The common refrain I hear is that "we're engineers. We don't have time for people's 'feelings' and 'emotions'". Ironically, the controversial things that Linus

The common refrain I hear is that "we're engineers. We don't have time for people's 'feelings' and 'emotions'". Ironically, the controversial things that Linus says are exactly those phrases that inject unnecessary emotions into a technical discussion. Take away all the emotionally charged words, replace them with purely factual descriptions or observations, and you would have something that better resembles the principles that Linus's defenders claim to be endorsing. Ironically, if a manager or CEO or VC or politician used similar language, they would be attacked by the same people for being abusive and elitist. But when an alpha-programmer does it, it is somehow ok. I've learnt so much from reading both the original blog post, and also the resulting conversation with Linus. The technical work Linus has done and is doing, is fantastic and to be commended. I just wish he followed through on his earlier desire to change his communication style.