How New, Polite Linus Torvalds Points Out Bad Kernel Code (phoronix.com) 370
Linus Torvalds "has shown already for the new Linux 4.20~5.0 cycle he isn't relaxing his standards but is communicating better when it comes to bringing up coding," reports Phoronix, adding "So far it looks like Linus' brief retreat is paying off with still addressing code quality issues -- and not blatantly accepting new code into the kernel as some feared -- but in doing so in a professional manner compared to his past manner of exclaiming himself over capitalized sentences and profanity that at time put him at odds with some in the Linux kernel community."
AmiMoJo quotes their report: Last Saturday he took issue with the HID pull request and its introduction of the BigBen game controller driver that was introduced: the developer enabled this new driver by default. Linus Torvalds has always frowned upon random new drivers being enabled by default in the kernel configuration driver. [H]e still voiced his opinion over this driver's default "Y" build configuration, but did so in a more professional manner than he has done in the past:
We do *not* enable new random drivers by default. And we most *definitely* don't do it when they are odd-ball ones that most people have never heard of.
Yet the new "BigBen Interactive" driver that was added this merge window did exactly that.
Just don't do it.
Yes, yes, every developer always thinks that _their_ driver is so special and so magically important that it should be enabled by default. But no. When we have thousands of drivers, we don't randomly pick one new driver to be enabled by default just because some developer thinks it is special. It's not.... Please don't do things like this.
Phoronix also describes another "kernel oops" testing Torvalds' patience, in which Linus responded tactfully that "What makes me *very* unhappy about this is that if I'm right, I think it means that code was literally not tested at all by anybody who didn't have one of the entries in that list."
AmiMoJo quotes their report: Last Saturday he took issue with the HID pull request and its introduction of the BigBen game controller driver that was introduced: the developer enabled this new driver by default. Linus Torvalds has always frowned upon random new drivers being enabled by default in the kernel configuration driver. [H]e still voiced his opinion over this driver's default "Y" build configuration, but did so in a more professional manner than he has done in the past:
We do *not* enable new random drivers by default. And we most *definitely* don't do it when they are odd-ball ones that most people have never heard of.
Yet the new "BigBen Interactive" driver that was added this merge window did exactly that.
Just don't do it.
Yes, yes, every developer always thinks that _their_ driver is so special and so magically important that it should be enabled by default. But no. When we have thousands of drivers, we don't randomly pick one new driver to be enabled by default just because some developer thinks it is special. It's not.... Please don't do things like this.
Phoronix also describes another "kernel oops" testing Torvalds' patience, in which Linus responded tactfully that "What makes me *very* unhappy about this is that if I'm right, I think it means that code was literally not tested at all by anybody who didn't have one of the entries in that list."
I can actually hear him gritting his teeth (Score:5, Insightful)
That should be impossible with just a few written words, right?
Re:I can actually hear him gritting his teeth (Score:5, Insightful)
On the contrary, it just goes to show how unnecessary his over the top style was. The irritation comes through just as clearly, but without being overtly offensive and hostile.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
One can only take offense.. It's not possible to give it.
Re: (Score:3)
Actually, it can be given. For example, if I were to pee on you while you're sitting on a bench minding your own business, most people would reasonably say I gave offense.
Re: I can actually hear him gritting his teeth (Score:2)
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Don't be so sure. He might not overreact, but the offense will be there.
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Don't be so sure. He might not overreact, but the offense will be there.
Exactly. We live in an age where those who are offended the most easily have the power to get rid of those who offend them.
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Actually, it can be given. For example, if I were to pee on you while you're sitting on a bench minding your own business, most people would reasonably say I gave offense.
Unless you want to be peed on. Rule 34.
Re: (Score:2)
That's not rule 34, it's 36: No matter what it is, it's someone's fetish.
Re: (Score:2)
It's just an offense that rises to the level of a crime. That is, a criminal OFFENSE. There's a reason we call that an offense.
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It's the actual derivation of the term.
If it wasn't possible to give offense, we wouldn't use the term "criminal offense". No sophistry involved.
See also "fighting words".
I suspect that most people who claim it is impossible to give offense are just looking for a license to be an asshole.
