Re: mistakes in code vs. maintainer flow mistakes (was: [ 00/19] 3.10.1-stable review)

Martin Steigerwald
2013-07-19T19:16:38Z

Am Freitag, 19. Juli 2013, 12:01:27 schrieb Sarah Sharp:
> On Fri, Jul 19, 2013 at 11:22:56AM +0200, Ingo Molnar wrote:
> > * Sarah Sharp <sarah.a.sharp@linux.intel.com> wrote:
[…]
> "Respect" means different things to different people. Here's a list of
> potentially disrespectful behaviors:
>
> * cussing
> * belittling statements
> * demeaning sarcasm
> * telling someone to SHUT THE FUCK UP
> * overuse of ALL CAPS to prove a point
> * encouraging suicide (telling someone to go kill themselves)
> * hysteria (inappropriate over-reaction to a bad situation)
> * name calling (calling someone stupid, a moron, etc)
> * insulting someone's technical skills
> * making people feel inferior
> * rewriting someone's code and submitting it without credit to them
> * ...and not apologizing for these behaviors when someone proves you
> are wrong about the situation, or over-reacting.
>
> When these behaviors are combined with giving negative feedback on
> someone's behavior, some developers may perceive the email as a personal
> attack. That's why I advocate minimizing these behaviors in
> communications between Linus and his lieutenants about their bad
> behavior as maintainers.

I have one note about what you wrote and I see similar wording in other mails
as I read the thread with interest (but without having much to add to what I
wrote in my one mail before):

Linus and his lieutenants?

I heard the word "benevolent dictator" in conjunction with Linus, dunno,
whether he said it or someone else said it or whatnot, but still:

Is the kernel developer community a *military* organisation?

Just wanted to raise awareness to this wording.

As you pointed out repeatedly: Words make a difference.

A huge one, I think.

> Just please, let me do my job as a kernel maintainer, and please stop
> replying to this conversation. I can only write so many long emails a
> day without it cutting into my time for writing code and debugging USB
> issues.
>
> Move on, agree to disagree, and let's discuss this at KS.

This however is clearly *your* decision. Its is absolutely and completely your
decision whether you reply to a mail or not. So I won´t accept any
responsibility for that and I am fully aware that I have no power to not let
you do your job as a kernel maintainer. :)

Thanks,
--
Martin 'Helios' Steigerwald - http://www.Lichtvoll.de
GPG: 03B0 0D6C 0040 0710 4AFA B82F 991B EAAC A599 84C7