Superstitious users and the FreeBSD logo
Brett Glass
brett at lariat.net
Wed Nov 30 02:30:04 UTC 2011
Everyone:
I just got a call from the owner of a hotel for which we provide
hotspot service. She says that a guest spotted the "Powered by
FreeBSD" logo at the bottom of the login page, and was offended;
the guest was convinced that either we or the hotel management
"worshipped the Devil" and refused to stay at the hotel unless the
logo was removed. The owner could make no headway by explaining
that the besneakered mascot was a cartoon character and was a
daemon, not the Devil. And she feared upsetting the guest even more
if she said that large portions of the same software are inside
every Mac and iPad. The hotel stands to lose more than $1000 if the
guest, who had originally planned to stay for a long period, moves out.
One of our tech support people also got a call directly from the
hotel guest, who claimed that having the logo on the page
constituted "abuse." The guest also claimed to be "losing money"
because she wouldn't use the hotspot if there was a "devil" on the
splash page. He didn't even realize what she was talking about at
first.... He couldn't imagine why on Earth this person was calling
him and going on about devils.
Attempts at misguided religious censorship notwithstanding, I don't
want to see one of my ISP's customers lose business. And I'd like
to keep a FreeBSD logo on our hotspot page. Is there artwork that
doesn't include horned creatures that might offend the ignorant or
superstitious?
--Brett Glass
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