An oldie, but a goodie

  • hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    11 months ago

    Not going to touch the general toxicity as it’s something Linus has already apologized and worked through with professional help, but I love the attitude when it comes to responsibility.
    Far too often it’s easier to blame someone else for error.

    “No this is our problem, and I’m ashamed you’re trying to blame someone else for it” is respectable take

      • BluesF@feddit.uk
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        11 months ago

        Everyone gets angry, but this is not a constructive way to communicate what someone else needs to do. You can express all of this without belittling and swearing at someone. Being angry is fine, taking it out on other people is rude and unnecessary.

        • 0x4E4F@infosec.pub
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          11 months ago

          He basically has one rule and one rule only… we don’t break user space… IMO, if you break that one rule, I believe he has the right to be angry. It’s not constructive, but I wouldn’t hold it against him.

          • BluesF@feddit.uk
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            11 months ago

            If he was my boss and he treated me like this I would absolutely hold it against him! Honestly I don’t care how much an employee fucks up, there is no excuse for abusing them.

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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      11 months ago

      Tough love isn’t toxicity, even if Linus had to grovel a bit to divert the Karens elsewhere.

    • arc@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      His style of being direct, having a high quality threshold and calling out bullshit immediately and bluntly is why the Linux kernel went from a university project to powering everything from lightbulbs to super computers. I think it kind of ridiculous that this demonstrably effective style got framed as “toxic” just because he hurt a few people’s fee-fees.

      • Diplomjodler@feddit.de
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        11 months ago

        You can be direct and call out bullshit without swearing and name calling. While the content of this sounds reasonable, the tone definitely isn’t. If someone talked to me like that I’d tell them to fuck right off.

        • arc@lemm.ee
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          11 months ago

          Yes you could but he didn’t and clearly his style was self evidently effective. And I’d add that if you’ve ever read the LKML archives, that these rants were rare and usually preceded by long chains of discussion before it reached that point.

          • Pelicanen@sopuli.xyz
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            11 months ago

            Doesn’t make it right. Michael Jackson’s dad abused his kids and they became world famous artists, doesn’t mean abusing your kids is acceptable or should be seen as such.

                • arc@lemm.ee
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                  11 months ago

                  It’s a rotten analogy. Comparing Linus having a go at some volunteers is not analogous, or comparable to a father abusing kids.

          • deweydecibel@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            Yes you could but he didn’t and clearly his style was self evidently effective.

            Depends on how you define “effective”. Because by his own admission, it gets shit done, but also alienates people in the project and turns off others from joining it.

            So yeah, you’ll get the update pushed, and it’ll work, but down the line you find yourself struggling to keep up without the help of people that don’t want to work with you.

            Linus’ mistake is a classic one: really self-sufficient tech person doing fantastic work with a team but not appreciating that there’s a whole social layer to it that is every bit as important as the standards and procedures at keeping everything working.

            • arc@lemm.ee
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              11 months ago

              I define effective by the fact it was self evidently effective. No need to split hairs or dissemble here. Linux is objectively, indisputably the most important piece of code in the world. Everything else, such as a the context free boo hoo about some times when he has had a go at people is just noise.

              • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                11 months ago

                Seems like the man himself disagrees with you, since he saw it as a big enough problem to get professional help and make long lasting changes. 🤷‍♂️

                • dk841143@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  11 months ago

                  Or he’s just playing the game within the current “social layers” that have attached to or are inherit to the project to placate those who require placating. Not like pubic figures haven’t had to blow sunshine up asses to shut the the “whiners” up before. And if so, maybe those lasting changes are trivial because it was never a major habit to begin with and rare. Its was just an approach to get the result. But you’ve to show the public you care (even if you don’t) and talk about how you worked real hard and put in the work. (Even if the work was trivial)

        • Koordinator O@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Sure you can. But the evidence i see in my immediate vicinity is that informations go in through one ear and straight out through the other without holding on to anything if presented in in a none swearing or name calling manner. It hurts but it works.

