Re: [ 00/19] 3.10.1-stable review

J. Bruce Fields
2013-07-15T19:05:05Z

On Mon, Jul 15, 2013 at 11:17:06AM -0700, Linus Torvalds wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 15, 2013 at 11:04 AM, Sarah Sharp
> <sarah.a.sharp@linux.intel.com> wrote:
> >
> > However, I am serious about this. Linus, you're one of the worst
> > offenders when it comes to verbally abusing people and publicly tearing
> > their emotions apart.
>
> Yes. And I do it partly (mostly) because it's who I am, and partly
> because I honestly despise being subtle or "nice".

"Nice", "subtle", and "polite" all seem mostly orthogonal to me.

> The fact is, people need to know what my position on things are. And I
> can't just say "please don't do that", because people won't listen. I
> say "On the internet, nobody can hear you being subtle", and I mean
> it.

And "please don't do that" isn't very subtle.

--b.

>
> And I definitely am not willing to string people along, either. I've
> had that happen too - not telling people clearly enough that I don't
> like their approach, they go on to re-architect something, and get
> really upset when I am then not willing to take their work.
>
> Sarah, first off, I don't have that many tools at hand. Secondly, I
> simply don't believe in being polite or politically correct. And you
> can point at all those cultural factors where some cultures are not
> happy with confrontation (and feel free to make it about gender too -
> I think that's almost entirely cultural too). And please bring up
> "cultural sensitivity" while at it. And I'll give you back that same
> "cultural sensitivity". Please be sensitive to _my_ culture too.
>
> Google "management by perkele".
>
> Do you really want to oppress a minority? Because Finns are a minority
> compared to almost any other country. If you want to talk cultural
> sensitivity, I'll join you. But my culture includes cursing.
>
> And some of the above is written tonge-in-cheek, but all of it is also
> serious. I really fundamentally believe that being honest and open
> about your emotions about core/process is good. And because it's damn
> hard to read people over email, I think you need to be *more* honest
> and *more* open over email. I'm generally nicer in person. Not always.
>
> And yes, I'll happily be part of the discussion at the KS. But I think
> you also need to be aware that your "high horse" isn't necessarily all
> that high.
>
> Linus
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