That email chain contains one of my favorite quotes:

"It doesn’t take special talents to reproduce—even plants can do it. On the other hand, contributing to a program like Emacs takes real skill. That is really something to be proud of." --RMS

(As a parent without any special talents, I am evidence supporting his claim.)

Which reminds me of this RMS classic:

http://www.art.net/Studios/Hackers/Hopkins/Don/text/rms-vs-d...

I can't say I disagree with RMS. Having a child is really nothing special. Every other person on the planet does that. And while I respect that for many parents, having their own kid is the best moment of their lives, I think RMS is right to point out that except said parents, no one else cares. It's a huge problem on social media now; one of the most annoying things is people continuously spamming everyone with photos of their newborns.

You might not care, RMS might not care, but please don't assume that "no one else cares". I don't know you, and I don't know RMS, but he doesn't seem like the most emotionally intelligent person, perhaps you aren't either. Nothing wrong with that, you are who you are.

Some people are capable of responding very strongly to the emotions of others. I'm not saying they're better than you, just that they're different to you, and that they exist :)

Ok, I might overstated it for dramatics, but what I'm complaining about is that being considerate should go both ways. I'll be happy for you that you have a kid and congratulate you, but please don't assume that it's in any way as important for me as it is for you.

It reminds me a thing my friend told me once, that she sometimes wonder whether if she'll have a kid, will she be as obnoxious about it on Facebook as many of her friends.

Wow. It's no surprise that rms lacks empathy or social grace, but I'm kind of shocked one man's availability could single-handedly delay a release of a project like emacs. What if the poor chap had got hit by a bus?

I suspect that in this case it was easier to wait for the person to be available rather than transitioning to someone else.

BTW, since then Emacs development has been handed over to other folk and development has really picked up pace, including being (finally!) hosted in Git.