Re: (Score:3)
Criminal offense is merely a differentiation from civil...
...offense. In any event, the law hasn't TAKEN offense, you have given offense.
Regional or not, it is still an example of giving offense. It may even mitigate or nullify charges of battery for the person offense was given to should they respond physically. Even more jurisdictions will consider such given offense in a civil suit.
Offense may indeed be given. Some equate it with assault. Others do not. Offense may also be taken even when none is offered. That is another matter. Some even consider taking offens
Re:I can actually hear him gritting his teeth (Score:5, Insightful)
We will see what happens when the first self-important moron does not get it.
Re: I can actually hear him gritting his teeth (Score:3)
Aren't we already seeing that like 20 times over, just in this thread alone?
Re: (Score:2)
We do not see Linus reacting to it....
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If you think his usual style caused tears, wait until he absolutely demolishes someone "professionally". That's what I liked about the cursing: It was honest, direct and expressed emotions instead of suppressing them. He's going to be a lot more vicious and it's going to be a lot harder for some people to understand when and where they crossed a line. Some people like big businesses because abhor the lack of written down rules at startups. Most people however detest HR, deep hierarchies and inflexible rules
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On the contrary, it just goes to show how unnecessary his over the top style was. The irritation comes through just as clearly, but without being overtly offensive and hostile.
I know more than a few people who would still take offense at those statements.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, nobody has gone to jail... yet... We just have university TA's being pulled into "diversity and equity" meetings because they didn't denigrate a certain side of a debate.
Re:I can actually hear him gritting his teeth (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't see how that is any more polite than before. Professional way to say the same would have been:
- We have thousands of drivers so we can't enable all of them by default. This is especially true for new drivers that have not been properly tested yet and which are not known or used by a large amount of people. Please be careful about this in the future so we don't accidentally cause problems for our users.
Mind you, I don't want Linus to change the way he speaks. I was really happy when my code was rejected by him with harsh words.It made me feel special.
Those of you who don't understand how I feel, work with something for a whole week. Then send it to someone who would really need your work, but who you know won't reply to you nor use your work in any way. That is what kills spirit and makes you feel rejected, not harsh words that tell that the person did actually spend time investigating your work and even was kind enough to tell you what is wrong with it.
Re:I can actually hear him gritting his teeth (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't see how that is any more polite than before.
If you honestly can’t see the difference, you haven’t been paying attention.
There are many ways this differs... but it boils down to this: Linus’ words focused on the code, not the coder. He still got his point across regarding why it was a bad decision, and he let people know he expected people to not do this for their own little corners of the kernel.
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The subtle difference between "you are a moron" and "you did something moronic".
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"your code looks like something a moron would write"
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I think that what your version says is different than what Linus said. He didn't say be careful; he said don't do it.
Your version also has more explanation that isn't, or shouldn't, be necessary for
Re:I can actually hear him gritting his teeth (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't see how that is any more polite than before. Professional way to say the same would have been: - We have thousands of drivers so we can't enable all of them by default. This is especially true for new drivers that have not been properly tested yet and which are not known or used by a large amount of people. Please be careful about this in the future so we don't accidentally cause problems for our users.
The problem is that there are a significant number of people who would take umbrage at what you wrote. Allow me to be the worker you just said that to..... Are you accusing me of incompetence? You're saying I'm careless? You're saying that I'm trying to write bad drivers? Then that evening, social media will hear all about you being a jerk and an asshole, possibly being a "something something" bigot.
I've worked in groups who to our dismay, got one of these wonderful snowflakes on a few occasions. Eventually they have everyone walking on eggshells in order not to offend them, as the focus of the group becomes as much not upsetting the snowflake as it is performing the task at hand.
After figuring out that the snowflake simply won't take telling, I would move anyone showing signs of being too easily insulted away from us quickly, and usually they made enough trouble in most positions that the next downturn cycle they were gone.
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Why would this be a problem?
The goal is not to act in such a way that it avoids the possibility for anyone to be offended by it. The goal is to be polite enough that most people would shrug and say, well that person is just overreacting. Linus was a long way from that balance before.
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Why would this be a problem?
The goal is not to act in such a way that it avoids the possibility for anyone to be offended by it. The goal is to be polite enough that most people would shrug and say, well that person is just overreacting. Linus was a long way from that balance before.
