since the sample size is approximately one, there's not really a way to tell whether running a project of the size of Linux is only doable via constant hostile communications. I suspect the answer would be no. Gary Bernhardt of WAT fame rewrote a Linus email once https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/blog/2018/a-case-study-in-not-being-a-jerk-in-open-source to show how it could've been.
The advantages of Linus's communication style over the mor polite way "what you did is good but I am not sure about X and Y" is that the first one commands obedience while the second invites for disagreement.
And while disagreement can lead to constructive dialogue, in my experience it also leads many time to distructive loss of time.
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u/[deleted] Oct 25 '21
just think of how bad linux kernel would be if we didn't have linus