LinuxCon Japan: Making kernel developers less grumpy

Last time I looked there was not a shortage of people submitting patches, but of people reviewing them. And also, when calling someone "a moron" openly on a mailing lists opens yourself to a lot of criticism, thus people try to avoid doing it unless they have good reasons.

In practice (not that I follow LKML that much lately, but still) I haven't seen people calling newbies "noob" or "stupid" just because, but when they did something stupid indeed. If someone does, they tend to get routed around by the rest of the community, because they tend to be "toxic" people.

To summarize: If Linus Torvalds calls you names, better pay attention. And better ask first and try to educate yourself before posting stuff on a mailing list full of busy people.

And let me tell you a little tale, too:
"Bob has come to the kitchen, where his father is cooking dinner. While his father is not looking, he grabs a knife and starts cutting some vegetables, just like he has seen his father do so many times. But Bob is not very good at handling the knife, and it's too big for his hands. His father, hearing the noise, tells his son how to properly handle the knife, and then keeps on with the cooking. A minute later both are running to the hospital because Bob has a deep bleeding cut on his left hand.

After that episode, Bob's father tries to avoid using harsh words. It's his own fault, after all. A week later, while Bob's father observes the remains of the burnt family kitchen, he cannot avoid to ask himself if this all could have been prevented somehow."