Oh sheesh. Perhaps my 30+ years of experience have been all wrong, but the easily offended crowd do not get any less offended when they are appeased.
Been there, tried it, found out that eventually the color of the office panelling and the brand of coffee at meetings was enough to set them off.
And I disagree. When the easily offended are in a group, the goal damn well does become not offending. People become too busy parsing their words that after the second second guessing, they just decide to keep the
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I don't see how that is any more polite than before.
Let me educate you on what he said in the past:
Mauro, SHUT THE FUCK UP!
"It's a bug alright -- in the kernel. How long have you been a maintainer? And you *still* haven't learnt the first rule of kernel maintenance?"
"Shut up, Mauro. And I don't _ever_ want to hear that kind of obvious garbage and idiocy from a kernel maintainer again. Seriously. Fix your fucking 'compliance tool,' because it is obviously broken. And fix your approach to kernel programming."
So: No expletives, no attacks on the developer, and
Re:I can actually hear him gritting his teeth (Score:4, Insightful)
On the contrary, I think Linus did an excellent job of explaining reality to this developer. Reality being that thing that has a funny way of not giving a shit about your feelings, and Linus not being required to cater to every developer's unwarranted self-importance.
Oh, and please don't use the term "scare quotes" if you don't know what they are. Thanks!
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On the contrary, I think Linus did an excellent job of explaining reality to this developer. Reality being that thing that has a funny way of not giving a shit about your feelings, and Linus not being required to cater to every developer's unwarranted self-importance.
Oh, and please don't use the term "scare quotes" if you don't know what they are. Thanks!
Read my last sentence in that post. I don't disagree with you. While it appears that I am for some reason disagreeing with what Torvalds wrote, I am writing how a precious snowflake would react. I only know because that is how one would react based on 30 some years of listening to the reactions of the precious folk.
And learning what they do to groups, we learned to get rid of them as soon as possible.
There is a certain Gestalt when professionals and scientists can get together, and hash out the goal at
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Errrrr, who hurt you child?
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Errrrr, who hurt you child?
Manshaming? That's about the most bizarre response I've ever read.
Dooood, read the last sentence in my post.
Re:I can actually hear him gritting his teeth (Score:4, Informative)
...Who is he to tell this person what "we do" or we do not do...
The person who OWNS Linux (and the "we" is the group of people permitted to contribute code).
...Who the hell does Torvalds think he is, dishing out orders like a tyrant dictator?...
The person who OWNS Linux (ie the person who dictates what is or is not acceptable code).
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...Who is he to tell this person what "we do" or we do not do...
The person who OWNS Linux (and the "we" is the group of people permitted to contribute code).
They're working on that. Ellen Pao, Chanty Binx, The Kenyan Terror baby, Barry Goldwatter, and Asia Argento are planning to come in and take over Linux.
Have I been outlandish enough?
Now, everyone - read the last line of my gawdammed post you are reacting to. Jeebuz, I get it, ya'll are Poe'd here, but come on, when I admit it in the actual post in question that I disagree with what some people would say...... Oh what the hell - have fun.
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We do "not" in scare Scare quotes, and claiming what "we do not". Who is he to tell this person what "we do" or we do not do.
They aren't quotes, they are asterisks. They are just there for emphasis.
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How do I know this sort of thing? I've heard it over "criticisms" much milder than what he wrote.
So you think it's problematic because that's why you think other people think, even though those other people are not complained. In fact I've only seen a few tweets about how much better it is.
In fact you replied to me, the reluctant king of Slashdot SJWs, praising it.
At least with the usual fake outrage there is a single tweet or comment somewhere. This time, literally nothing. Just your assumption that someone somewhere must be offended.
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If someone responds to disagreement as if it's a personal and unwarranted attack, then the problem is with them and they are the one that needs to learn to accommodate, not the rest of the world.
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Poor guy, bottling in all that anger. He may cut his lifespan short by 10 years if he has to deal with a lot of incompetent code submitters. And then picture some of those morons mouthing off because Linux responded so blandly. All so a bunch of sensitive snowflakes feelings aren't hurt.