      • Floey@lemm.ee
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        11 months ago

        Demonstrably effective

        Where’s the logic in looking at something successful and picking a singular thing to be responsible? What seems more likely is you are looking for an idea you are attached to that exists adjacent to something successful. It’s like a Mormon looking for successful Mormon CEOs to then claim the company’s success is due to the Mormon work ethic. It’s like how in Whiplash the Charlie Parker story is venerated and seen as explanatory by the characters.

        • arc@lemm.ee
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          11 months ago

          The logic is simple. This is s his style and it demonstrably worked. I’m sure you could point to someone else’s style that also works in another context but that’s irrelevant.

          • Claidheamh@slrpnk.net
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            11 months ago

            But did it work because of the style or in spite of it? No reason to believe it wouldn’t be even more successful if he had been less abrasive like he is now.

              • Claidheamh@slrpnk.net
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                11 months ago

                How is that obvious? Especially because it’s become even more successful after he’s mellowed out?

                • dk841143@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  11 months ago

                  “Especially because it’s become even more successful after he’s mellowed out?”

                  You state that as if its also “obvious”. How is this a fact? How is it obvious? Is it more successful because of his mellowing or irrespective of it? On its face, seems to me we cant nod our head in agreement to your sudden assertion any more than arc’s assertion that Linus’ initial style worked.

                  You seem to want arc to provide some sort of metric or proof to back up his assertion. Well, where is yours? Where’s your metric/data?

      • gohixo9650@discuss.tchncs.de
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        11 months ago

        I agree on the first part. However this is from 2012 and in the meantime Linus himself realized and admitted that he was not proud of behaving like that and took real measures and seeked help in order to improve himself.

        • arc@lemm.ee
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          11 months ago

          There is a difference between a rant and a tantrum. If you read the post, you could see very clearly he makes a point very forcefully.

        • kilinrax@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Way to infantalize … his childish tantrums.

          Come on dude. Either there’s a standard here or there isn’t.

            • kilinrax@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              … he hurt a few people’s fee-fees.

              Way to infantalize the people calling him out while excusing his childish tantrums.

              You’re infantilizing Linus’ expression of anger, just the same as the person you’re replying to is infantilizing people who’re upset by it.

              Either they’re both bad, or they’re both acceptable - or you’re effectively saying that infantilization is fine, but only towards people whose behaviour you disapprove of.

              • caseyweederman@lemmy.ca
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                11 months ago

                One behavior is inherently childish. One is not.
                One is objectively the attitude of an infant and thus does not require the act of infantalization in order to be framed as such. This is not the double-standard gotcha that you think it is.

                To rephrase, one more time:
                The act of calling out childish behaviour is not childish.

                • kilinrax@lemmy.world
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                  11 months ago

                  One behavior is inherently childish. One is not. One is objectively the attitude of an infant and thus does not require the act of infantalization in order to be framed as such.

                  No, it isn’t, and this is a subjective opinion on your part. Not everyone agrees with you, so it’s not objective. Even what exactly is ‘childish’ behaviour is subjective, and arguably culturally dependent.

                  His behaviour is pretty much by definition, that of an adult. An adult with poor impulse control, poor anger management skills, sure. But childish? That’s a value judgement which contains no insight likely to reach anyone. It adds nothing to the conversation.

                  Use less reductionist words to explain why it’s bad.

                  Or to rephrase: Linus’ reply isn’t bad because it is childish. All calling it childish, or infantile, communicates is your own judgement.

                  Also; describing your judgement as ‘calling out’ - particularly when this is behaviour he has since admitted was poor, and has taken time out to address - just reads like you’re using the language of social justice to justify judgemental language.

      • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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        11 months ago

        Hell yeah. But it’s not considered good anymore, everyone has to be very nice and whatnot. Too bad imo but I guess less hurt feelings.

      • derpgon@programming.dev
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        11 months ago

        It’s easier to label other people toxic rather than finding flaws in themselves. More people will agree with someone being toxic, because deflection as a tactic got so ingrained in people that they don’t know better.

        • arc@lemm.ee
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          11 months ago

          Exactly. It might not be good to be on the receiving end, but the chain of discussion that went before these rants should have given people the clue they needed to stop while they were ahead.

