Linus Torvalds' Rudeness

Can't stand how people are too sensitive today. Linus is and has been a asshole for decades. But that asshole has given us one of the greatest contributions to computing. If you can't handle his attitude then don't be a part of the community or grow some thicker skin. Life isn't always soft.

It's pretty common knowledge that Linus is abrasive and abrupt and frequently rude. It's typically speculated that he does it to manage his workload. This is a case where a response from him shouldn't have been necessary. Just read the code. That's one of the benefits of OSS after all, right?

I think it's inaccurate to suggest Linus is universally applauded for his rude behaviour. The last public outburst that caught wider attention than the LKML seemed to quite divide programmers in terms of its appropriateness. Personally, I found his attitude repellent and his tone unjustified.

i read this response by linus and it doesn't seem to be abusive to anyone, he's being critical of the code.who is this linus guy anyway? he sounds like a typical new yorker.

he's not uncivil. he's just blunt. the fact is, Linus does the right thing when it matters. you might not like the way he writes emails on the developer mailing list. you might think he swears too much or uses too much hyperbole. it doesn't matter though.what you're advocating here is censorship and ostracism of one of the most important people in the FOSS world. think about that for a few minutes. you're advocating censorship and ostracism. who's uncivil now?

That's something Linus Torvalds has effectively said as well, so it's not as asinine as you might think. Unduly harsh perhaps.

Linus being gentle to noob doesn't buck the trend, but fits a pattern - Linus only serves his harshest criticism to senior devs who ought to know better.

The issue isn't directness. The issue is repeatedly taking needless swipes at the author's competency or intent ("worthless", "complete nonsense", "totally illogical"), when Linus' criticisms are really mostly just small (if valid!) gripes about naming conventions and readability.This is particularly funny because I remember that several years ago, he publicly apologized for being abrasive and promised to get better... but old habits die hard.He

This reminds of a Linus Torvalds rant, with less cursing.

Every time Linus Torvalds' rude behavior comes up on HN, people leap to his defense. Then, people leap on top of those people for leaping to his defense. Personally, I fall strongly in the "he's rude and annoying and should stop it" camp. For the sake of productive discussion, I'd like to list a few things that are not valid defenses to his dickishness:1) "He's a visionary developer." Yes, but plenty of visionaries are also friendly and polite. You can