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I come from the era where everyone in society bottled in their anger. The overwhelming majority just chose to die of degenerative diseases before hitting seventy.
Re: I can actually hear him gritting his teeth (Score:2)
Re: I can actually hear him gritting his teeth (Score:5, Funny)
As the great Sean Connery once said when a book fell on his head: "I have only my shelf to blame."
#savelinus (Score:5, Funny)
Re:#savelinus (Score:5, Funny)
Actual text (Score:5, Funny)
Oh fuck off. We do *not* enable new random drivers by default. And we most *definitely* don't do it when they are odd-ball ones that most people have never heard of.
Yet the new "BigBen Interactive" driver that was added this merge window did exactly that.
Just don't fucking do it.
Yes, yes, you always thinks that your driver is so special and so magically important that it should be enabled by default. But no. When we have thousands of drivers, we don't randomly pick one new driver to be enabled by default just because some developer thinks they are special. You're not. Don't fucking do things like this.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
I know we don't read TFA, but there is an example of how Linus dealt with almost the exact same situation before:
So are the rejected drivers good enough? (Score:2)
That's the stuff that matters.
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That's not the issue at all. The question is whether they should enabled by default. The kernel development policy is not to do that with new drivers, unless there is some compelling reason to do so.
The driver in question might be the finest driver ever written, but the policy exists because the kernel development team is huge, and if everybody did things their own way the result would be chaos.
SERENITY NOW! (Score:4, Informative)
Compare 2010:
https://lkml.org/lkml/2010/5/20/218 [lkml.org]
This is just unbelievable SH*T: ...
First it says "only ask if EMBEDDED", and then it says "default to Y if
not embedded".
Why? Why the hell did somebody decide that everybody and their pet dog
should get that totally uninteresting driver, whether they want it or not?
I realize that every single developer thinks that their driver is the most
important thing in the universe, but come on! This kind of thing is
totally inappropriate, and to make matters worse, it looks like there are
a few commits that won't even compile because the whole file wasn't even
added until later.
And this piece of shit was made _mandatory_?
Get a grip, people. I'm not pulling idiotic crap like this. Some quality
control before you ask me to pull, for chissake!
2018:
We do *not* enable new random drivers by default. And we most *definitely* don't do it when they are odd-ball ones that most people have never heard of.
Yet the new "BigBen Interactive" driver that was added this merge window did exactly that.
Just don't do it.
Yes, yes, every developer always thinks that _their_ driver is so special and so magically important that it should be enabled by default. But no. When we have thousands of drivers, we don't randomly pick one new driver to be enabled by default just because some developer thinks it is special. It's not.... Please don't do things like this.
This is clearly developer behavior which Linus just HATES, but now he has to be polite in expressing his disdain for it.
I expect Linus to be committed to the looney bin in a matter of months.
Re:SERENITY NOW! (Score:4, Insightful)
He has to be a jerk to keep kernel quality high. There is no other way. Same as you have to be a jerk (at least temporary) when grading exams, for example.
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...Same as you have to be a jerk (at least temporary) when grading exams, for example.
Actually, jerk is the very last thing you should be when marking exams. "Professional" is the only acceptable behaviour.
Which means that if the submitted work is of F quality then the only acceptable mark is F. Jerkiness doesn't ever come into it.
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You've got me convinced. So convinced in fact that I'm going to switch to the OS you wrote immediately.
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Whaddaya know... [rationalwiki.org]
Re: (Score:2)
Once again, you are violating my copyright. Stop plagiarizing. A license to re-use my words will cost you $5,000.00 per letter. Please remit payment to:
Gerald E Butler
2807 Summit Road
Copley, OH 44321
If you do not pay for a license to use my words, you will be sued to the maximum extent permitted by law.
To the Slashdot Editors: Consider this a DMCA notice that I require the name and address of the above poster so that I may initiate legal actions against them if they fail to pay for the proper license to my
Still not right (Score:5, Interesting)
If you want a healthy productive community, the correct way to handle repeated violations of policy is to document the policy and direct people to it when its violated.
If instead he said, you have violated our driver enablement policy, documented at link, then everyone one involved in the offending change making it in would have a much more pleasant time correcting their behavior and also have the opportunity to learn about such rules in advance easier.
