[LRUG] DHH, Rails, and London

[Chris Lowis]

I feel like when people say "political" they are assuming "democratic". I
can be persuaded that we should keep arguments about tax rates or housing
policy for example out of "Ruby spaces".

But what DHH is celebrating/encouraging is clearly anti-democratic. In the
"London" post he explicitly endorses the views of "Tommy Robinson" and a
guy who calls for trans people to be attacked. These are not just political
view points in my opinion. I hesitate to escalate language but they
encourage things I would recognise as fascistic. This would be abhorrent
from anyone and I think it's reprehensible from someone in a position of
control and influence within our community.

I think if these people win many people won't be able to enjoy the things
celebrated in this thread - making things, meeting diverse groups of
people, freedom of travel and association etc.



On Thu, Sep 25, 2025, 11:47 AM Greg Molnar via Chat <chat at lists.lrug.org>
wrote:

> Just to give a counterpoint, I don't really care about others' political
> view. I go to conferences and share the love of Ruby and Rails with folks
> of various ethnicity, religion, gender, politics, etc and we have a great
> time and great conversations together.
> Whatever views DHH holds, he is good for the community in my opinion.
> Under his stewardship Rails moves forward, we have a Rails renaissance, and
> the bigger the community gets, the more opportunities arise for all of us.
> A tide lift all the boats.
> So I say let's keep building, let's keep helping each other and cheer for
> the success of others.
>
> Peace,
>
> Greg
>
> On Thu, Sep 25, 2025, at 9:46 AM, James Smith via Chat wrote:
>
> Hi folks,
>
> I recently read DHH’s take on London, how it’s “no longer British” and his
> support for Tommy Robinson and the far right, and quite frankly it made me
> sick, having been a Rails dev since 1.2, and a Brit since 1976.
>
> If it did the same for you, you might want to co-sign this open letter
> I’ve started calling for the Rails Core team to cut ties with him and
> remove his influence: https://github.com/Plan-Vert/open-letter.
>
> If this doesn't bother you, or you just don’t want to mix politics and
> code, then fine, please just delete this email and move on. Rest assured
> I’ve had all the standard abuse already, there’s no need to repeat it.
>
> Yes, forking Rails it would be almost impossible. Yes, the attempt will
> probably fail, I knew that on day one. But I had to try something, I love
> this language, framework and place too much to let them be tarnished like
> this.
>
> cheers,
> James Smith
>
> PS I did check with the organisers before posting “political” content to
> the list.
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