this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2025
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Ah yes, Linus Torvalds, the man who convinced generations of nerds that it's okay to treat others like shit as long as you're "right".
He's like the walking epitome of "you're not wrong, you're just an asshole."
Edit: and the neckbeards who spring to his defense always screech about how everybody else needs to stop being so thin-skinned.
No, assholes need to stop treating people like shit. Don't put this on the rest of us
It's possible to acknowledge Torvalds as both a technical leader and overall smart guy, as well as acknowledging his poor treatment of people and generally being an asshole. A person can be both of those things.
haha
heh to be fair he wasn't wrong either... There are just nicer ways to go about it.
This you?
He's not wrong. He's just an asshole.
I'm okay with people being an asshole and also technically right.
This guy is just being a hypocrite.
If they want to clutch your pearls at Linus being abrasive and insulting, I can understand that.
They just can't go into the next sentence being abrasive and insulting without looking like a toolbag.
And yes, people still need to get a thicker skin.
If you actually read his posts you'd see that most rants come when people fuck up, then brag about it or complain about Linus not getting their garbage and then doubling down in it.
Simply putting these things on Linus being a dick is unfair at best.
You also left out the little detail nowhere thanks to him we now have an open source Linux kernel that is used in more places.... Not going to make a your mom joke.
I'm sure Linus is not the easiest guy to please but I've never seen him go off against some dude who didn't do anything wrong, who didn't say anything back, who wasn't snarky themselves, etc. yeah, Linus is the benevolent dictator for Linux and so far I see him as a hugely positive force and I hope he continues to be for a long time to come.
After him, however, Linux will need democracy to survive, I think.
I'm a long time Linux user, and I wholeheartedly agree with you. Linus is a dick. He insults people all the time, and people have normalized it. He's a fucking genius, but not a nice person. What's wrong with just saying "hey, your code has so and so issues. Please fix and resubmit"???
Bro was late and did poor work and that's all Linus said. He didn't insult the guy, he just wasn't polite. Linus is plenty nice to people not actively making his job harder while he's on vacation. It's understandable to be short with someone under those circumstances.
This was my take.
Developer was late. That itself is a trigger.
If you rush me trying to sneak code in, gloves are off.
If I write here to you what he wrote there, my comment will be removed and I might be banned.
doubt
It is important to be able to call people out on their incompetence. Now more than ever. Bad people often hide behind incompetence in order to avoid blame for their actions, and it works.
You can always say "hey, your code has so and so issues, therefore, I won't approve this PR. Please fix and resubmit. Also, please make sure you don't submit your code late. Thanks", instead of insulting the person.
Calling out incompetence and being a fucking dick are not the same thing, and the fact that people (you included) think that you can't point out mistakes without being a cunt is the entire problem here
Yeah but you just called everyone in the comments who defends him a "neckbeard"
Engineer-types definitely knew that way before Linus.
Thing is, either you're a straight-up asshole like Linus or you're a passive-aggressive asshole like every project lead who believes in their strong Code of Conduct. Or your product is a failure.
I reckon it would be beneficial to everyone involved if someone else just handled public relations for Linus. Just add a filter.
That goes directly against the open, transparent development model of the Linux Kernel.
When you're developing in the open, everything becomes "public relations".
You are right, it was more of a joke suggestion.
Not defending him, but him as an entire person is why we have Linux
If he was different we probably wouldn't have it
question: do you believe it's as bad now as it has been historically? because the guy went to anger management therapy for like a year after getting called out last time, and i got the impression that things improved after that.
I dunno, the lesson I learned from him is it's ok to get help. He went and got some, and made working with him better for everyone.
Ooof, 105 upvotes vs 105 downvotes over someone calling out shitty behavior looks about right. Here's a humble upvote to tilt you over to the good side.
But I used the word "neckbeard", therefore my argument is invalid