In the software industry, it is standard practice to take repeat issues like this and document then in your best practices document along with examples and justifications. Its better for everyone involved (less work and stress for people like Linus, less being singled out and less feeling like they are being targeted by the contributors).
Personally I find that the canonical policy documentation is in Linus's head to be a bigger issue than his attitude. There is more to being fostering a positive developer community than not speaking in a rude way: you actually need to be inclusive/transparent when it comes to forming the policies, and in this case having a written best practices document everyone can read and discuss when they have disagreements rather than suffer a personal attack for an authority figure would make this a much better experience for most people.
At least that's my personal take coming from from the big company cooperate software engineering environment. I've dealt with this kind of feedback before, and it always feels like "my arbitrary opinion that you don't have access to says you should stop being wrong". I like it much better when a perceived mistake is instead address with the question of how we can help future people from making the mistake (ex: new documentation) or how I can help myself from making similar mistakes (ex: direct me to existing documentation). Its the difference of attitude between you messed up, vs how can we learn from this to improve the system so less people fall into the same trap you did.
Re: Still not right (Score:2, Insightful)
Well his arbitrary opinion has been proven correct over decades. When he finally drops dead you can debate things with his successor all you like.
Re: Still not right (Score:4, Funny)
When he finally drops dead you can debate things with his successor all you like.
Linus will not just "drop dead". He will turn into one of those nasty zombie processes that you can't even kill -9.
Re: Still not right (Score:3)
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If you want a healthy productive community, the correct way to handle repeated violations of policy is to document the policy and direct people to it when its violated.
They process is well documented [kernel.org] and on the checklist here [kernel.org] it's #6 (emphasis mine):
Any new or modified CONFIG options do not muck up the config menu and default to off unless they meet the exception criteria documented in Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.txt Menu attributes: default value.
As usual Linus is ranting because people didn't read the basics, if somebody claimed ignorance I'm sure he'd provide the links but they're not exactly hard to find.
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I would actually not mind you morons doing it to yourself, but I and a lot of others not responsible for this are sitting in the same boat.
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws." - Tacitus
Also applies to projects of any kind.
What is important (Score:2)
This seems like a case study that can determine whether it is more important to be right or be polite.
So, was he right? (check yes or no)
Did he discriminate against someone? (check yes or no)
Did he sexually harass someone? (check yes or no)
Was he polite? (check yes or no)
One of these questions does not seem nearly as important as the others. Can you guess which it is?
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In engineering, being right is essential and trumps everything else. Being polite is professional but optional. If being polite is placed on the same level as (or above) being right, the project is essentially dead.
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In engineering, being right is essential and trumps everything else
Spoken like an armchair engineer.
Woe betide the engineer who ignores human factors.
Being polite is professional but optional.
Generally no. If you get your ass fired for being an insufferable asshole, it doesn't matter how right you are because no one will hear your rightness. Like a poor engineer you ignored the human factors.
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In engineering, being right is essential and trumps everything else
Spoken like an armchair engineer.
You wish.
Woe betide the engineer who ignores human factors.
You are the one saying anything about ignoring human factors. Makes you the amateur here. There are different ways to handle human factors and there are different human factors. Communication with other engineers is vastly different to communicating with users and that is vastly different to designing for users.
Being polite is professional but optional.
Generally no. If you get your ass fired for being an insufferable asshole, it doesn't matter how right you are because no one will hear your rightness. Like a poor engineer you ignored the human factors.
If your bridges collapse and your houses burn down, having been polite will not keep you out of prison...
But I can see you are one of those that only user their intelligence to justify their
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You wish.
Why would I wish anything of the sort? I said "spoken like an armchair engineer", because you sound like one. If you're employed as an engineer, well, that's just sad.
You are the one saying anything about ignoring human factors.
Yep that's bcause you were ignoring them. That was literally my point, well done. Have a cookie.
If your bridges collapse and your houses burn down, having been polite will not keep you out of prison...
Given the bit you replied to, you are effectively that the way to stay ou
Better not to build it wrong (Score:2)
In engineering, if it's wrong, it's probably better not to build it.
Building something wrong, so it doesn't work and is perhaps dangerous, is not a success.