      • interceder270@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        I totally agree. I have mad respect for Linus for the work he’s done and the immense amount of retardation he’s had to sift and fight his way through.

        I have very little respect for the people critiquing his behavior while contributing nothing of value themselves.

      • JigglySackles@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        I think too many people get upset about swearing. It brings a strong emphasis, it’s not disrespect imo. Knowing how Linus is, I’d take that response in stride. I appreciate his direct approach especially to the brazen arrogance of someone too full of themselves to see themselves as wrong. It wouldn’t be a great way to start a conversation, but as an ender it’s terribly effective. He called a fucking idiot a fucking idiot. That shouldn’t be toxic. Not everything that hurts someone’s tender feels is toxic. The intent should be taken into consideration.

  • HStone32@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Stuff like this is the reason Linus decided to take a sabbatical back in 2018 to work on controlling his temper.

  • superminerJG@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    One does not simply break userspace. You’ll receive more than just angry bug reports. There are restless maintainers who will not sleep. And the great corporations are ever watchful.

  • HexesofVexes@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Poor Mauro: they weren’t good at what they loved, they blamed others for their failings, and their community leader was nuts.

    Jokes aside, we’ve already got toxic right there. Linus isn’t right, but someone like that would be fired with good cause. It’s one thing to make a mistake, it’s quite another to blame your co-workers for your own shoddy work.

    What’s that Reddit phrase? ESH!

  • Grass@sh.itjust.works
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    11 months ago

    In the following responses Mauro was very professional. l haven’t heard much about recently but Linus had some high tier anger issues. Most of the cases I was following back then he was right, but desperately needed to cool off.

  • azvasKvklenko@sh.itjust.works
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    11 months ago

    Honestly, I maybe get why some people are too sensitive to work in such conditions, but from my professional experience, I’d much rather prefer getting angry mail explaining why my actions are stupid, than everyone being nice to one another but the codebase is utter garbage and everything falls apart, which happens a lot in private companies.

    • Zacryon@feddit.de
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      11 months ago

      What if I told you that you can have constructive discussions without being verbally abusive?

      • Bakkoda@sh.itjust.works
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        11 months ago

        I would tell you that you haven’t worked with enough people. I don’t disagree but occasionally you find people that need a really really good reminder that they not only suck but you’ve tried to be nice multiple times and it didn’t penetrate.

    • Alien Nathan Edward@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      you seem to have created a false dichotomy where it’s impossible to fix bad code without being abusive. would you like me to call you “dumb motherfucker” or is this explanation enough?

      • Windex007@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        I think you’ve missed what the sin was, as well as the context of the players.

        The sin was not the bad code. Let me say it one more time for clarity: the issue was not the code

        The issue was that, when presented with the defect (inevitable outcome of any software project: not intrinsically sinful) Mauro started blaming other people on a public mailing list

        Mauro, being a maintainer, was in a position of authority. Like a police officer, their bad behaviour reflected poorly on the organization*as a whole.

        If a cop was abusing their power (publicly or not), I expect the chief of police to come down on that abuser; to make clear that this abuse is absolutely unacceptable, not only within the accute instance, but within the greater context of the expectation of the behaviour of the whole organization.

        Mauro chose the context of his abusive behaviour as the public mailing list.

        Him getting slapped down in that same forum is the direct result of his own choices.

        In the same way that I would be upset with the chief of police not publicly and harshy denouncing an abusive police officer, so would I be upset with the absence of such a response in this situation

        • Alien Nathan Edward@lemm.ee
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          11 months ago

          I didn’t miss the sin. The sin isn’t relevant to me. You don’t treat people like that. Whatever you hope to accomplish, you can accomplish without treating people like that. If someone else is being abusive, that’s not license for you to be abusive in response. If a cop was abusing their power would you expect the chief of police to publicly berate and insult him, or would you expect the standards to be enforced without resorting to that?

          When you abuse someone for being abusive you don’t make it clear that abuse is unacceptable. In fact, you do the opposite. You establish that abuse is a part of your culture. If I was considering contributing to the kernel and saw this exchange, I’d walk away. I don’t need that shit, not from Mauro, not from Linus, not from the Lord hisownself. It damages the organization long-term.

