As a side note, I can't even imagine how Torvalds worked with others without source control. That sounds like absolute hell.
People worked without source control because CVS was not real version control. It was a bad joke, and Linus was right. Without integrity guarantees, a source control system is just a pain in the ass you'd rather not have to deal with. Tarballs, patches, and email worked fine back when the community was small and tight-knit.
Do you say that as benevolent moralist or is it your personal preference that any gossip concerning you be addressed at you before an audience?
If as a manager, I allow people to frequently complain about their peers with the other people absent, it sets up a terrible precedent. As manager I would become the bottleneck as people focus their energy on politics rather than problem solving.
It's not black and white, but how you lean.