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In engineering if its bad you dont build it. If its good and youre an asshole about it to those who say yay or nay to funding or signing off, it still doesnt get built.
Absolutely 100% true. engineering is not an abstract art, it is all about the humans. That is after all the only reason things are built. And what's even worse if you're right but get fired for being a jerk and then the guy who's wrong gets to call the shots.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Politeness has a bigger impact on the number of quality kernel contributors than the others, because it factors into a lot more messages. A polite response to an ignorant person leaves open a possibility (even if it's say 20% chance) of said person becoming more educated and making a better contribution in the future. Extremely rude responses almost inevitably mean the person never contributes to the project again in their life, even if they made the mistake as a teenager.
Linus' politeness isn't a legal or
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If you talk to my boss, being polite is the absolute most important part. Being right is irrelevant. I have been dragged in to his office a few times and chastised severely for messages far more polite than the one in the summary, not because they were wrong, but because they offended someone who thought they had a god given right to ignore company policy. I've been told the right answer is to respond in a way that is so watered down that you can no longer even discern my position on the matter (my boss has
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No, you don't. If you're too dull to figure out how to communicate effectively without being an asshole, then that's YOUR problem.
Linus invented a new AI? (Score:2)
I told someone that I'm predicting Linus will release some custom AI he wrote during the break.
He got tired of version control and went off an wrote Git, so what's the chance he went off and wrote some filtering software that intelligently replaces phrases with grammatically correct (and PC/SJW compliant) phrases?
He hinted at this before his absence, so I'm gonna bet he installed a "circuit breaker" that prevents tirades from leaving his mailbox.
Re: (Score:2)
If he did and publicized it - the SJWs likely would find a reason to go after him for this. So his not publicizing does not mean he didn't develop and deploy such an AI.
Re: "What makes me *very* unhappy..." (Score:2)
Re:"What makes me *very* unhappy..." (Score:5, Interesting)
I think there's actually a relevant example of this online now where apparently surrounding text in multiple sets of parenthesis is supposed to be an indication that the thing in parenthesis is a Jewish plot or something like that. I've seen it on
Re: (Score:2)
You used a swear three times and implied usage of condemned characters.. I have reported you to the slashdot Conduct Response Team for processing. Perhaps you should've taken your prozium more regularly, for giving offense is the capital sin of the New Age.
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If you can't say "fuck" people with poor vocabularies will just find a new way to convey the same sentiment.
Fixed that for you.
I'll grant that there are situations in which curse words are the only possible way to accurately express what needs to be said. I've personally encountered such situations. Twice. In 50 years of life. Swearing doesn't offend me -- if it ever did my years in the military would have beaten that out of me -- I just consider it evidence of inadequate command of the English language.
The newspeak (Score:2)
Old Linus speak
"You're an idiot...."
Means fix it up and resubmit.
New Linus speak
"I think that there might be an opportunity for improvement..."
means your about to be fired (or barred).
Be very very wary of people that are very polite.
Re: (Score:2)
If you can't say "fuck" people will just find a new way to convey the same sentiment. Banning words does nothing to change the people or situations that gave rise to them in the first place.
That's one way of looking at it.
Here's another: all words are just arbitrary sounds that carry meaning. And part of the meaning of offensive words is that they are offensive.
It's possible to convey displeasure without also conveying that you intend to offend. One set of words conveys both things, the other set of words conveys just one of those things.
Re: (Score:2)
If you can't say "fuck" people will just find a new way to convey the same sentiment
Well that's kind of the point. Its amazing how we can convey sentiment without an expletive filled rant. If you need to use the same language and hide the expletive with a few asterisks then you don't really have a solid grasp of the language.
Re: (Score:2)
(((This))) refers to a coincidence, formerly enabled by a Chrome add-in.
If you're going to meme, do it right. It would be a "cohencidence".
Re: "What makes me *very* unhappy..." (Score:2)
It isn't bullying to not want someone around because they're an asshole or a creep. Going out of your way to torment soneone, that's bullying, and yes, what I do does, in fact, cross that line.
