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

[BeetleB]

>it is no longer acceptable to say "this seems stupid to me" because it might hurt someone's feelings.

"This seems stupid to me" is a considerably lazy statement. What's worse, it doesn't have any meaningful content beyond "I don't like it." I've yet to see anyone's feelings hurt with the following:

"I'm rejecting your proposition because I believe it will lead to X, Y and Z (problems)"

"Your proposal is not going to work because of X, Y and Z".

"I'm not seeing the benefit of this. Can you explain what we have to gain by it?"

And probably a dozen other direct statements.

At the workplace, I don't care who thinks what idea is idiotic. I care whether they can speak for or against it. And I care whether they are open or close minded about it. Saying "This seems stupid to me" is providing zero contribution to the process.

[frant-hartm → BeetleB]

>Your proposal is not going to work

and

>I'm not seeing the benefit of this

are very indirect statements in my vocabulary.

[BeetleB → frant-hartm]

You can't get any more direct than "your proposal is not going to work". There's no ambiguity in there, and nothing left for the person to guess.