Wow. I wonder what made him "get it" after many years of being aware of people's issues with his behavior and not giving a damn. Massive props to him for owning up to it and taking concrete measures to improve.

It's also a bit odd that he puts the emphasis on 'understanding emotions', 'being empathetic', etc. -- no one really asks Linus to 'not upset their emotions', or 'not make them uncomfortable'; what people rightfully do ask of him is to be *respectful*.

A negative response/harsh criticism that's respectful of your dignity can nevertheless be emotionally hard-hitting; *and that's perfectly fine*. What's *not* fine is the accompanying slight at your worth as a human being.

I'm glad he's coming to terms with his poor behaviour at times, he's not always bad, but when he's bad he really does go for it and it doesn't look good.

As I said on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/thenaughtysquid/status/1041443055990190081):
You can get a point across easily without being a rude, obnoxious and hostile. It pushes people away, people you might need, people who might do amazing things if given a decent chance.

Quoting: wvstolzingIt's also a bit odd that he puts the emphasis on 'understanding emotions', 'being empathetic', etc. -- no one really asks Linus to 'not upset their emotions', or 'not make them uncomfortable'; what people rightfully do ask of him is to be *respectful*.

I don't know Linus well at all and I don't want to make assumptions about his state of mind, but I've been translating a biographical novel about an autistic person and the fact that he mentioned these specific social skills hit close to home. It's actually a misconception that all autists lack empathy, but it's a challenge that some of them can face and that exists with other conditions. When he says, "In my quest for a better patch, this made sense to me.", I get the sense that he truly did not understand on a fundamental level why people couldn't look beyond his caustic remarks and focus on the, let's say, rational advice or arguments he wrapped them around. Because he interprets social interactions completely differently and isn't personally bothered by the kind of behavior he has been displaying.

Again I don't want to assume too much, but if it's really the case that he genuinely couldn't wrap his head around other people's reactions to what he felt was just a way to get his point across, I find it fascinating that something managed to make it click for him after several decades of seemingly "not caring." A man his age admitting that he has such a fundamental flaw and deciding to work on it is huge, as far as I'm concerned.

Good on Linus, and good on the people who got it to make sense to him.

I found him refreshing in a world that has gone to the dogs with all this Social Justice CRAP! Free speech doesn't end where feelings start & anyone who thinks words hurt hasn't been punched in the face often or hard enough.

Linus should have told them to go pound sand & carry on being himself, this is a show of weakness on his part & they're never going to let it go now, I'd say he's done for good.

I found that the things Linus said to people were not necessary to get his point across and had the potential to drive people away from participating in kernel development.

In other words, the filter was not skill or enthusiasm but the ability to withstand abuse. I'd hazard the opinion that it was not beneficial to Linux.

Quoting: lucifertdarkanyone who thinks words hurt hasn't been punched in the face often or hard enough.

I'd say the opposite holds true as well ;)

Quoting: damarrinIn other words, the filter was not skill or enthusiasm but the ability to withstand abuse.

Some might argue that if you were "skilled enough" you wouldn't get berated by him; but on the whole I agree with you. That would set the bar excessively high (who is never wrong?) and there are still much better ways to teach someone, even if it worked for some.

Good for him to finally admit it and do something about it. His rants often were completely inappropriate.

I've read some emails where he called people out rather harshly, with plenty of vulgarity and questioning their inteligence. Lots of belittling the incompetent, and quite frankly, THAT'S THE REASON LINUX IS AS GOOD AS IT IS.

The harsh taskmaster gets better results every time. EVERY TIME.

I don't care what your politics are, the outrage mob culture commonly derided as the SJW or Social Justice Warrior destroys literally everything it touches, and it does so by ratcheting up, not all at once. Code quality has always been the only thing that mattered, and if you're too thin-skinned to deal with a harshly-worded email when you screw up, then go away. If this softening becomes a trend it's step one to the end of Linux. Maybe even Step 2 according to this metric:

https://voxday.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-five-stages-of-corporate-convergence.html

Please note that Google is at stage four and Microsoft looks to be at stage three. For an example of Stage five, looks to either Marvel Comics or Starbucks, where a customers politics are put above the fact that they have money to spend and the company openly attacks their now former customers betting on a new surge of correct customers that don't actually exist in the numbers to replace the old base. Or even better, Toys 'R Us donated massive amounts of money to Planned Parenthood in order to fund abortions of the babies that would have been their customers. Because it was correct politics.

