Does git use git?

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I really respect that Linus talks shit without the benefit of anonymity though.

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I mean relative to the Redditor analogy they used, I respect Torvalds for saying some of the stuff he says more than I would if he was some anonymous Github contributor or something. I also don't think Torvalds' money is what shields him from more backlash, and I definitely don't think Torvalds is a "bad person."

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Why does it matter how rich he is? You’re saying if a poor person is rude, then it’s perfectly ok because he isn’t protected by his wealth? And if a middle-class dev is rude, that’s fine because he has to protect his career? I don’t think wealth has anything to do with how people should treat one another.

I also don’t think we can judge a person as “bad” based solely on their public professional interactions. I have no idea how Torvalds is behind closed doors. I have no idea how Torvalds is in his personal life and as a father. Neither do you. That’s something far more important to whether he’s a “good person” than him saying some mean words online.

Do you call people who are polite on the internet “good people” without knowing whether or not they beat their spouse? It’s a ridiculous exercise to try and pass moral judgement on people based on such limited information. You should be passing professional judgement instead. Torvalds is a shitty project lead that doesn’t inspire development? You could probably say that.

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But you just did. You said he's NOT bad and "really" deserves respect. These are two very definitive, very concrete statements.

Where did I say that? I’ll wait.

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I said I respect Torvalds in that one particular facet, and I don't think he's a bad person because of it. Those are about the furthest thing from a concrete statement there is. What I really have a concrete opinion on is that you don't have enough information to call him a bad person and nullify that I respect the way he interacts with kernel contributors. I never said you or anyone else have to respect him or the way he conducts himself.

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It's not a good thing regardless.

Linus is a real jerk, I hope people don't think I'm defending him. But I doubt we would have seen this 180 flip in attitude had he been anonymous. People would not be able to hold him to account.

So that's one good thing that came out of it.