Last week was, in a word, completely friggin' bonkers.

The news stories just kept on coming!  Some super nerdy stuff.  Some super political stuff.  And... Winamp?!  I mean... what the heck was in the water last week?

The Shows

• Linux on C64, 8086, & Intel 4004
• Trump vs Harris on Computer Tech Policies
• Microsoft, Oracle, Amazon & the Nuclear Powered Data Center
• Window Shopping for Retro Computers
• New California Law: Digital Stores Cannot Say "Buy" When They Mean "License"
• The "9.9" Linux Vulnerability Revealed: It's The Printers
• Rust Compiler Not Stable Enough for Linux Kernel Development
• Privacy Watchdog Group Attacks Mozilla for Firefox User Tracking
• Newly Open Sourced Winamp Forbids Forking, Already Forked Hundreds of Times
• Severe (9.9 / 10) Linux Vulnerability Announced, Details Kept Secret
• Telegram Will Now Give Personal Data to Governments & Use AI to Moderate Content

The Articles

• Funny Programming Pictures Part LVI

Warning: This article contains screenshots of posts and statements which contain obscene and vulgar language.  Those statements are presented here, without edits, in order to accurately record these events.

Over the last few days, the team behind the open source Godot game engine has enacted a mass banning -- dubbed a "cleansing" -- of users, developers, and financial supporters who were perceived to have the "wrong" political views.

This morning, the Godot Foundation has -- after tremendous pressure -- issued an official statement on their X account.

Two images containing text.  The first of which reads as follows:

"On Friday, we made a tweet that unexpectedly led to a wave of harassment directed at our staff and community. We unequivocally condemn this abuse.

 

The volume of negative engagement overwhelmed our moderation efforts.

While attempting to protect the Godot community we mistakenly blocked individuals who were not participating in the harassment. The Godot Foundation Board takes full responsibility for these moderation actions.

 

If you believe you were blocked in error and have not violated our Code of Conduct, please contact us with the form linked below. We are committed to swiftly rectifying any mistakes.

 

We firmly stand by our mission to keep our community spaces free from hate, discrimination, and other toxic behaviors.

 

- The Godot Foundation Board"

The statement "we made a tweet that unexpectedly led to a wave of harassment directed at our staff" is, based on all available evidence, simply not true.  The majority of bannings, enacted by Godot, appear to have been directed towards people who were makings statements which could not be described as "harassing staff".

Many were variations on "why not focus on software?" or "why are people being banned?"

Likewise, the statement "The volume of negative engagement overwhelmed our moderation efforts" also appears to be false.

During the height of the mass "Cleansing", the employee responsible for "Community & Communications" for Godot openly mocked and insulted those being banned -- and had enough time and energy to "start a folder" of the replies to Godot's actions.

Got enough time to "start a folder" of people you ban -- and mock them online?  You probably are not "overwhelmed".

Two other points worth noting regarding this statement from the Godot Foundation:

• It appears as though no banned accounts -- on any platform -- have been un-banned.
• It also appears as though no action, of any kind, has been taken regarding the Godot team members responsible for the mass bannings.

Both actions would be incredibly simple to take -- and would help to ease the escalating tension between the Godot Foundation and the Godot users (and contributors).  Yet, notably, these actions have been specifically not taken.

That is a choice by Godot.

An additional, shorter statement was made concerning the Godot Discord moderator who called those being banned "the filth of humanity" who can "[censored] off to oblivion".

"We strongly condemn the harmful language used by Xananax, moderator of an unofficial Godot-related Discord server.

 

We want to clarify that Xananax is not hired by nor a spokesperson for the Godot Foundation.

 

As an organization, we have our own official Discord server, moderated together with the new volunteers vetted by our team."

Two points are worth noting with this statement.

The first is that Godot appears to be distancing themselves from this moderator by stating that this was an "unofficial Godot-related Discord server".

However, this Discord server was listed as the official Discord server -- according to the Godot Foundation website (as of just three months ago).  Likewise, "Xananax" has been often referred to as the "Main Moderator" for multiple years.

Thus proving that "Xananax" was, indeed, an official moderator of the official Discord server for Godot.  At least until... now.

The second point is that the Godot Foundation is "condemn[ing] the harmful language" of their moderator.  But what language, specifically?  Is Godot condemning the statement that their users are "the filth of humanity" who can "[censored] off to oblivion"?  We assume so... but they don't actually specify.

Well, luckily, another official moderator of the new official Godot Discord server has made an announcement to clarify:

I'll call your attention to the bullet point, second from the end:

"Additionally, posts made by community member Xan from back in 2016 have surfaced, that the Foundation had to distance itself from"

Wait.  2016?  The Godot Foundation was not condemning the new "filth of humanity" statements?

They were condemning... statements made... 8 years ago?  Seriously?

Well, ok.  What, pray tell, were those 8 year old statements that Godot finally decided to condemn?  Apparently... this is them.

That's right.  This "Xananax" made those statements on the (then) official Godot Discord server -- which the Godot team was totally fine with (even making Xananax the "main" moderator).

But, now that they've surfaced again, Godot has distanced themselves from those statements.  But not, it should be repeated, the "filth of humanity" statements.  Those statements, apparently, Godot agrees with.

Send Us Your Email to Get Unblocked

In a truly peculiar move, instead of simply unblocking / unbanning everyone who was "cleansed" over the last few days... the Godot Foundation has posted a Google Form for people to fill out to request a "Block Appeal" specifically for "X/Twitter".

To fill out this form, Godot is requiring users send them the email address associated with your personal Google / GMail account.

