He wasn't insulting. Absence of ass kissing isn't an insult.
>In fact, I'd argue that it is even less than useless as if someone talked to be like that, I'd be even less reticent to try to help.
you sound like you're an ass with overgrown ego.
In general, one chooses whether to get things done or waste the time on gentle handling of ego of the people who can't control their own ego. It is a great boon for humanity that Linus has been choosing the former.
You can make your point without ass kissing or insulting/being overly aggressive.
See, in your post, the "You're an ass with overgrown ego" doesn't help your point at all; it's just provocative and seen as aggressive.
Try to remove that phrase from your post and you'll see that there's no difference at all. In fact, you would have wasted a little bit less of everyone's time. (See how easy it can be to be aggressive and provocative; even thought it wins nothing at the end.)
Anyway, if I understand your post, you are saying that either you gets things done or you're ass kissing the ego of people. First, that is plainly totally wrong. You can be productive without being an ass. Secondly, not being aggressive, is not the same thing as ass kissing.
It's like fighting to win a battle or a war. By being aggressive, you fight to win that small battle.. but if the contributor is pissed enough and decide to not work with some asses, everybody loses.
>You can make your point without ass kissing or insulting/being overly aggressive.
That exactly what Linus did.
>you are saying that either you gets things done or you're ass kissing the ego of people. First, that is plainly totally wrong. You can be productive without being an ass.
if you analyze the logic of your statement you'd find what it puts "not ass kissing the ego of people " as equivalent to "being an ass". We're back to square one.
This is the quote that's the most relevant and was unnecessary for getting his point across:
Quite frankly, I find your attitude to be annoying and downright stupid.
He was being insulting and unnecessarily aggressive.
Post #128 was stating logic and facts. Linus responded with logic and facts also, but before he did so, he stated the insult. Unnecessary and didn't add anything to the debate except emotional provocation.
If someone else doesn't get it, he can say, "This is my point, I hope it makes sense, if it doesn't, I don't know what else I can do to make you understand me." Something like that. And then just stop replying. Instead, he turns it into a pissing match.
> you sound like you're an ass with overgrown ego.
stands in direct contradiction to this expressed desire:
> get things done [and not] waste ... time
because what you think the other person sounds like is not relevant.
This:
> Absence of ass kissing isn't an insult.
is useless for a different reason. If you are a manager, which Torvalds is, you need to be able to keep the people you're managing in a usable state. This is only very rarely done with brusqueness.
>In fact, I'd argue that it is even less than useless as if someone talked to be like that, I'd be even less reticent to try to help.
you sound like you're an ass with overgrown ego.
In general, one chooses whether to get things done or waste the time on gentle handling of ego of the people who can't control their own ego. It is a great boon for humanity that Linus has been choosing the former.