Two related bits: Google staff and OSFeels [LWN.net]

Two related bits: Google staff and OSFeels

Posted Oct 9, 2015 5:45 UTC (Fri) by da4089 (subscriber, #1195)
In reply to: Two related bits: Google staff and OSFeels by graydon
Parent article: Sharp: Closing a door

Let's assume there's a substantial number of the potential FOSS developer pool who feel that the dominant cultures of FOSS projects are overly hostile.

Is there something preventing these like minded, technically capable people from building their own communities? Or is it that any such nascent community becomes infected by those with a more aggressive communication style? Is it just too draining to constantly try to tame (or eject) those individuals who do disrupt?

I ask, because if this was a technical issue, the solution would be to fork. But having forked, I guess it takes a bunch of work to maintain the distinction?

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Two related bits: Google staff and OSFeels

Posted Oct 9, 2015 15:56 UTC (Fri) by dskoll (subscriber, #1630) [Link]

I think this is a real danger: "any such nascent community becomes infected by those with a more aggressive communication style."

I think the reason that people don't generally go on rants in corporate environments is that you're usually face-to-face with your coworkers. Even people who telecommute occasionally have face-to-face interaction and more often phone or video conferences.

It's a lot harder to be an asshole to someone in person. In a development environment where most people hardly ever see any of their collaborators, the weakness of email as a communication mechanism really hurts: You can't see people's body language and fights tend to escalate instead of being damped down by conciliatory body language or natural inhibition when one sees one is upsetting someone else.