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 s

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.