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I am troubled by this obsession that these activists have with Torvalds. Could there be anything more minor than these complaints about tone? What harm does the

I am troubled by this obsession that these activists have with Torvalds. Could there be anything more minor than these complaints about tone? What harm does the existence of one software project which permits 'rants' do to others? Do those who claim to desire civility not understand that by hounding and inundating him and the community in general with the same talking points ad infinitum, they are themselves being uncivil? Not only by the unrelenting and hostile complaining, though. They have gone much further; Eric S. Raymond alleged yesterday that feminist groups have been repeatedly attempting to frame him for sexual assault! http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=6907 http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=6907 The OP post title is applicable to this situation in my opinion.

ceejayoz 11y ago
I'm not sure ESR is the best unbiased source on feminist groups. http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Eric_S._Raymond#i_am_slowly_going_crazy_one_two_three_four_five_six_switch http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Eric_S._Raymond#i_am_slowly_goi... Rational Wiki certainly has its own biases, but they call out a lot of problematic items with links right back to the blog posts if you care to verify.
- pervycreeper 11y ago
  I wasn't aware of that crankery, however, that does not discredit these straightforward allegations (argumentum ad hominem). I should add that this particular tactic is already being practiced on the bigwigs in the atheist community, so it's far from implausible.
  - ceejayoz 11y ago
    "A source I won't name says people I don't like are out to get me" from a known crank is not a "straightforward allegation".
  - comex 11y ago
    The allegations have absolutely no evidence behind them. In that case of course one should take into account their source's general credibility, or lack thereof. As for the atheist community, you will have to provide a source.
    - pervycreeper 11y ago
      i) I think there's a difference between being a conspiracy theorist (allegedly; haven't looked into this), and being a liar. Credibility does not extend across domains, either. An authority on, say, OS design might be a complete fool when it comes to politics (for instance). ii) Allegations have been made against Micheal Schirmer and Lawrence Krauss (not hard to find if you search for them).
enneff 11y ago
> Eric S. Raymond alleged yesterday that feminist groups have been repeatedly attempting to frame him for sexual assault! And you take this seriously because... ?
anonbanker 11y ago
Corporations do not like Linus. they like the work he did, but if they could replace him with, say, Greg Kroah-Hartman, or Ted T'so, they would do so in a heartbeat. Until then, they can preach the narrative that Linus is hurting linux because he rants. Once he retires or dies, they'll say "thank goodness he's gone!", and you'll see the kernel code quality (and security) take a nosedive. So now you see why the social justice warriors are getting so much press: their opinions align with the interests of people wishing to taint the linux kernel.

ceejayoz 11y ago

I'm not sure ESR is the best unbiased source on feminist groups. http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Eric_S._Raymond#i_am_slowly_going_crazy_one_two_three_four_five_six_switch http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Eric_S._Raymond#i_am_slowly_goi... Rational Wiki certainly has its own biases, but they call out a lot of problematic items with links right back to the blog posts if you care to verify.

pervycreeper 11y ago
I wasn't aware of that crankery, however, that does not discredit these straightforward allegations (argumentum ad hominem). I should add that this particular tactic is already being practiced on the bigwigs in the atheist community, so it's far from implausible.
- ceejayoz 11y ago
  "A source I won't name says people I don't like are out to get me" from a known crank is not a "straightforward allegation".
- comex 11y ago
  The allegations have absolutely no evidence behind them. In that case of course one should take into account their source's general credibility, or lack thereof. As for the atheist community, you will have to provide a source.
  - pervycreeper 11y ago
    i) I think there's a difference between being a conspiracy theorist (allegedly; haven't looked into this), and being a liar. Credibility does not extend across domains, either. An authority on, say, OS design might be a complete fool when it comes to politics (for instance). ii) Allegations have been made against Micheal Schirmer and Lawrence Krauss (not hard to find if you search for them).

enneff 11y ago

> Eric S. Raymond alleged yesterday that feminist groups have been repeatedly attempting to frame him for sexual assault! And you take this seriously because... ?

anonbanker 11y ago

Corporations do not like Linus. they like the work he did, but if they could replace him with, say, Greg Kroah-Hartman, or Ted T'so, they would do so in a heartbeat. Until then, they can preach the narrative that Linus is hurting linux because he rants. Once he retires or dies, they'll say "thank goodness he's gone!", and you'll see the kernel code quality (and security) take a nosedive. So now you see why the social justice warriors are getting so much press: their opinions align with the interests of people wishing to taint the linux kernel.