Step two is the taskmaster softening up, handing the reigns over to the younger and less capable but correct in their politics. Linus's daughter is an SJW from the looks of things, and she's a code monkey. So this could be very bad long term.

I think that the one thing Linux has going for it to mitigate all of this is that anyone at any time can fork the whole OS and then do they own thing. The problem is, like with systemD - everyone hates it, but everyone uses it because Red Hat - is that a converged corporation becomes the defacto standard, your new fork will be supported by you and only you.

Quoting: jarhead_hI've read some emails where he called people out rather harshly, with plenty of vulgarity and questioning their inteligence. Lots of belittling the incompetent, and quite frankly, THAT'S THE REASON LINUX IS AS GOOD AS IT IS.

The harsh taskmaster gets better results every time. EVERY TIME.

Absolutely true. I can only see Linux as a project go south from now on which is very sad. I hope Linus comes to his senses eventually and removes this toxic CoC completely. [Here's a good read](https://twitter.com/nickmon1112/status/1041668315947708416) on why CoC is actually a horrible thing that brings the very discord it states to prevent.

Quoting: jarhead_hThe problem is, like with systemD - everyone hates it, but everyone uses it because Red Hat - is that a converged corporation becomes the defacto standard, your new fork will be supported by you and only you.

Hey-hey-hey, not so fast! I, for one, love systemd and I'm not ashamed to admit it. It's not without flaws for sure but it gets the job done and is very easy to manage. It really follows the "least surprise" rule or something, i.e. you do simple things and get the exact result you wanted. I understand the proponents of Unix-way that systemd obviously violates compared to SysV and I love Unix-way. Systemd just does that system management task better imo.

So, overall: Linus pondering his behavior and changing it might be fine (if he would still be a harsh taskmaster, maybe less rude). Bringing politics into Linux is [NOT FINE at all](https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/8a104f8b5867c682d994ffa7a74093c54469c11f#comments).

Quoting: rkfgSo, overall: Linus pondering his behavior and changing it might be fine (if he would still be a harsh taskmaster, maybe less rude). Bringing politics into Linux is [NOT FINE at all](https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/8a104f8b5867c682d994ffa7a74093c54469c11f#comments).

Problem : a Code of Conduct is the first step in a long road that ends with people submitting bug reports because comments in the code use gendered pronouns. It's an either/or situation with a middle ground only being temporary on the way towards one extreme or the other. Either let Linus be Linus and tell everyone to grow a thicker skin, or we will end up watching the people that take over for the people that take over for Linus crash development for reasons that have nothing to do with code and everything to do with non-coders that can't do what Linus has done and won't even be able to maintain it.

Linux will lose Linus eventually. He has to die sometime. He might/probably-will retire before then. I'm just in the camp that says that we should keep doing what's worked for this long until we absolutely can't anymore, and then hopefully whoever takes over will ALSO prioritize quality of code over being liked.

Quoting: wvstolzingHere's the link to the entire post from the kernel mailing list ([link](https://lkml.org/lkml/2018/9/16/167))

"This is my reality. I am not an emotionally empathetic kind of person
and that probably doesn't come as a big surprise to anybody. Least of
all me. The fact that I then misread people and don't realize (for
years) how badly I've judged a situation and contributed to an
unprofessional environment is not good.

This week people in our community confronted me about my lifetime of
not understanding emotions. My flippant attacks in emails have been
both unprofessional and uncalled for. Especially at times when I made
it personal. In my quest for a better patch, this made sense to me.
I know now this was not OK and I am truly sorry.

The above is basically a long-winded way to get to the somewhat
painful personal admission that hey, I need to change some of my
behavior, and I want to apologize to the people that my personal
behavior hurt and possibly drove away from kernel development
entirely.

