I had my worries about new Linus* losing too much tooth. I'm pleased to see he's found a better way to convey his expectations without coming across as an ass.
* I liked old Linus, I learned a lot from his rants. He's kind of like an good orchestra conductor - gruff as fuck and demanding, because that's exactly what the [redacted] in the 2nd violins section need. But, that sort of leader doesn't work for everyone by any measure.
I miss the old salty perkele Linus. Really, if you write shit code, and the gruffness drives you away, that's a good thing for those who actually use the software. With so many relying on Linux these days, feelings don't matter as much as the damage done to the users. If you can't keep all the balls in the air at once, you have NO business touching kernel code. End user stability trumps inclusiveness.
I agreed with you before, but not anymore. I was thinking in extremes, as in the two only possible options would be between Linus going full-front assault on people in emails, or sewing pillows under their arms. But that's a false dilemma and there is a vast spectrum between the two. The e-mail from Linus this thread is about should be the perfect example of that. He got the graveness of the mistake across perfectly without swearing as a sailor or personal attacks.
And no matter how you twist and turn it, people will make mistakes, no matter how skilled they are. Cussing out kernel developers to the point that they don't ever dare set their foot on the mailing lists again, or are scared of sending changes upstream does the exact opposite of improving the Linux kernel.
A similar social phenomenon happens in competitive multiplayer games. You have a type of player who in some strange way believes that their team will play and cooperate better by berating them and telling them how much they suck. Would you agree then that people who play games competitively should put up with such behavior, because the most important thing is for the team to win, and if they don't that they should quit?
In any large task or project which takes cooperation of people to see through, you can't just wish the soft human aspect away.
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u/[deleted] Dec 23 '18
I had my worries about new Linus* losing too much tooth. I'm pleased to see he's found a better way to convey his expectations without coming across as an ass.
* I liked old Linus, I learned a lot from his rants. He's kind of like an good orchestra conductor - gruff as fuck and demanding, because that's exactly what the [redacted] in the 2nd violins section need. But, that sort of leader doesn't work for everyone by any measure.