Hacker News Reader

Comment by JoshTriplett | Hacker News Reader

> As for Linus, I think he gets somewhat misrepresented in many places. His vitriol is reserved for senior kernel maintainers who should know better and do things which (in many cases) could very negatively impact users

Which sure doesn't make the already thankless task of becoming a senior kernel maintainer any more appealing.

And it creates a terrible culture where people see that and perpetuate it.

View on HN

Do some of those senior maintainers then only reserve their harsh words for the most senior people just below them? And then those for those just below them?

A culture in any group flows from the top down. Praise in public, criticize in private.

Does Linus ever make mistakes and does he receive the same treatment?

Better question, does Linus ever say extremely nice, encouraging, generous things and make the front page of HN for doing so?

> encouraging, generous

FWIW he created (one of?) the worlds most used OS kernels and shared it freely sparking all kinds of projects and businesses.

As for the rudeness, I feel that is hugely overrated. Compare hime to someone like the "developer evangelist" who got two developers fired because they said something to each other that s/he didn't like and see what I mean.

Edit: comments welcome, I have enough points but I cannot learn what mistake I made if nobody tells me.

Making the world's most used kernels doesn't give you the right to be a bully. Ironically, I largely believe he isn't.

Your quote cut off the critical word "say".

I assume you're being downvoted because you're bringing up a highly controversial issue which is, at best, tangentially related.

And doing so in a way that paints it in the most favorable possible light for one position, in addition to using technical skill as a free pass for them making personal attacks.

I have seen lots of posts where he explains things patiently in a lot of detail.

I just wonder if he gets the same tough treatment he gives to others when he is wrong. And if he takes it well. I am assuming that sometimes like most of us he is totally wrong.

Could have sworn i have seen him get self-depreciating when he mess up.

Yep, this is what he had to say about Git:

> Quoting Linus: "I'm an egotistical bastard, and I name all my projects after myself. First 'Linux', now 'Git'".

>('git' is British slang for "pig headed, think they are always correct, argumentative").

https://git.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Git_FAQ#Why_the_.27Git...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com