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Comment by yuribro | Hacker News Reader

This is such a positive and wholesome example - both the mail itself (getting to know the preferences of the project), the proposed fixes (naming functions in a better way, adding explanatory comments), and on the higher level - the humility in which it was done, and the time being invested by him for a project he isn't part of.

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Not only that, but it really illustrates that even well-known, famous engineers can start contributing to a project with simple pull requests that just rename variables or add comments to code for clarity.

Not every pull request needs to be introducing complex/intricate code, and yet it still has value to the project (and the community).

The parent comment seems to suggest its author is not a frequent reader of NetBSD/OpenBSD mailing lists. This message is not at all atypical of what one would routinely see on these lists from regular contributors. Perhaps John Carmack spent some time reading the OpenBSD mailing lists before posting. It just shows that in more popular projects, or whatever the projects the comment's author is accustomed to, the expectations placed on contributors can be lower.

I am actually subscribed to -tech, and an OpenBSD user for around 15 years.

Usually when mailing list messages or PR comments are posted to HN, they are about something very negative, either the attitude of the author (random examples - mails by Linus, mails by Poettering, and sometimes also mails by Theo) or the content of the request it replies to. And in the openbsd community does has some negative reputation about harsh communications.

Just wanted emphasize it, since seeing good examples is much more educating IMHO than seeing only negative ones.

Very true. Apologies for the (incorrect) assumption.

My thoughts as well. Gentle suggestion, looking into other's suggestions first. Everything is there.

An interesting contrast from the Torvalds approach. I seriously think this is a huge part of why John Carmack is so popular. He's always kind to people, and very keen on sharing useful information.

What has Tovald’s approach been while familiarizing himself with contributing to someone else’s huge and respected codebase?

Or are you just referring to his communication when defending his own codebase?

Hey friend, please don't purposely misread the comment. It's clear that folks are contrasting two different styles of communication.

Linus Torvalds can be plenty kind when he wants to be. And John Carmack has also done his time being a jerk.

What people are saying is that the kind approach is their preferred default.

> And John Carmack has also done his time being a jerk.

Citation Please.

Not my responsibility! You know how to do research. Put effort into doing that or learning how to do that instead of putting up low-value comments.

The burden of proof is on the accuser.

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