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A Case Study in Not Being a Jerk in Open Source

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Re: A Case Study in Not Being a Jerk in Open Source

#51
Some issues with this rewrite:

* "but I'm not sure...", "I think that..." - these are weasel words that weren't there before and which change the meaning of the sentences. If the commit message is wrong, in the context of right and wrong of Linux kernel development, saying so is not Linus stating his opinion. The context of right and wrong might be based on Linus's opinions, but that's a different thing.

* the rewritten version loses the point about unclear standards language not being an argument, even though this is mentioned multiple times in the original. Perhaps because it often comes up as a rebuttal attempt, as indicated by "Don't tell me...".

* The conclusion of the original e-mail, i.e. its main takeaway, is that standards should be questioned. The rewritten version ends with "what are your other arguments?". In fact, the explicit point being made - that the standard should not be seen as an infallible resource - is now only implicitly present.

That said, I agree that profanity, name-calling and direct attacks are unnecessary and that the e-mail would be better off without it. But the author of the blog post also promotes changing clear and direct language to weak statements, which I do not agree with.

Re: A Case Study in Not Being a Jerk in Open Source

#52

It's amusing to watch people defend Linus every time a post mentions his abrasive style. They always offer the same set of excuses: Linux is too important to leave to nice people! Linus only does this to people who should know better! Get thicker skin! Etc etc. It's the same set of excuses that justify assholes in any profession, and it suffers from the same flaw: it's not actually necessary to be a dickhead to be go…

Write your own kernel and impose your own standards.

Re: A Case Study in Not Being a Jerk in Open Source

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any references? I'd be interested to read them.

I took note of the “Mr torvalds or Mr Rogers” example. It was clever and I think the truth underlying it is that for an idea to survive its circumstances, it must be shepherded by certain kinds of personalities.

Exactly.

I'll add, you accurately used the word shepherded and I thought, "I imagine there are times when sheep aren't too pleased to be handled by a crook". Maybe the Kernel Mailing List is Linus's crook...

Re: A Case Study in Not Being a Jerk in Open Source

#54

I only have one question to people arguing that "Linus should do this, Linus should do that": can you show me one person that does "this and that" in a comparable position that's successful? Is there any actual real world example?

There are many successful open source projects that are well-known and well-used.

Your question seems to assume that a prerequisite for a successful project is there being some sort of overlord that runs it.

That's not the only project management style. Many open source projects are instead run by collections of people who are capable of acting professionally to one another and to contributors. We don't hear about those individuals because they are happy to share credit for the project with all of the participants.

If "success" is measured on a personal level, then sure: bullies are often successful by marginalizing others for their own benefit.

Linux is an example of a successful project run by a bully. Here are some projects you may have heard of that have different management styles but are still, by my measure, successful _as projects_ in spite of that success not being attributed entirely to one figurehead individual:

- Python

- NodeJS

- Mozilla Firefox

- Apache HTTPD

- nginx

- Busybox

- Debian

Re: A Case Study in Not Being a Jerk in Open Source

#55
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He clearly doesn’t have a problem with the code, otherwise he wouldn’t say he could “live with” the changes. This portion could be better worded to convey the “code is ok, but the rationale is flawed” message. How would you rewrite it?

Au contraire I think it is patently obvious that he does have a problem with the code as written, otherwise why spend the energy to rebut it so vigorously?

He wasn't rebutting the code; he was rebutting the claims about following the C standard, which were made separate from the code. You missed this because its' buried in all of Linus' ranting. Linus merged these changes a few minutes later with no further discussion.
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