    • crackajack@reddthat.com
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      11 months ago

      You can be angry without being rude. I’d much prefer passive aggressiveness than egregious blame-shifting and accusations.

        • wildginger@lemmy.myserv.one
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          11 months ago

          Being directly a cunt actually causes sabotaging employees who work the minimum letter of the contract until they can quit via a text 5 minutes after start of day because they got another job lined up.

          Dumb managers poison the well by acting like this.

        • onlinepersona@programming.dev
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          11 months ago

          If you can’t express yourself without expletives, it just means you have a small vocabulary or lack the maturity to express yourself without getting emotional, or both. It is a major sign of incompetence, unprofessionalism, and ignorance.

          Direct != being an asshole. If you don’t understand that, you have a lot to learn.

      • oce 🐆@jlai.lu
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        11 months ago

        You don’t need to be passive agressive either, you can just be polite and factual.

      • laurelraven@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        11 months ago

        Yeah, that’s a hard pass on passive aggressiveness, constructive criticism isn’t either of those things nor rude and angry ranting. Love Linus, but he really did need to chill out a bit more with these things. He could have gotten the same point across without coming across as yelling at the guy, just firmly pointing out that it was caused by the patch, the patch did things it shouldn’t ever do, and don’t break userspace or blame userspace programs

    • pomodoro_longbreak@sh.itjust.works
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      11 months ago

      Programmers are sensitive enough. All you have to do is raise your voice slightly, and they’ll think you’re yelling. You could probably make one cry just by saying their patch isn’t good, without having to resort to aggressive language.*

      I don’t know the whole history, but this seems highly unnecessary, and typical Linus. Didn’t he resolve to be better a few years ago?

      Ah found it.

      *Source: am programmur

    • magic_lobster_party@kbin.social
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      11 months ago

      You don’t need to tell each other to shut the fuck up in all caps and call each other idiots to get the point across. It’s possible to instruct your peers in a much more professional manner.

      • azvasKvklenko@sh.itjust.works
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        11 months ago

        I don’t know the full context, but that message doesn’t sound like it was his first reaction to a first patch he got from that guy. I’m not implying anything, but I’m also no stranger to people resilient to reasoning. I’m not a fan of this tone or language, but I don’t think it’s that big of a deal either

    • BCsven@lemmy.ca
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      11 months ago

      Or nice in person, then all the toxic bakstabbing behind the scenes.
      This reads like the Sh*t My Dad says book. The author said it seemed harsh to some people, but the bonus was there was never any passive agressiveness, and you always knew exactly where you stood.

  • dohpaz42@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    I feel it’s equally important to point ot that Torvalds recognized his toxic behavior, apologized for it, and took steps to rectify it.

    In an email to the Linux Kernel Mailing List, which also addresses the kernel update of Linux 4.19-rc4, Torvalds writes: “I need to change some of my behavior, and I want to apologize to the people that my personal behavior hurt and possibly drove away from kernel development entirely.”

    “I am going to take time off and get some assistance on how to understand people’s emotions and respond appropriately.”

      • The Stoned Hacker@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        I’ve heard he’s not perfect but he doesn’t lose his temper anymore and has only gotten better with age. I respect anyone who can self reflect and introspect and come out a better person.

        • acockworkorange@mander.xyz
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          11 months ago

          So two wrongs make a right? Or could this have been a civil private email instead? And if civil private conversations aren’t working, then it’s time to part ways.

            • acockworkorange@mander.xyz
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              11 months ago

              Acceptable, yes. But a good manager knows not to shine a spotlight on the mistakes of the team. There’s nothing to gain keeping it public that you wouldn’t also gain by keeping it private. But your team’s morale is kept high if you sing their praises instead of their shortcomings.

              • pohart@programming.dev
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                11 months ago

                I get what your saying, but i feel like the aggressively public development model means that more could be public here than i would accept on another team.

    • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      It’s sad we don’t get this energy anymore. Who will keep the fuckers in line now

  • SpiceyDejarik@lemm.ee
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    11 months ago

    I like the discussion this has generated around toxicity and professionalism, but I’m still very amused by the fact that he censored himself in the last line after not doing so for the rest of the message.

  • TheBlue22@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    11 months ago

    Like, I get how it’s funny, but I would hate to get this kind of shit from someone I respect. Would really mess me up, personally

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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      11 months ago

      If someone whom I respected shat a bit in email about my work product, I’d be sad for a bit. Then I’d read it again and understand it’s my work product and I am not my work. I can make mistakes and I can fix them, and fixing mistakes is how we get awesome.

      I have received negative feedback. And I did feel just a little butthurt about it. But it was in NJ and I was new, and didn’t see from the first read that Buddy was expressing frank and honest concerns about my work product and not me. I’m embarrassed to say how long it took me to clue in, but I did. And we worked through my mistakes and I was the better for it. And I learned.

      And when he said my work didn’t suck as much, I knew I was improving, because I could trust him.

      You need to learn honest from asshole.

      • TheBlue22@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        11 months ago

        I get what you mean, but there are ways to say you fucked up, without calling you expletives. Some days, you get angry and scream at someone, but it doesn’t really make it feel amazing for the party being screamed at.

        I didn’t mean it was mean from him to give him feedback or correct him, but the way he said it was a bit overblown.

    • linuxdweeb@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      That’s why you should never put people on a pedestal. There are a lot of people I admire, but I always try to imagine them being stupid assholes most of the time to balance things out in my head.

    • Ann Archy@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I’d give as good as I got and we’d be fine. Not everyone is a spineless crybaby who melts down at the first hint of disapproval. Are you all little children?

      Edit: Stupid question, apparently. Good thing it was rhetorical.

    • 0x4E4F@infosec.pub
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      11 months ago

      Not me, I’d just take a closer look at what I’ve done and see where my mistakes are.

      It’s not like we’re married or something, I don’t live with him. It’s just an email, get over it.

      • TheBlue22@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        11 months ago

        I don’t think having tough skin should be a prerequisite in IT.

        You can tell a person they made a mistake or are wrong without being a cunt about it.

        • 0x4E4F@infosec.pub
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          11 months ago

          When the person doesn’t see anything wrong with what they did, yes I belive I have the right to be a cunt about it.

  • maniacalmanicmania@aussie.zone
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    11 months ago

    It’s disgusting that this post has not been removed, has a 96% postive vote ratio, has over 1K upvotes and is sitting at the top of All after almost a day.

    This isn’t a Linux meme. It’s a celebration of abuse, abusive behaviour and abusive people.

    All the people ITT condoning or making even the slightest accommodations for this behaviour ought to be ashamed and need to take a good, long look in a mirror.

    What are the moderators of this community thinking? Are you reading this stuff? Do some of you agree with any of it?

    Of all the things to celebrate about Linus and Linux this is not one of them.

    There is no value in leaving this post up. There is nothing to be learned or gained by revealing just how gross some supposed Linux supporters may be.

    Does anyone ITT seriously think this is how Linus or Linux developers want to be remembered and celebrated for their dedication and decades of toil?

    Do you think anyone that’s been on the receiving end of this kind of abuse on the job or in the home wants to jump onto Lemmy today to see this celebration of abusive and awful behaviour.

    There are no excuses to be made. It doesn’t matter that this happened many years ago and that Linus has managed to overcome behaving like this. The post itself is now the issue.

    The many comments that have made even the slightest excuse for this kind of behaviour are awful and damaging to the reputations of Linus, Linux and the Linux community.

    • sugartits@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I’ll copy and paste what I wrote elsewhere:

      To add context:

      Linus only reacted this way to people who really should have known better. This isn’t a “here is my first ever patch, I read all the rules and I hope I didn’t break any” situation. The person he is chewing out is a kernel maintainer. They are someone who is experienced and trusted and Linus was rightly angry that this poor quality work was submitted.

      However… Linus has also worked a lot on himself in the past few years, fully acknowledging that he shouldn’t behave this harshly when someone fucks up. If the same situation was to present itself today, he would be much more professional, but would probably still be a bit angry and you’d know about it.

