[mparnisari]

I guess his comment is acceptable because this is OSS and it's not like he can get fired over it.

In a past employer I've left a PR comment with a much less aggressive tone, and the PR author messaged me saying "your message is unprofessional". Granted, it wasn't my best moment, I had snapped. But if I wrote something like what Linus wrote, i'd be insta-fired.

[loeg]

It's not really acceptable, and he's since been persuaded to make some strides towards more moderate tone.

[adonovan]

I saw this at the time, but reading it again now what struck me is how coolly his correspondent responded, without escalation, hurt, or resistance; and no-one else chimed in to confront the attitude. In other words, this kind of aggression was acceptable. It's a real sign of how things have changed--for the better. As you say, Linus has since made strides, and it's not as if he was the only one; I used to do it too (if not nearly as egregiously) until various people I respected called me out for it. Now I shudder to recall what passed for normal 20 years ago.

[lacidar67]

I recently had a coworker reach out to my tech lead to tell me that my very clearly noted DRAFT PR was "not collaborative". Dawg that's the entire point of git...

[xelxebar]

> unprofessional

This label is such a blatant Americanism. AFAICT it simply communicates a social threat for violating implicit cultural norms, shutting down communication, and carries virtually no useful content beyond that.

Communication takes two. If we want peers to take responsibility for their words and actions, then shouldn't we also take responsibility for our role in interpreting and reacting the same?

Some of the best work environments I've been part of allowed space for people to accept the fact that we're all human with human emotions. If someone blows up, maybe they're overstressed or maybe they're yelling at a kid about to get run over by a car.

[jaimex2]

the only reply to that is 'that is your opinion'

Offence is taken, not given.