I think people sometimes pay a bit too much attention to "random Linus posts/rants on LKML". As far as I've seen, these kind of outbursts were never the default

I think people sometimes pay a bit too much attention to "random Linus posts/rants on LKML". As far as I've seen, these kind of outbursts were never the default/standard behaviour but the exception, and I believe Linus toned down a bit in recent years. I'm not fan of his outbursts by any means, but you have to see these things in context. Imagine everything you post on the internet will be read by heaps of people and still be quoted years from now. Often my posts on e.g. HN don't express my full nuanced views either, because it's not germane to the topic at hand, because I phrased things badly, and sometimes I'm just dead wrong. No one quotes all the stupid stuff I said 15 years ago though, or the stupid stuff I said yesterday.