      Linus is a flawed human being, but credit where it is due, he has worked on some of his character flaws.

      And I’ll add: This is the internet. There is no “taking down” of this. In fact, you’re getting angry over a screenshot of the original. Once it’s out there, it’s never getting removed.

      • lennybird@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        The first point of your comment I completely disagree with; the second point acknowledges why the the first point is bullshit to begin with. Yes, someone can be incompetent and require corrective action. This was not it and completely, grossly unacceptable. That he had to adjust his behavior is an acknowledgement to this. We are all flawed humans; but some are more flawed than others. That being said, if it’s true he has reflected and taken corrective action on his own negative behaviors, kudos to him.

    • BCsven@lemmy.ca
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      11 months ago

      I don’t read it as celebrating abuse. clearly there are better ways to correct peoples mistakes. As adults I think we all recognize that. I assumed the upvotes were because Linus is setting the high expectation that we don’t see from Paid OS and Paid software. He is defending the philosophy of the next kernel should not destroy all the downstream work people put in. I’m currently working at a place that sells 3rd party software. It is an expensive product and touted as backward compatibility for 40+ years, and their newer versions have taken a F@©k Y0U approach to users. People with decades of files are now getting screwed and the software company turns down regression and bug reports and wants them submitted as feature enhancements. LOL WTF. I wish I could share this letter with their developers and management.

    • godkillax@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      History must be shared so it’s not repeated. The email is dated 2012 so there’s context of this being some old school bullying. Asking people to Not share the past because it’s ugly is like asking people to not talk about slavery cause it’ll make white people feel bad that they thought it was okay to own people. Small minds will remain small and less you expand their visibility.

      • thisisnotgoingwell@programming.dev
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        11 months ago

        Honestly, whether or not we agree with the approach of Linus, these kind of disagreements happen in the real world. Tensions run high. Recently I’ve been on calls where things need to be implemented this month, during a time where most of our resources(engineers) will be on vacation. These kind of conversations can be important to have to make sure this doesn’t happen again. The project management team got their ass handed to them for kneeling to the LOBs’ ridiculous timeline expectations. And they were told to hold the L if things don’t work on the go-live date, there will be no post implementation support until mid January if something doesn’t work.

    • SomeRandomWords@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      11 months ago

      It’s useful to note that there exists Lemmy servers where down votes are not processed. So the high up vote to down vote ratio isn’t necessarily a reflection of people not down voting, it’s potentially a reflection of the servers that allow down votes along with all other servers (generally they all allow up votes).

    • 100_kg_90_de_belin @feddit.it
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      11 months ago

      If I didn’t know anything else about him my takeaway from this post would be “Linus Torvalds is an abusive asshole”

    • __matthew__@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      While Linus went overboard (as he has a history of doing, and as has also caused negativity to the community), this post is still very well liked because it appears to be a strong example of someone calling out the BS that a lot of developers like to throw around. No one’s going to join in a circle celebrating Linus picking on some first time contributor who didn’t know any better, but that’s how it sounds like you’re interpreting the post.

      To add some context, there’s a toxic superiority complex that many developers have where they jump to blame others for issues that actually relate to their code. You can see this anywhere from developers who immediately blame users without investigating to software developers within companies who are quick to pass off issues as not their team’s problem.

      So, in this example Linus is actually calling one of these developers out, which is why the post is very well-received.

          • uis@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            Wat? I mean the point was written in easy to ubderstand way. It is picture of point from TF2.

            • Doods@infosec.pub
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              11 months ago

              I still do not understand how Dustbowl’s point has anything to do with conveying that meaning but whatever I do not care.

    • get_the_reference_@midwest.social
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      11 months ago

      Even those responding to you and trying to justify this, he sets a high bar yeesh. I don’t care who the person is saying it, I don’t care how much the guy he’s responding to deserves it, this is worst boss behavior that I would nope so far away from.