And, bizarrely, this only is for requesting an unblock on X/Twitter.  The mass blocks and bans on Discord and GitHub (source control) are, apparently, not available for appeal.

Those who have been "cleansed" must plead their case and give a specific reason why Godot, in their infinite mercy, should unban them.

So Many Questions

Naturally, The Lunduke Journal had some questions.

Specifically:

In less than 60 seconds, my questions were deleted by the Godot moderators.

As I sat there, in the Godot Discord topic -- specifically for asking questions about this issue -- I was amazed as I saw comment after comment, from a wide range of users, get deleted.  Right before my eyes.

More messages were deleted than were allowed to remain.

Journalists, users, developers... none were allowed to ask critical questions.  None allowed to express opinions contrary to the official statement from Godot.

What happens now is anyone's guess.  But Godot sure seems hell-bent on destroying themselves in a hurry.

The epidemic of discrimination -- and mass bannings -- of political undesirables (read: anyone other than Leftist Extremists) continues to plague the world of Open Source Software.

The NixOS Linux project recently enacted their, self-proclaimed, "purge" of people who they labeled "Nazis" (but who were, in fact, simply not-Leftists).  The openSUSE Linux distribution mass banned (and labeld as "rotten flesh") anyone who failed to enthusiastically wave the LGBT flag.  Python, elementary, GNOME, and more have all been committing mass-bannings of those who they view as having "politically wrong" ideals.

And now Godot -- the extremely popular, Open Source, video game development engine -- has succumbed to this disease.

Let The "Cleansing" Begin

Over the past two days, a huge number of Godot users, developers, and even financial supporters have been banned for suggesting that Godot -- a piece of software -- should be focused on software instead of politics.

This was in response to a post on the official Godot X account stating, "Apparently game engines are woke now?  Well then, we won't complain.  Show us your Wokot games below".

From that point forward the bannings appeared to occur quickly, and in large numbers (accompanied by scores of hidden replies and comments).

These bannings have occured across every platform where Godot operates: Including X, Discord, and even GitHub.

Yes.  Developers are being banned from the Godot source code repository on GitHub for the crime of either having the "wrong political ideas" or for suggesting that "Godot should focus on software".  Even if those statements were made on personal accounts on different online platforms.

The mass bannings have been issued for offenses even as simple as, literally, quoting the creator of Godot.

In a particularly peculiar move, a "Titanium Level" financial supporter of Godot was blocked during this mass banning campaign.

One Godot fan -- and vocal supporter of the bannings -- positively referred to these actions as a "cleansing", giving "utter respect to Godot for cleansing the community".

This mass "Cleansing" -- across all official Godot platforms -- appears to be spearheaded by an individual named "Nat" -- who describes herself as working in "Community and Communications" with Godot.  She also describes herself as "Obnoxiously Queer".

After the mass "Cleansing" was started, the creator of Godot replied to questions regarding the bannings by stating, "If you behave properly you should not be banned no matter what your political bias is.  Nobody has been instructed to ban people for who they follow or what they post in public." 

Following that up by stating, "Sure if you go and register in the forums and in your bio you write that your gender is attack helicopter, or if you make there any harassment or discrimination, that will be an instant ban."

As the bannings continued, fast and furious, another Godot moderator (who goes by the name of "xananax") posted the following to the Godot Discord server -- in response to people questioning the reasons and motives behind the mass bans.

Warning: The language used in these quotes is extraordinarily vulgar.  The Lunduke Journal is reproducing screenshots of them, as they were originally posted, for the sake of accuracy.

"You have no right of speech here, because I consider your speech to be toxic vomit.  If you think inviting queer people to share their games is 'politics', you're a toxic piece of [censored], an evil human, and I want you to feel disrespected.  And to [censored] off, as fast as you can".

Refering to those being banned by Godot, the Godot moderator stated, "They're the filth of humanity, and banning them is a kindness to everyone."

The Godot moderator continued by referencing the Godot tweet (which read: "Apparently game engines are woke now?  Well then, we won't complain."), by saing: "For me, the only problem of this tweet is that it doesn't happen every day, so more of those imbeciles can be banned.  They should be doing these tweets every 30mn, and anyone who has a problem with them can [censored] off to oblivion, and then [censored] off some more.  And anyone having any slight issue with it here can [censored] off too."

The Godot Community, Communication, and Moderation officials are certainly being quite clear about their actions and intentions.

The Lunduke Journal reached out to the creator of Godot as well as the Godot Foundation for comment.

What follows is the entire response from the Godot Foundation.

Hi Bryan, 

We intend to make an official statement on Monday.

We do have and enforce a Code of Conduct (https://godotengine.org/code-of-conduct/) on our community channels. Appeals for bans can be made to the code of conduct team email address: [email protected]. 

Best, 

Clay John, Board Member

Interestingly, Godot's team certainly seems to be in clear violation of their own Code of Conduct, which states the following:

• Aggressive or offensive behavior is not acceptable.
• You will be excluded from participating in the community if you insult, demean, harass, intentionally make others uncomfortable by any means, or participate in any other hateful conduct, either publicly or privately.

Otherwise, Godot declined to answer any questions (or provide any indication of what the contents of any future statement might be).  When, or if, there are additional comments from Godot, The Lunduke Journal will publish them.

Worth noting: As of the time of publication, all known bans remained in place.  No ban has been lifted... even more than 24 hours after the creator of Godot responded to notification of the ban.  Which would suggest, in the absense of any other information, that Godot management suports these "Cleansings".