Is the Open Source Community too rude or abrasive to outsiders?
Now before you send off the flames, this isn't a touchy-feely, can't-we-all-just-get-along article. I'm simply exploring the idea that the Open Source Community in general has a tendency to be very abrasive at times. Much more so than some other communities in which I participate. Is it the mostly online, distributed nature of the OSS community where we don't have to look at someone in the eye before we flame them? Are the members of the community generally less professional or have worse communication skills than others? Maybe a combination of all of these factors?
We've all seen a new user ask a question that is very trivial to experienced users, only to have the newbie flamed out with "RTFM" or an equivalent. Heck, I've been guilty of it myself and I'm not pointing any fingers at anyone in particular. Or. even worse, when a newbie stokes the fires of one of the OSS community's many religious debates (vi vs emacs, gnome vs kde, gpl2 vs gpl3, pure floss vs binary drivers, etc...).
Why don't we see the same level of fanaticism in other communities? Does Open Source philosophy elicit more/deeper emotional reactions or somehow inhibit polite exchanges of ideas?
Tell me what you think...
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Totally agree with you,
Totally agree with you, Rich. As a matter of fact, OSS community can be very harsh. Soon you'll get used to it
Barton
Rich, I think you bring up
Rich,
I think you bring up some very good points. As a newbie once myself, I've had a mostly smooth transition from Windows to Linux in the form of forums and wiki's. I know I've personally seen some of the RTFM comments and belittling of others who did have questions. I think it's the FOSS philosophy in and of itself we have friction between one another. Think of it as Democrats vs. Republicans vs. Independents. Everyone has their own ideas, theories, and philosophies of how things should be. It's the same way in the technological field as well. I also agree that it is easier to flame and start something with someone else online (who might just be having a bad day) due to anonymity. Just because it's not right does not mean it does not happen. Elitists are, for the most part, very passionate people and sometimes that passion interferes with the sharing of knowledge that could go on between could-be, would-be, or should-be community members. Telling people to RTFM and not willing to help get his or her hands dirty to assist someone who wants change will only lead to setbacks and an image that only hurts the FOSS community on the whole. I personally think this scenario is just a microcosm of what goes on in the world today.