Some maintainers still behave like Linus used to

Posted Feb 13, 2025 16:10 UTC (Thu) by kragil (guest, #34373)
Parent article: New leadership for Asahi Linux

That toxic behavior has consequences, fact of life.

Some maintainers still behave like Linus used to

Posted Feb 13, 2025 17:51 UTC (Thu) by Lennie (subscriber, #49641) [Link] (2 responses)

"Suffice it to say, I ended up traveling for most of the year, all the while having to handle various abusers and stalkers who harassed and attacked me and my family (and continue to do so)."

that does not seem like normal (or at least should not be)

Some maintainers still behave like Linus used to

Posted Feb 16, 2025 8:59 UTC (Sun) by ssmith32 (subscriber, #72404) [Link] (1 responses)

This does seem like a major problem, and definitely would make anyone a bit touchy. But, the thing is, the blog doesn't make clear whether it is at all related to what was going on on LKML, maintainers, and their followers.

Or if it was just an unrelated, tragic, coincidence.

It seems unlikely to me that online discussions about the Linux kernel could result in stalking, no matter how harsh or toxic.

So I'm assuming the latter?

And I get why details wouldn't be shared, but it would be healthy for the community to know if LKML discussions triggered stalking or not.

It was a curious paragraph.

Some maintainers still behave like Linus used to

Posted Feb 16, 2025 10:41 UTC (Sun) by ck (subscriber, #158559) [Link]

Not only is it entirely believable, its also not limited to the LKML.
I am not a well-known individual in the FOSS world, but speaking out against someone else's favourite project got me to the point where I had to roll over my online identity more than once to shake the trolls.
I would caution anyone who gets into Open Source from using their real name or photo in association with their work. FOSS has caught up with the rest of the internet, and its not a safe space.

Some maintainers still behave like Linus used to

Posted Feb 13, 2025 21:29 UTC (Thu) by milesrout (subscriber, #126894) [Link] (3 responses)

Are you referring to when they try to use social media brigading to get what they want? I don't remember Linus ever doing that.

Some maintainers still behave like Linus used to

Posted Feb 14, 2025 8:44 UTC (Fri) by kragil (guest, #34373) [Link]

Probably not, but I'm also very sure that Mastodon can't develop any noticeable force tbh. Especially compared to Linus ranting on LKML and getting multiplied by every tech outlet on the planet.

Some maintainers still behave like Linus used to

Posted Feb 14, 2025 15:19 UTC (Fri) by marcan (guest, #103032) [Link] (1 responses)

I didn't do that either. "Brigading" has a very specific meaning, and both Linus and David Airlie used the term incorrectly. Ranting on social media is not automatically brigading (and Linus and other people on that thread have done their share of ranting on social media too).

Some maintainers still behave like Linus used to

Posted Feb 14, 2025 17:46 UTC (Fri) by jhe (subscriber, #164815) [Link]

Yes, it is not brigading, but that doesn't make it less abusive. And "Linus does it, too" ... . People tried to have him removed from the project because of that. You should aim higher than that.