As far as I can tell, the direct chain of events preceding this coup-like event was:
Ruby Central hosts DHH at RailsConf in July --> Sidekiq withdraws funding from Ruby Central --> Ruby Central is essentially entirely dependent on Shopify.
The "what" seems to be purely a reaction to this article DHH posted:
Strictly speaking, DHH's September blog post could not have driven this unless there was a time machine involved. However, DHH has made some contentious political statements in the past so perhaps what you're saying is true in a larger sense.
It's certainly possible that Shopify's actions had nothing to do with either side's politics in particular, and they decided it was simply safer for them to control Ruby Cental and RubyGems rather than rely on an independent organization with unstable funding (that they were basically solely funding anyway according to the article)
I don't love that outcome. As a Ruby fan, I don't want Ruby or bits of its infrastructure controlled by a particular organization.
Ruby Central [announces that it will] hosts DHH at RailsConf [6 weeks before the event is due to happen, when it's too late for people to refund their conference tickets and plane tickets too] in July 2025.
Announcing guests late for a convention (when the arrangements might not have been finalized until that point) is "a dick move", because some attendees might not like the idea of the guest being there (despite no compulsion to interact with said guest) and find it too late to cancel (on things they voluntarily committed to based on the existing expected content, fully accepting the risk of future change)?
No, I think the dick move (in the https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0la5DBtOVNI sense) is raising hue and cry because the opportunity to see another influential person at a convention somehow ruins the rest of the convention for you.
And are we seriously arguing that the creator of the thing should be barred from a convention about the thing?
Ruby Central hosts DHH at RailsConf in July --> Sidekiq withdraws funding from Ruby Central --> Ruby Central is essentially entirely dependent on Shopify.
Strictly speaking, DHH's September blog post could not have driven this unless there was a time machine involved. However, DHH has made some contentious political statements in the past so perhaps what you're saying is true in a larger sense.It's certainly possible that Shopify's actions had nothing to do with either side's politics in particular, and they decided it was simply safer for them to control Ruby Cental and RubyGems rather than rely on an independent organization with unstable funding (that they were basically solely funding anyway according to the article)
I don't love that outcome. As a Ruby fan, I don't want Ruby or bits of its infrastructure controlled by a particular organization.