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>> the stakes are enormous This is the key difference between kernel development and other volunteer efforts. Most volunteer efforts are worse off when people

>> the stakes are enormous This is the key difference between kernel development and other volunteer efforts. Most volunteer efforts are worse off when people are scared away by strong language and pointed explanations of their shortcomings because their performance isn't really that important. It's not that big of a deal if you spill something at the food kitchen or goof up part of the set of the school play. The kernel is not a typical volunteer effort. You can't show up with nothing but goodwill and be a net good. It requires skill and discipline, and people who don't have that but try to inject themselves into the process need to be told to go away for the good of the project. Pretending otherwise only causes people to get their feelings hurt. I wonder if there should be a different word for it than "volunteer", because the connotation of that word is that showing up and wanting to be helpful is enough.

hitekker 8y ago
Correct. The “volunteer” part means that Linus’s formal authority is actually quite limited. In a company the Boss can fire the incompetent or malicious. Not so with Linux; The BFDL has to constantly poke and prod the community away from its impulses. The truth is that leadership without formal authority is messy. It only gets messier as the problems becomes more important and as more people get involved. The alternative to outbursts is hierarchy; for Linux to structure itself even more, endowing Linus with even more power, such that he could temporarily suspend the contributor at his discretion. No insults, no screeds, just a silent squelch. A far neater outcome that would also be anathema to the politically unconscious.
s2g 8y ago
I'm not sure why you think that skilled people who won't walk away and go devote their time to a project where they don't have to put up with an asshole boss and his army of apologists.
zachrose 8y ago
But is Linus actually telling anyone to go away for the good of the project?

hitekker 8y ago

Correct. The “volunteer” part means that Linus’s formal authority is actually quite limited. In a company the Boss can fire the incompetent or malicious. Not so with Linux; The BFDL has to constantly poke and prod the community away from its impulses. The truth is that leadership without formal authority is messy. It only gets messier as the problems becomes more important and as more people get involved. The alternative to outbursts is hierarchy; for Linux to structure itself even more, endowing Linus with even more power, such that he could temporarily suspend the contributor at his discretion. No insults, no screeds, just a silent squelch. A far neater outcome that would also be anathema to the politically unconscious.

s2g 8y ago

I'm not sure why you think that skilled people who won't walk away and go devote their time to a project where they don't have to put up with an asshole boss and his army of apologists.

zachrose 8y ago

But is Linus actually telling anyone to go away for the good of the project?