But I wonder: how much of what you faced growing up was actually people going out of their way to torment you? Some, no doubt: even people who were mostly fairly ostracized still usually experience sone bullying, because as a society we really suck at teaching people the difference. But if you're like most of your kin
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Yelling is optional, putting them on the blacklist is not.
Re: Stop focusing on the PERSON, it is IRRELEVANT (Score:2)
I don't see how this particular response by Linus "focuses on the person" at all.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Most of the last paragraph but especially the first sentence of it, was passive aggressive insults. He "nicely" said "you aren't fucking special, stop acting like it". It's unwarranted. Did the submitter try to claim to be special? Maybe they just didn't know the policy, maybe the default flag was a typo, maybe it was just an oversight. Regardless, the diatribe at the end is unnecessary. He also dismisses the user's product as unimportant. I don't think Linus's product is all that important either bu
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Americans. Do you all want to become like the Germans? Or the Japanese? Because that's what you will become if you go down this path.
These are cultures where nobody dares to speak honestly, and everybody becomes over-sensitive about what the other person ACTUALLY thinks about them.
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You are the mistaken one. Having lived with these cultures, I actually sort of appreciate them.
However, I have friends from these cultures who have expressed frustration with their own cultures. To them, America is their refuge. The last frontier for the OPEN and FREE.
These people, myself included, would be very disappointed if America stops being open and free. For one, the world would become less DIVERSE.
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I agree, he's still being a dick and not particularly professional. Which makes it all the more stupid on all sides: that he accepted the Code of Conformity and that people think this is being "polite". The entire fiasco was a waste of energy.
Re:He just can't stop being a dick (Score:4, Insightful)
> and not particularly professional
A crack-whore is a professional. All "professional" means is that you get paid to do work. "Amateur" is someone who does it for the love of it. I'd rather sleep with and amateur than a professional any day.
"Professional" is one of those weasel-words that gets used to control and manipulate others rather than having any real useful meaning (beyond the above). For me, as soon as someone uses the word "professional" I know they are a worthless piece of shit and I can simply ignore them as they are irrelevant to anything that actually matters.
Go be a whore (professional) and leave the work to the amateurs!
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All "professional" means is that you get paid to do work.
If that was the only meaning of the word no paid person could act unprofessionally and no volunteer act professionally. I think you miss how often "being a professional" means sucking it up and doing your job regardless of your personal feelings or abusive/irate behavior. Think being a defense lawyer for scum or a customer service representative that just got blasted with a curse-laden tirade. Or simply trying to keep objective standards and be a neutral judge even though one is a beer buddy and the other i
Re: Exactly (Score:3)
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On the one hand we have this useful driver that seems to be working well enough. On the other they left the enable by default flag set, probably by accident as they had to in there for development. Is it really a good idea to reject the driver and tell them that they should stop contributing for what is a fairly minor mistake?
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You know the good ideas ? Let's see how many billion devices run the operating system based on your policies.
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The idea that the linux kernel is developed by unpaid volunteers is an out of date misconception. All the major maintainers are paid by the Linux Foundation, subsidized by the computing industry, and even ground level submitters are salaried employees paid by the manufacturer that wants their hardware to run on Linux.
Sadly, this is what makes SJW feminists and snowflakes objections almost valid. Linux is now a not-for-profit industry consortium, and success in it can determine future career advancement.
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I don't do anything as important as a kernel though, I just have to make sure that airplanes don't fall out of the sky................./s
I don't fly, so all you need to do is keep those planes from falling on me. What are you doing on this time wasting website??? Get back to work, you lazy bum!!!
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"Your ignorance seems to have no limit. Your opinions are idiotic. Your personal hygiene leaves much to be desired. Your family is ugly."
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I think he will just learn to be cutting and harsh in a polite way. It is not that hard to utterly destroy somebody while staying perfectly polite and seemingly not even getting personal at all.
"When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite." WS Churchill
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He's still a prick about it. This most definitely will hurt someone's feelings. But it's okay since he bowed to the SJW idol a few weeks ago.
Re: Automated filter (Score:3)
Re: Automated filter (Score:2)
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Fuck people that feel they are "excluded".
People are included in the kernel "community" by contributing and having those contributions included in the kernel - a great honor in the world of software development.
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Torvalds can't say that in the new Linux.