I am going to take time off and get some assistance on how to
understand people’s emotions and respond appropriately."

Is he a sociopath?

Quoting: Guest@jarhead_h:

There's a difference between being a harsh taskmaster, and being insulting. There's absolutely no reason to insult and put people down for mistakes. There's no reason why telling people trying to do improper things means you have to berate them. It's just as easy to keep it technical, keep it professional, and make decisions without insulting or being derogatory.

Put another way, if I disagreed with you, should I then verbally abuse you? I think you would be quick to take offense.

That depends. Are you my boss, and have I screwed up? Yes and yes? Then abuse is exactly what I would expect. Especially if the screw up was a repeat one.

I found image from his treatment:

Quoting: GuestThere's a difference between being a harsh taskmaster, and being insulting.

The difference between being harsh taskmaster and being insulting is often if what is being said is true or not.

Quoting: GuestThere's absolutely no reason to insult and put people down for mistakes. There's no reason why telling people trying to do improper things means you have to berate them. It's just as easy to keep it technical, keep it professional, and make decisions without insulting or being derogatory.

I believe we should be a little more accepting towards our geniuses and leaders. There is no reason to insult people and put them down for their mistakes, but that is what we have in Linus. We can't choose half a person while rejecting his other half. People come as a whole with the good and the bad bits.

And no matter what happens, I hope this community never accepts the SJW culture. It is a culture with which one shows oneself as being morally superior without actually doing anything worthwhile. It starts a competition of who could be the most offended on other's behalves.

Quoting: jarhead_hLinux will lose Linus eventually. He has to die sometime. He might/probably-will retire before then. I'm just in the camp that says that we should keep doing what's worked for this long until we absolutely can't anymore, and then hopefully whoever takes over will ALSO prioritize quality of code over being liked.

Many things in the world have "worked for this long" but it doesn't mean those things were or are sustainable. People are too quick with their doomsday predictions and have buried not only the kernel but also the man primarily responsible for its existence. How about you guys wait a bit and see if the CoC actually has these catastrophic consequences that you seem to be so certain of? Because it's more than likely that things will keep moving as they have in the past, except Linus has to hold his tongue and stick to technical critique.

Quoting: Samsai

Quoting: jarhead_hLinux will lose Linus eventually. He has to die sometime. He might/probably-will retire before then. I'm just in the camp that says that we should keep doing what's worked for this long until we absolutely can't anymore, and then hopefully whoever takes over will ALSO prioritize quality of code over being liked.

Many things in the world have "worked for this long" but it doesn't mean those things were or are sustainable. People are too quick with their doomsday predictions and have buried not only the kernel but also the man primarily responsible for its existence. How about you guys wait a bit and see if the CoC actually has these catastrophic consequences that you seem to be so certain of? Because it's more than likely that things will keep moving as they have in the past, except Linus has to hold his tongue and stick to technical critique.

Apparently it had pretty catastrophic consequences on FreeBSD when they applied the CoC. Lost a lot of contributors, especially one of the most active ones.

Quoting: SamsaiPeople are too quick with their doomsday predictions and have buried not only the kernel but also the man primarily responsible for its existence. How about you guys wait a bit and see if the CoC actually has these catastrophic consequences that you seem to be so certain of? Because it's more than likely that things will keep moving as they have in the past, except Linus has to hold his tongue and stick to technical critique.

Bowing down to social justice warriors has never worked for any society or organization. Do you really believe that relegating merit to an afterthought will ever do good to Linux? Do you think there is something special abut Linux that things can't play out that way? These CoC are now being used to extinguish the diversity of opinions in the guise of promoting diversity. Just look at the James Damore case. Only people who are not outraged at what was done to him are the ones who didn't actually read his memo.

There is a difference between saying "this code is crap because a b c, please fix this and it will be considered again" and the things Linus has been saying. They will be equally effective as regards the quality of code in Linux if in both cases the code is simply not accepted.

No-one is born perfect and fully formed and the expectation that someone who is just starting with kernel development will be immediately able to satisfy the code maintainer's expectations is nonsensical.