Abuse is indefensible

I've read a few of Linus' rants and been on the fence, but this one does seem to have crossed some sort of line into being unnecessarily abusive, and to add to that, unclear communication. The rewritten version really does emphasise a much better approach. Linus's rant doesn't read like it was written by... a stable person.

I was in full agreement with the article up until this:

>Of the many things I could say about this, I will say just one: sadly, I am certain the reaction to this text would be entirely different were it written by a woman.

What the... where on earth did this come from? Completely irrelevant and not true in my opinion. This issue is about whether it post was abusive, the gender of the poster makes no difference. I'm pretty sure that female Linus (assuming female Linus had accomplished everything real Linus has over her life) would have had a bunch of loyal followers that defended her no matter what she said, and a bunch of people who thought she was out of line.

Does the gender issue really have to be shoehorned into every story?

And when you exercise that right, other people have the right to point out when you are being a jerk.

I thought that finally I can see example of Linus being abusive. This was not it.

Linus was attacking the work and ideas and cursing them. He was not attacking the person who wrote the code. Cursing is not abusive by itself. Cursing is emotional emphasis.

I would not want to work in a environment where strong emotional language used to criticize your work is considered abusive. If conflict over ideas and work does not make your blood flow, you don't care.

When I was 17, I was super enthusiastic about Linux. I read a bunch of stuff about kernel development. Linus' attitude was very well known and presented as an amusing thing. Glorified even. I remember reading some of his emails with a great deal of schadenfreude.

Now I'm really glad I never pursued that. I work in a field where all the leading figures are absurdly nice and respectful. Reading Linus' rant makes me appreciate that more.

"Abuse"

ITT: Grown adults being little bitches.

This is why the next generation will be so fragile they'll be unable to take any sort of criticism. God help us.