Re: [patch 00/21] hrtimer - High-resolution timer subsystem

From: Paul Jackson <pj@sgi.com>
To: Roman Zippel <zippel@linux-m68k.org>
Cc: mingo@elte.hu, tglx@linutronix.de, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
	akpm@osdl.org, rostedt@goodmis.org, johnstul@us.ibm.com
Subject: Re: [patch 00/21] hrtimer - High-resolution timer subsystem
Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2005 21:18:34 -0800	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20051207211834.7fa03903.pj@sgi.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.61.0512062030570.1610@scrub.home>

> > > [...] So Thomas, please get over yourself and start talking.
> 
> I must say it's completely beyond me how this could be "insulting".

Well ... fools rush in where angels fear to tread ...

As you note, people had better not take comments on their code as
insulting, if they are going to survive for long on lkml.

However comments on the person that don't match that person's current
self image often cause distress, even if (sometimes -especially- if)
they are accurate.

This 'get over yourself' implies a comment on the person, not the code.
It suggests you think they are on a high horse.

Since Thomas (apparently) didn't think he was afflicted at the
moment with something he needed to 'get over', he probably found that
instruction annoying on first reading.

That he called it an 'insult' is an irrelevant detail.  He's just
saying he found it annoying to read, but like most of us, instead
of saying "I hurt", he's saying "dog bites."  Nevermind that it was
actually a cat.

There is an easy way around this however.  When I feel like telling
someone they are an idiot (or any other ad hominem comment less than
puppy dog happiness), I have better luck calling myself that, as in
"sorry for being such a stupid git, but ...".  Few people object
to the -other- person confessing to being a stupid rude bastard.
They just don't want themselves to be thought of that way, or anything
remotely resembling that.

As I recall, Linus has called himself a bastard more than once, with
just such good affect.

So just take all descriptions of other persons, and flip them around,
pretending to describe yourself.  It will be a bold faced lie, and
totally illogical ... but that's typical in the realm of human
emotions.  The human species is definitely one dorked up bunch.

Imagine that this subthread had begun "Sorry, Thomas, let me get off
my high horse and start talking ...".

Thanks, by the way, for your help back then on cpuset locking.  It was
invaluable.

-- 
                  I won't rest till it's the best ...
                  Programmer, Linux Scalability
                  Paul Jackson <pj@sgi.com> 1.925.600.0401