Re: [ 00/19] 3.10.1-stable review

Kees Cook
2013-07-15T21:01:22Z

On Mon, Jul 15, 2013 at 01:41:35PM -0700, Sarah Sharp wrote:
> "The standard you walk past is the standard you accept."

I think this sums up the situation very well. Even if we accept that some
people can "correctly" choose when to be abusive, it creates an atmosphere
where other people will come to think that kind of thing is okay.

I always enjoyed this presentation about maintaining a good social tone
in an online community:
http://www.slideshare.net/vishnu/how-to-protect-yourhow-to-protect-your-open-source-project-from-poisonous-people

People's mistakes can be pointed out without the kind of abuse I've
read on lkml. People need to know the severity of problems they create,
and almost never are those problems _intentional_ (which would still
require one to one accept that it's okay to be abusive as a form of
"self defense"). Expecting people to change their behaviors, methods, or
practices in order to avoid mistakes seems like a reasonable thing. This
is how I've tried to fix my stupid mistakes when I encounter them or
they're pointed out.

When someone cuts me off in traffic, I assume they're oblivious rather
than malicious. If I drove 8 hours a day, I'm sure my resolve to accept
and understand these mistakes would erode over time, but I still think
it would be more productive to let them know it was uncool with a short
honk rather than trying to ram them. :)

-Kees

--
Kees Cook @outflux.net