As an aside, how does Linus come across as a grouch? Like any other normal human being that expresses a range of emotions, he might have exhibited an imperfect control on his temper/tone. People are way too judgemental / thin skinned these days.
I am a very thick skinned person, I like people joking about me and like to joke about others, but let's get not confused about Linus, he's quite a character, I personally really like him (as far as I know him, basically his internet persona), but I can perfectly understand how it doesn't fit with a lot of people.
I find the following phrase hilarious:
>> I find people who think open-source is anti-capitalism to be kind of naive and slightly stupid.
Now, even if I find it particularly funny, I'm not sure if that's the best face for open source, maybe someone less confrontative and more politically correct would be better suited, but he is who he is, and his contribution to open source, well, need no explanation.
Even so, I wonder if Linux and open source in general would benefit from having a more friendly / approachable face and have Linus in the technical side of things.
It's not something that's easy to change though because it wasn't a decision, it's something that just is.
Well, I think that instead people should be more accepting towards others' personal imperfections. Political correctness should be avoided at all costs because it's by definition a kind of dishonest manipulation.
I did "try and understand" before reply, but sometimes it is difficult to discern exact meaning. You said we should accept others imperfections, so I'm assuming you meant Linus' imperfections. That is what I was replying to. I don't think it's acceptable that people should be verbally abused, and we shouldn't "accept" it as you say.
As an aside, how does Linus come across as a grouch?
"Reporters" drive clicks by pretending to be outraged. Therefore they have to build up a set of standards and narratives which will make readers find Linus' behavior unacceptable, and dismiss Linus' explanations as just being a grouch. Once readers buy into the narrative, they see the world through that lens.
Side note: multiply this by all the news sites that use snark and moral outrage. That's how you get thin skin and judgmental in society. It's just like how the bigger news organizations exploit and reenforce a sense of fear in their viewers.
