try to be thoughtful.

tootbrute Oct 30

@gardiner_bryant @resplendent606 the comments on your blog are great. DHH lovers coming out full force.

Gardiner Bryant Oct 30

@tootbrute @resplendent606 hehe yeah. The only comments I get are from freakin' cultists.

Bryan (he/him) 🇺🇸 🏳️‍🌈Oct 30

@tootbrute @gardiner_bryant

Yes, this one in particular was a good response.

tootbrute Oct 30

@resplendent606 @gardiner_bryant exactly the one I loved. Trolls don't know what to do when you don't engage with them

Suda synth mode

Oct 13

@gardiner_bryant This is the most agreeable take I've seen about the situation. Really well stated

J. R. DePriest

:EA DATA. SF:Oct 13

But to articulate the real problem... what if Nirav's insistence on promoting Omarchy is because he actually shares DHH's views?

That's my assumption due to the doubling down and because only a raging case of willful blindness can explain it at this point.

Framework leadership looked at the world we live in and picked a side.

Cameron Bosch Oct 13

@gardiner_bryant The worst part of this whole thing is that they and StarLabs are the only OEMs where Linux is officially supported that are also ODMs, meaning they also design their own laptops. And apart from them and System76, there aren't any good laptops in the US that are Linux first. Slimbook & Tuxedo are a nightmare to import here.

Also, StarLabs has no options for laptops with a dGPU. And System76 isn't perfect either.

It's a real shame, because this is really hurting FOSS & R2R.

Cameron Bosch Oct 13

@gardiner_bryant Not excusing Nirav though. He should really apologize and stop supporting DHH. And then take a bit of a break from the internet. But I'm getting less and less hopeful about that happening.

geist Oct 14

@cameron_bosch @gardiner_bryant FWIW MNT is another Linux-first ODM, though not (yet?) of the same scale.

Cameron Bosch Oct 14

@geist @gardiner_bryant The problem is that MNT has no x86 options. That makes it unsuitable for me.

laxxius Oct 13

@gardiner_bryant Thank you so much for this. I've been trying to read up on why there's so much controversy around DHH,Omarchy,Framework,Hyprland for a week now. But every discussion I've found on the topic was vague about the REASONS.

I've been losing my mind over this so again I appreciate that you linked to blog posts by DHH rather than just (very briefly) paraphrasing what he said.

soaproot Oct 15

@laxxius @gardiner_bryant Not sure how far down the rabbit hole you wanted to go, but if you are still looking for more reasons, there are some at https://github.com/Plan-Vert/open-letter including the section at the bottom which links to some external articles.

GitHub - Plan-Vert/open-letter: An open letter calling for a hard fork of Rails to remove DHH's influence

An open letter calling for a hard fork of Rails to remove DHH's influence - Plan-Vert/open-letter

GitHub

McNeely Oct 13

@gardiner_bryant legitimately cackling from your DHH Torvalds comparison. Excellent writing 👏

Default_Defect Oct 13

@gardiner_bryant You were right, the comment section on the video is GARBO. Thanks for the video!

Robin Cafolla Oct 13

@gardiner_bryant kudos for the video. It exactly echoes my sentiments. I love the repairability of my @frameworkcomputer but at the end of the day its a laptop and if Framework don't cop on and stop spending my money on far right douchebags then I won't be giving them any more of it.

Francis 🇾🇪 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️Oct 13

@gardiner_bryant I tried to sign up on my phone and the form seems broken.

Keep it up. I found what he regurgitated about the UK particularly egregious. All of those tropes have been thoroughly debunked.

Andrew Graves Oct 13

Thanks for putting out this video. You've been so passionate about the topics you've talked on your channel and it's pretty clear that you couldn't stay silent on this topic anymore. Very brave, I'm curious if and what the other bigger Linux channels will have to say.

Kudos to you, been following your channel for literal years!

Jared White (ResistanceNet ✊)Oct 13

@gardiner_bryant it's kind of wild to see how DHH is at the center of multiple technology community uproars simultaneously. (Hi, I'm a Ruby developer. AMA! 😅)

@jaredwhite what's the other one?

Jared White (ResistanceNet ✊)Oct 13

@gardiner_bryant well you mentioned the Ruby on Rails aspect, and right now there’s a firestorm because one of the primary Ruby infrastructure organizations, Ruby Central, is in hot water from a series of misdeeds related to DHH's sudden return to the (now ended) RailsConf earlier this year (lots more history there).

