[deleted]
Abuse is indefensible
71–80 of 221 posts
Re: Abuse is indefensible
#72I'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…
> What the... where on earth did this come from?
It comes from the same place all flamebait comes from: they're picking a fight.
Re: Abuse is indefensible
#73I'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…
I had the same feeling about the last bit of the article. Drama for no reason. I would be glad if the tech community focused more on tech than on shitstorms. Some people are just too sensitive. If you don't like how Linus behaves, then don't deal with him. Noone forces you. But why post an article on your blog which is associated with Mozilla including a gist of collected swear words? At least Linus didn't engage in…
> If you don't like how Linus behaves, then don't deal with him. Noone forces you.
Linus' status in the Open Source community makes him a role model for some people (whether he likes it or not; I suspect he doesn't), and so people imitate him. It's much less palatable coming from someone with less credibility and experience.
Re: Abuse is indefensible
#74I thought Mr. Sowa's reply to be a very professional in defending his decisions to write it as he did, and still remain open and gracious in Linus' criticism.
http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1510.3/02919.html
A worthwhile read in how to handle these situations.
Re: Abuse is indefensible
#75From the team that hounded out Brendan Eich... May I quote the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression: this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Brendan Eich stepping down as Mozilla's CEO was not due to speech:
>His appointment sparked controversy over a $1,000 political donation Eich had made in 2008 to the successful campaign for California Proposition 8, which sought to establish that, "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."
Re: Abuse is indefensible
#76i read this response by linus and it doesn't seem to be abusive to anyone, he's being critical of the code.
who is this linus guy anyway? he sounds like a typical new yorker.
Re: Abuse is indefensible
#77Linus' version is intimidating. But that's why it is very effective. Case in point, we people on hacker news would have never even read his rant if the language was mild. So in some way it sticks better. You really DO NOT WANT to step on his toes again (and everyone else reading it, too), so in the end Linus' wins. Also, it's sad, but after so many years on the internet I don't consider his language to be abusive. It…
> You really DO NOT WANT to step on his toes again (and everyone else reading it, too), so in the end Linus' wins.
And yet it keeps happening, frequent enough that it's something everyone knows about. If anything, he's not optimizing his own responses based on actual performance. He's doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. And he's not even being efficient with it.
And, well, pretty sure he ruins his own performance by getting all enraged like that.
Re: Abuse is indefensible
#78Linus doesn't deserve to be in his position. Technical merit doesn't excuse being a horrible manager of people.
> Linus doesn't deserve to be in his position. What exactly do you mean by "in his position"? It's his project that he started years ago. His participation is likened to a monarchy, not a democracy. His further involvement is, therefore, not something that can be decided by an election. He doesn't deserve to be in his position with respect to a project he started and owns? That doesn't make any damn sense.
Or maybe since he can't communicate without expletives or being overly coarse he can appoint someone else to the task of explaining the problems with code contributions?
Re: Abuse is indefensible
#79"Nonetheless, I’ve seen multiple people defending and even celebrating it. (One outlet called it an “epic rant”.) "
I don't think calling it an "epic rant" was celebrating it.
http://www.itworld.com/article/3000564/linux/linus-goes-on-e...
"Linus loses it in an epic rant about kernel code." isn't exactly a complimentary line, IMO.
Re: Abuse is indefensible
#80When 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 app…
I think this is the underlying point. It's difficult to imagine that Linus's style of criticising attracts people to the industry, or indeed has any benefits at all. Conversely, it clearly puts off a lot of talented people from getting involved in Linux, and people use his style as justification for their own aggression. Outside of the open source movement, managers using this kind of language would be reprimanded an…
"Difficult to imagine" isn't evidence; it's just failure of imagination.