    • corrupts_absolutely@sh.itjust.works
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      11 months ago

      E:og of my reply was way too hostile
      i think the post is useful in order to highlight the inappropriate behaviour by linus, but the amount of lunatics who champion that email for its “directness” is disturbing

    • riricaru@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Damn, I really hate social snowflakes such as you. Linus was right and he got his point across quickly and without bulshit. The Kernel Maintainer should have known better. Why exactly is this “abuse”, because he used a few “naughty” words? Grow up. If you want censorship go back to reddit.

  • fl42v@lemmy.ml
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    11 months ago

    Yeah, those mailing lists used to have some quite funny stuff; my favorite so far is smth along the lines of “whoever thought this was a good idea should be retroactively aborted”.

    But, on the other hand, damn it’s toxic. Should’ve really sucked to work on the kernel back then.

    • Julian@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      Someone else pointed out that he actually apologized for being toxic sometimes and took some time off as a kernel maintainer because of that. Nice to see.

        • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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          11 months ago

          It’s not really a fuckup it’s like a fucksideways.

          The kernel was safe, only feelings were hurt

          • acockworkorange@mander.xyz
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            11 months ago

            I meant Linus’ behavior was a fuckup. And he probably fucked up a lot between this example and his stepping down.

            • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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              11 months ago

              Was the product impacted? Did Mauro get his commit together?

              If the product was undamaged he was just rude. A fuckup means he hurt the mission, he hurt his goals

              • The Stoned Hacker@lemmy.world
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                11 months ago

                He did hurt the mission. Plenty of kernel maintainers have left, and those were people who had been with the project for years. Losing experienced people to toxicity 1000% harms both the project and the product.

                • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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                  11 months ago

                  Did that demonstrably happen?

                  If there’s a surplus of talent (sounds like Mauro was dead weight) then at most he was just rude on Mauro’s way out the door.

                  I’m not saying it’s cool to be rude, but if it’s Linus’ review then you get what you get. To be butthurt about someone being rude to you should motivate you to learn your code interactions better. (In this case error handling)

                • arc@lemm.ee
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                  11 months ago

                  In almost instances of Linus going off on one in public it is because maintainers weren’t doing their jobs (to act as quality gatekeepers), or particular developers thinking they could steam roll road changes through if they kept submitting them, or not listening to what Linus was saying. I remember Linus used to ream out Hans Reiser a lot (the guy who was subsequently imprisoned for murdering his wife) because he constantly tried to get ReiserFS into the kernel despite serious issues Linus had with it.

                  So generally when you see a rant, there is a history behind it and the rant itself is directed with a point. I also think it’s self evident that the kernel has benefited from this “benevolent dictator” model. I’m sure some people have gotten all precious over their feelings being hurt. The rest raised their game and the result has been a code quality standard you’ll probably never see anywhere else.

              • alignedchaos@sh.itjust.works
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                11 months ago

                You seem eager to pose this “if the product was undamaged” as if you can quantify what might have happened differently, but then in a comment below you ask someone else to prove that maintainers left.

                It might shock you to learn that products are developed by people. Actual people stay or leave and work wildly differently based on things like respect, expectations, and being in a hostile environment.

                Want proof of that? Go work on an actual project with a team sometime.

                edit - And this isn’t even accounting for the ways toxic communication impedes wider adoption of a product

                • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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                  11 months ago

                  People who could be easily replaced. It’s a non issue.

                  I do work on software teams, and don’t conduct myself like Linus, because I’m not Linus. That pattern of communication isn’t available to me, an average engineer.

                  But if someone spoke to me that way (and they have) I took it as a clear signal I need to level up and act right. Not an invitation to feel bad about myself.

                  Linux has clearly not missed out on wide adoption in any way.

    • 🐍🩶🐢@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I was curious as I couldn’t help but laugh, but damn dude. That is rough. Hilarious looking at it now, but I feel bad for whomever was at the receiving end.

      Of course, I’d also suggest that whoever was the genius who thought it was a good idea to read things ONE FUCKING BYTE AT A TIME with system calls for each byte should be retroactively aborted. Who the fuck does idiotic things like that? How did they not die as babies, considering that they were likely too stupid to find a tit to suck on?