There's also an open letter (Plan Vert) to request Rails Core disassociate from DHH, nearing 150 signatories.

interru

Oct 14

@jaredwhite @gardiner_bryant Add NixOS to the list: https://fedi.slightly.tech/@joepie91/statuses/01K6AHA0BNBBX616JGDJHYET36

DHH is not necessarily in the center of that conflict but one thing is for certain: Open source has a massive problem with emerging right wing ideologies.

Also note how Nirav mentioned NixOS in his "big-tent" post next to Omarchy.

Post by Sven Slootweg 🔜 eth0 ("still kinky and horny anyway"), @[email protected]

CW: NixOS, uspol

slightly.tech

@gardiner_bryant @jaredwhite

amd Oct 14

There’s a lot of talk that he is behind the Shopify hostile takeover of rubygems (he’s on Shopify’s board)

https://joel.drapper.me/p/rubygems-takeover/

Shopify, pulling strings at Ruby Central, forces Bundler and RubyGems takeover

Ruby Central recently took over a collection of open source projects from their maintainers without their consent.

https://www.corporateknights.com/issues/2025-04-spring-issue/how-shopify-went-from-canadas-tech-darling-to-anti-dei/

mathew Oct 15

@amd @gardiner_bryant @jaredwhite Shopify also have a right wing CEO, and ties to a far-right web site via their COO:
https://pressprogress.ca/shopify-executives-right-wing-media-website-rails-against-immigrants-while-defending-a-legally-designated-terrorist-group/

Shopify Executive’s Right-Wing Media Website Rails Against Immigrants While Defending a Legally Designated Terrorist Group

Right-wing Canadian media website ‘True North’ deletes interview with the founder of the Proud Boys after being contacted by PressProgress

PressProgress

piofthings Oct 13

@gardiner_bryant Nirav lives in Silicon valley VC social circles! He cannot afford to look “woke”! His post is simply for Framework’s sponsors/investors! Sad, I had really invested in Framework!

unsponsor Oct 13

@gardiner_bryant thank you for having principles

Jonas Trostle Oct 13

@gardiner_bryant my laptop is broken and I was about to buy a new one from Framework (literally had it in the cart), but now I guess I'm looking elsewhere. Thanks for saving me the heartache

Larry Oct 13

@gardiner_bryant
You buried the lede? What is omarchy?

@quoidian It's Arch Linux for script kiddies.

Larry Oct 13

@gardiner_bryant
Ok. That thumbnail helped. Thanks.

bill Oct 14

@gardiner_bryant @quoidian A dotfiles repo with a personality cult.

Mika Oct 14

@gardiner_bryant great article! just wanted to clarify this bit:

Maybe Nirav is an Omarchy user?as it sorta implies that you didn't know - Nirav has been contributing (code) a lot to Omarchy, so he's beyond just an Omarchy user. DHH has 'hyped' about it many times on his socials, of Nirav fixing bugs and introducing improvements, etc. to Omarchy. That bit makes it all the more frustrating, beyond just a 'simple' endorsement :))

Also, I saw a link you used in the article that was an archive link, but not others (that were referring to DHH's content, and Nirav's post). Just in case you need them (i.e. don't want that post gone/altered or, more importantly, don't wanna send traffic to DHH's shitty blog):

🔗 http://archive.today/2025.05.15-223900/https://world.hey.com/dhh/are-we-past-peak-woke-c313b7d1

🔗 http://archive.today/2025.09.17-092810/https://world.hey.com/dhh/national-pride-f7aa1e92

🔗 http://archive.today/2024.04.01-125356/https://world.hey.com/dhh/bad-therapy-08849dc9

🔗 http://archive.today/2025.10.10-060152/https://xcancel.com/cmonkey/status/1976493945627766909

@irfan Ahh. See, I've deliberately been ignoring Omarchy so I didn't know that. (Trying to ignore it, anyway)

Mika Oct 14

@gardiner_bryant we're on the same boat :) If it wasn't bcos of Framework's involvement, it'd be a lot easier to ignore it.

@irfan I genuinely don't care what version of Linux people use. I have no interest in attracting attention from the bots, trolls, and DHH's cultists.

But when Framework--a company I've worked with and promoted in the past--makes it impossible for me to stay silent, well... then I have to say something.

Mika Oct 14

@gardiner_bryant precisely. Again, thanks for taking the time to write up your article!

