Notices by Annalee (annalee@wandering.shop)

The New Yorker dropped a piece today on Linus Torvalds and the sexist culture of abuse within Linux. Turns out Linus's apology came after they contacted him for comment. https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/after-years-of-abusive-e-mails-the-creator-of-linux-steps-aside

People talk about how Linus is a genius like his toxic, abusive behavior was the price of benefitting from his genius.

I can't help wondering how many better operating systems and better version control systems withered in the minds of better engineers than Linus, because open source's toxic culture pushed them out.

How many kind, empathetic engineers with genius-level skill and revolutionary ideas did we lose because they were driven out by the culture of abuse and bullying that Linus promoted and exemplified?

Linus acknowledging his toxic behavior is a step in the right direction. I'm glad he's finally realizing what people (especially marginalized people) have been telling him, at great personal cost to themselves, for *years.*

While he's taking time to work on himself, I hope the Linux and open-source communities do likewise, and interrogate why we let his toxic behavior damage our community for so long.

Hey dudes of Mastodon! Can you leave the mansplaining on those other sites and not bring it here? It's easy! When you see a post from a woman you don't know:
✔️ Be friendly or insightful. Both is better!
✔️ Assume she knows the subject, even if you think she just made an error
✔️ Ask good-faith questions about her context
✔️ "Yes! And..."
❎ Neg
❎ Give unsolicited advice
❎ Act like she knows nothing about the subject
❎ Presume she wants to (or has any responsibility to) debate you.