Sharp: Closing a door [LWN.net]

Sharp: Closing a door

Posted Oct 6, 2015 10:34 UTC (Tue) by petkan (subscriber, #54713)
In reply to: Sharp: Closing a door by nix
Parent article: Sharp: Closing a door

The Internet and the Linux kernel are both made by humans. The result is far from perfect, but that's the reality.

I do like the way the kernel community work. I am submitting patches and maintaining drivers for seventeen years now and one of the reasons why i am still doing it is that i can speak my mind at the LKML. In my universe code quality is supreme to "bad" language. "Bad" is _always_ a matter of personal perspective. Or a cultural thing. Not all of us live in the USA and share the view of "political correctness". More often i see the latter as pure and utter hypocrisy. I don't like it when somebody tries to shove "better" rules down my throat. "Better" is also a matter of perspective. ;)

The Linux kernel community is built by volunteers. This community has it's own peculiarities. You either accept these or try to change them to your liking. Sarah's attempt to change those failed. Now she's leaving. I say this is the natural course of things. No drama.

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Sharp: Closing a door

Posted Oct 6, 2015 20:27 UTC (Tue) by dlang (guest, #313) [Link] (2 responses)

> "Better" is also a matter of perspective. ;)

insults are not always obvious in the word choice either.

see what "bless your heart" can mean when voiced by a southern gentlewoman.

Personally, I much prefer the open and frank discussions of LKML to the politely voiced backbiting I've seen in other places (including inside companies). In my opinion, the LKML approach is far less damaging in the long run.

And yes, I have been on the receiving end of Linus snapping.

Sharp: Closing a door

Posted Oct 7, 2015 14:23 UTC (Wed) by NAR (subscriber, #1313) [Link] (1 responses)

I propose a simple test: if one would dare to say the same comment to an angry Mike Tyson face to face, then it's appropriate to use it in a mailing list. Otherwise it's not.

Sharp: Closing a door

Posted Oct 7, 2015 18:40 UTC (Wed) by tzafrir (subscriber, #11501) [Link]

Not a good test: In that case I suppose I would not dare rejecting his patch at all.