Seris

Oct 14

@gardiner_bryant Saw the videos going around showcasing Omarchy and it lost me as soon as the baked in LLM tools came up

dash Oct 14

It's so interesting seeing the replies here on Mastodon being fully in support with your stance (as they should!), and then the YouTube community bringing the trolls out who are attacking you for taking a stand.

Just interesting to see the quality difference in people. And a nice reminder as to why Mastodon is the perfect place to be.

Proud of you for posting this, as always, Gardiner :)

@flwwhtrbt well, Mastodon is full of libs! 😆

But in all honesty, though, it's really that Mastodon doesn't have an algorithm. People see it, they share it, people that follow them see it and share it... it's organic. It's the way human communication is meant to happen.

Meanwhile YouTube's algo puts videos in the feeds of people that it thinks will watch it--and you're more likely to interact with content you disagree with.

Artemis Oct 14

@gardiner_bryant IIRC Framework also gave money to Hyprland so... Any benefit of the doubt on them not supporting right-wing-ish a-holes is wearing thin.

@art_codesmith I didn't know about that

Artemis Oct 14

@gardiner_bryant Yupp, right on Hyprland's site: https://hypr.land/#:~:text=Our-,sponsors,-Diamond

And ohhh, what have we here, 37signals (DHH's company) too!

minus9 Oct 14

@gardiner_bryant Thanks for speaking out on this. I'm sure you'll get loads of crap from the edgelords.

I don't know if Framework can get trust and goodwill back now, once lost that's hard to regain.

@gardiner_bryant
Don't know anything about DHH (wasn't working with Ruby at all). But reading his posts, although they didn't resonate with me, did make me think that this is another case of political exaggeration.

I personally can't appreciate labeling everyone who's not completely aligned with left as alt-right. It makes me think of "the boy who cried wolf" fable.

Also as a person who separates software from their authors (unless they compromise it to achieve their political goals which is a no-go for me) I feel that I completely missed Omarchy as a potential distro to check.

I can partly agree with you that from a pragmatical point of view, working with such a project when some people are so crazy about politics could be a risky move and it'll be safer to bet on a project which is not aligned with politics at all. But at the same time I'm not very fond of latest changes in OpenSource which incline us to waste already low development resource just bacause someone's view does not align with someone else's. So I'm even somewhat proud of Framework framework drawing a line between a distro and it's author. Although if the distro starts promoting something or it's code or licensing becomes jeopardized by them, I'll also oppose such promotion.

uwu1ba Oct 14

@skobkin @gardiner_bryant >Also as a person who separates software from their authors (unless they compromise it to achieve their political goals which is a no-go for me) I feel that I completely missed Omarchy as a potential distro to check

Even so, it's just a lazy Arch fork. I don't think somebody's personal dotfiles deserve so much attention.

@a1ba @gardiner_bryant If it is really that, then I agree. But I didn't check it out yet. Will do later when I have time.

@a1ba @skobkin @gardiner_bryant

tootbrute Oct 30

I don't think somebody's personal dotfiles deserve so much attention.

Amen. It's not a distro.

@skobkin to me, this isn't about politics. DHH has advocated for forcibly removing immigrants from London to restore the purity of British culture. He's promoted books about forcing trans conversion therapy on trans folks. To me, many of his writings smack of Nazi rhetoric.

Whether you're on the right or the left, doesn't matter. Nazis are categorically evil. Characterizing his use of Nazi rhetoric as "political disagreement" is untenable.

@skobkin but I must say, of all the comments I've seen disagreeing with me, this one is my favorite. You're actually understanding what I'm saying in my article. Most others are hearing what they want to hear and attacking that. I appreciate your response! This is why I love the Fediverse!

@gardiner_bryant
Thanks.

I too appreciate that you're not labeling me right away as some alt-right supporter like many would do if they read what they wanted instead of what I tried to say.

@skobkin it's pretty easy to sus out the alt right from normal people. First of all, most of them don't come around here. Second, they argue against their imagined enemy's talking points rather than reading, considering, and responding with substantive criticism.

they argue against their imagined enemy's talking points rather than reading, considering, and responding with substantive criticism

Unfortunately I see that from both sides of the spectrum. And that is exactly the reason why I don't sympathize fully with both.

And I agree on the part about trying to fight right away instead of trying to understand initial point.

@skobkin I don't agree with most radical viewpoints. Be it religious, political, special interest, or otherwise. I care about real conversation and common ground.

Though I have to say that I see this religious fervor/ignorant rhetoric the most on the far right, currently.