Thank you for saying so and well spotted! You're absolutely right. There is very much a large middle ground.
Is it possible that a middle ground of politely offering carefully tempered criticism might exist? It certainly does! Is it possible that it could potentially lack the same impact as the approach Linus used? This strikes me as also possible. My experience to date is that polite criticism carefully wrapped to avoid being upsetting in any way to someone emotionally invested in their work is often not received with the intended level of urgency.
I'm sure that's just my total ignorance and lack of social graces. Can you please help me understand better?
In my experience being aggressive or patronising tends to cause people to become combative which in turn makes them (subconsciously or otherwise) less likely to actually understand the point you're trying to make and more likely to waste time trying to convince you of their point. I find that presenting your case in a calm and relatively neutral way (note not "wrapped to avoid being upsetting in any way ...", that's a false dichotomy in my opinion) tends to be the most effective approach overall.
To me you'd get a better response from Linus if your patch wasn't some corporate garbage with ulterior motives. If the person who posted the patch had actually offered a solution that wasn't a pile of crap then there could be a dialog regarding ways to improve.
Is it possible that a middle ground of politely offering carefully tempered criticism might exist? It certainly does! Is it possible that it could potentially lack the same impact as the approach Linus used? This strikes me as also possible. My experience to date is that polite criticism carefully wrapped to avoid being upsetting in any way to someone emotionally invested in their work is often not received with the intended level of urgency.
I'm sure that's just my total ignorance and lack of social graces. Can you please help me understand better?