Nothing against impolite environment, people make case for it daily here and I don't care. But it combined with the standard expectation that when someone else talks to them he should be always polite is getting funny in that context.
Honestly, it's nice in the US to have waiters/waitresses that are nice, it feels insincere but I prefer it greatly to the sometimes outright moody waiters here. It's a culturing thing as well.
If Intel would be sincere, they would just admin they produced BS (Linus is the best person to call BS on such patches) and apologize to Linus for wasting his time and ask how he would like to see the patches.
2.) Talking politely and talking directly are orthogonal categories. You can be impolite while not direct and also polite while being direct.
3.) An environment in which people just speak their minds and is ok with people being impolite when those feel like it is characterized by everyone speaking is mind or being impolite, not just your hero. Meaning, you will not put emphasis on "be polite" when someone you dont like asks for something.
3.) I am pointing out the difference between how people who are not Torwalds demand that you talk to mailing list and what they defend as "good way to communicate" by people they admire. Because actual openly speaking culture is symmetric.
Linus had been treating all this situation very fairly so far, but I guess Intel just had to repeatedly try pushing very bad fixes to a problem they created themselves.
Imagine you go to a restaurant, and the waiter just repeatedly brings you the wrong order, repeatedly.
I agree with you in general, but that's a bad example IMO. If they are stressed out and make honest mistakes, even if they're totally incompetent and stupid, I would probably laugh harder each subsequent time and assure them it's no big deal, and it would be true. With anyone, but doubly so with anyone who handles my food.
If on the other hand they just didn't care etc., I'd leave at some point and never return. The point at which there would be something to get nasty about is also past the point where it would still make sense to be nasty about it, if you know what I mean.
Not that I think Linus is being particularly nasty, and as I said, I generally agree. But that example rubbed me the wrong way, I just had to speak up, sorry ^^
If I would be hungry, I would be angry, but I would still not insult them and there is no rational reason to do so. I can control my anger in easy restaurant situatuon like that. At worst, I would leave.
Here Intel fucked up so they should be really really polite instead.