@jwildeboer thanks for your thoughts. Curious what the discussion was - on fedi?
I am very skeptical that The Bad People will be put off anyone's code based on license: they typically have the money to reimplement or legally battle their way. This understanding informs my pragmatic support for Foss/public domain.
(Feels like a good place to mention the Telekommunit Manifesto though, which makes a strong case for "non-free" licensing https://networkcultures.org/blog/2010/10/21/the-telekommunist-from-dmytri-kleiner-is-out-now/ )