Let Sleeping Dogs Lie? Hell No.

by Dietrich Schmitz

My colleague, co-founder of Linux Advocates +Katherine Noyes, wrote a story which sets the record straight on the need for rational, civil discourse in the Linux Community.

It needed to be said and I thank her for taking a stand on principles which get continually violated.

As for myself, I do tend to be acerbic in my approach to writing and exchanges with others.  But that doesn't mean I don't care or pay respect to others' ideas when tendered appropriately. (Image credit: sanitysentinel.blogspot.com)

Many of the stories are written to challenge the status quo thinking and I don't sugar-coat anything so as to be politically correct.  This site has no plan on changing that and will continue to turn over and expose issues that  have importance to the Linux community.

Aside from the occasional, innocent pull of another website's misquote, for which I take corrective action when needed, I offer opinions which are at times not popular.  As the saying goes: "Opinions are like colons; everybody has one."

One of my most recent stories, Confused by FuSE, yielded some quite mean-spirited, inappropriate feedback, some of which was deleted.  My opinions are mine, and they didn't warrant me being tap danced upon with football cleats.  You can read the story and judge for yourself.

Still, I do take full responsibility for my own personal conduct.  That is what individual accountability is all about.  And, I hope everyone will stop to think about what they do beforehand and act responsibly.  Otherwise, all of the claims of tribalism and fractious behavior in the Linux community will hold true.

So, will I let sleeping dogs lie?  Hell no. You can count on that. :)

-- Dietrich

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The Linux Community: No Rational Discourse Allowed?

by Katherine Noyes

As a child of two academic parents and with a fairly significant academic background myself, I was brought up to believe that there are no stupid questions.

Instead, I was nurtured by the belief that questions are a good thing, helping as they do to clarify and refine the common understanding. If a question is a misguided one, I was trained to believe, the asker would quickly be given to understand what it was he or she had initially failed to understand. If, alternatively, it challenged current widespread belief, a rational discourse would follow whereby the idea (NOT the person who expressed it, mind you) was examined and evaluated as a possible motivation for refining current beliefs.

What I am continually amazed to find in much of the Linux community, however – at least here on Google+ -- is an atmosphere of personal venom and attacks. (Image credit: holytaco.com)

A Poisonous Atmosphere

Case in point: The site Linux Advocates.

I co-founded this site with Dietrich Schmitz earlier this year, motivated by the belief that there were woefully few places in which Linux advocates (which we both are) could discuss the state of Linux rationally and critically – in which we're not bound by the agendas of advertisers or others with irrevocably vested interests.

Neither Dietrich nor I has a vested interest here. We both love and use Linux, but we're not afraid to look at it critically or to ask tough questions, much the way academics do every day in their own respective communities. It is through objective and clear-eyed critical thinking, after all, that intellectual progress is made.

It seems, however, that those with interests in this community can't abide to have objective questions asked. As the sole Linux-focused writer at PCWorld, I am nothing if not well-acquainted with the many barbs, jibes and personal attacks that are typically levied by those with nothing more than hurt pride to defend them. Fans of Windows and Macs alike have long vented much frustration through comments on my stories.

What I've seen here on Linux Advocates, however, has blown all that out of the water.

Gunned Down by the Firehose

A second case in point: After acting as one of Fuduntu's biggest cheerleaders (as have I, incidentally), Dietrich was nothing short of torched with a firehose for daring to question the wisdom of the project team's goals following its decision to shut down the growing distro.

Just to reiterate: In most of the rational world, asking questions is not a bad thing. At worst, it gets you a rebuke for being misguided or silly.

Here in the Linux community, however, it gets you the firehose. Instead of responding rationally to Dietrich's concerns and comments, those involved either directly or peripherally have let loose with all they've got, clearly aiming to drive him out of the Linux community altogether.

Is Progress Possible?

Dietrich has also been sharply criticized for shutting down comments or commentators on the site, even when they involved personal attacks and other completely irrational responses.

To me, this is a very bizarre community indeed, and I think it casts considerable doubt on the community's ability to make any progress beyond the scattered conglomeration of sub-communities it currently comprises. If it's not possible to ask rational questions or to question the status quo – however threatening that may be to some – how can progress ever be made?

I know I can say with complete certainty that both Dietrich and I are rooting for Linux with our full hearts. Neither one of us uses Windows or Mac, and we couldn't imagine ever doing so. But when the community shoots us down simply for asking high-level questions, it's really hard to keep feeling committed.

Has this just been a fluke occurrence? Is there really no room for rational discourse in the Linux community? I await comments from the community itself.

-- Katherine

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