As to tone: How is “this is not up for discussion” and “obvious mistakes and thoughtlessness” any better? As a reader I’d be inclined to think that you think of me as having the emotional maturity of a toddler.
I believe that excellent communication can be had without engineers swearing at each other, and I don’t think there are is any good rationale that warrants such behavior. You believe that there is a time and purpose for the style of conversation that Linus portrayed, and it is warranted and effective behavior.
I’m going to agree to disagree from here. Thanks for the conversation.
and I don’t think there are is any good rationale that warrants such behavior
For one, the boss setting the tone as to include “shut up” means that you won’t get written up for responding in a similar register. It allows for emotionality, instead of burdening the recipient of the dress-down not just with addressing their own behaviour, but also the emotional labour to respond in a way the tone police deems acceptable. Maybe paradoxically (for people lacking emotional intelligence), that makes emotional responses less likely as the recipient isn’t as emotionally boxed in, doesn’t see walls in every direction.
The line that you shouldn’t cross is making things personal – talking about what someone (presumably) is, instead of what they did. But that applies to any register, “Please come to HR to discuss your identity” isn’t someone anyone should ever hear. You can demean and belittle persons, but not behaviour.
It’s not a code review. Mauro was gaslighting userspace devs, pretending that kernel bugs he introduced were their fault, and at the end of it all he agrees with Linus.
As to tone: How is “this is not up for discussion” and “obvious mistakes and thoughtlessness” any better? As a reader I’d be inclined to think that you think of me as having the emotional maturity of a toddler.
I believe that excellent communication can be had without engineers swearing at each other, and I don’t think there are is any good rationale that warrants such behavior. You believe that there is a time and purpose for the style of conversation that Linus portrayed, and it is warranted and effective behavior.
I’m going to agree to disagree from here. Thanks for the conversation.
For one, the boss setting the tone as to include “shut up” means that you won’t get written up for responding in a similar register. It allows for emotionality, instead of burdening the recipient of the dress-down not just with addressing their own behaviour, but also the emotional labour to respond in a way the tone police deems acceptable. Maybe paradoxically (for people lacking emotional intelligence), that makes emotional responses less likely as the recipient isn’t as emotionally boxed in, doesn’t see walls in every direction.
The line that you shouldn’t cross is making things personal – talking about what someone (presumably) is, instead of what they did. But that applies to any register, “Please come to HR to discuss your identity” isn’t someone anyone should ever hear. You can demean and belittle persons, but not behaviour.