That's the biggest thing to learn from bullies like Linus - he hates everything and thinks everyone's an idiot, so where does he go when he actually needs to express something strongly? He can't go anywhere. It's not an effective way to communicate.
> That's the biggest thing to learn from bullies like Linus - he hates everything and thinks everyone's an idiot, so where does he go when he actually needs to express something strongly?
When he has a list of complaints, that is his strong reaction. And why would he need to go stronger?
If he uses his strongest reaction for normal work-day issues like drivers and interface design, where does he go for any potential existential community issues we face in the future?
If something comes up that threatens the future of Linux, and he swears and threatens as usual while trying to warn people about it, nobody will care because 'ah yeah that's just normal Linus'.
> But you're also arguing that he needs to be able to get scarier
No I'm not. The opposite.
If the only tool you know how to use is abuse, then when you need more all you can do is abuse more and more, to the point where you are literally encouraging people to kill themselves.
If you learn other tools you can use them instead when needed and they have an impact.
If I heard Mister Rogers say something was extremely serious I’d stop and listen because he’s a calm and reasonable person. If I heard Linus telling another person to kill themselves I’d think it was him being terrible again but I wouldn’t take notice of what he’s trying to say because he uses that kind of abuse for minor things anyway.
> If the only tool you know how to use is abuse, then when you need more all you can do is abuse more and more
"If", yes.
Is your argument that because he put abuse into emails, that he must not know any of those other tools? I don't think you've justified that argument.
He could use the same tools anyone else could, in those situations.
And you're still saying that he might "need more" in certain situations, and I don't think he does. He doesn't need to instantly catch your attention via acting unusual. Much like Mr. Rogers would do just fine at telling you about something serious if he used his normal voice / normal presenting voice.
I wouldn't dare say we should go back to it but it is how many use to communicate long ago. The mechanism is simple, if you deliver anything yourself you must live up to your own expectations. The louder you moan about everything the more harshly we should examine your stuff. You cant complaint when people ridicule or critique your software if you do it yourself all the time: You've openly invited it!
And yeah, it was more effective. You just have to remember the topic is your code not your person - they are 2 entirely different things. i.e. Brendan Eich is a wizard but javascript started out as a smoking pile of shit.
In The graphing calculator story Ron Avitzur mentioned the other devs saying "It doesn't even suck" which was the highest possible praise.
