There's a wide gap between giving objective, straightforward criticism and being insulting. The latter is not necessary to get one's point across. The latter

There's a wide gap between giving objective, straightforward criticism and being insulting. The latter is not necessary to get one's point across. The latter is also what Linus did, and what many in the programming community encourage, under the guise of being the former. You don't need to be a bully to give pointed criticism. The fact that people don't seem to get this, and rabidly defend terrible behavior, is discouraging.