On: Linus Torvalds apologizes for his behavior, takes time off

[Mtinie]

> Linus was forceful at times, but his focus was on the work, not on trying to make people feel bad.

It may have started this way when he began one of his emails, but even he admits the attacks often went from “let me critique your contribution” to “here’s why your contribution sucks and beyond that here’s why I think you suck as a contributor”.

[SamReidHughes → Mtinie]

Being all patronizing and snooty about somebody making a total noob of themselves can be a lot worse!

[Mtinie → SamReidHughes]

I’m not sure I follow. You can absolutely be critical of the idea and the implementation, without being patronizing.

[SamReidHughes → Mtinie]

You also often need to tell people they need to improve themselves. To criticize the person, not just the code.