[dawnbreez]

Equating this email to a parent beating their child is a false equivalency. Firstly, because Linus has not physically attacked the developer, and secondly, because the developer--unlike the child--should know better. This is more like Gordon Ramsay going off on a chef who has just told a customer off for not liking his burnt toast.

[sepeth]

I agree with the first part, but not with the second part. I believe equating John's behaviour to a chef who has told a customer off is just as distant as mine.

If I was looking exact equivalent, I would just send the same link to the same email.

I am using empathy here. I don't know you guys, you may feel ok if you get shouted when you do wrong when contributing to a project, but I would feel bad, and as a human, I don't think my feelings are not important. If it is coming from an important person like Linus Torvalds, this would hurt even more, and really I don't see anything disrespectful to anyone in John's email.

[dawnbreez]

I would argue that the best response to an expert telling you that you are wrong is to fix the problem. While your feelings do matter, the stability of the kernel matters more, and you cannot discount Linus's message because you think it is too emotional in tone. At the end of the day, Linus is right, Linus created the project, Linus is leading the project, and he is using strong language to inform you that he needs John to change his approach to this problem for the sake of the project.

On a slightly more pragmatic note, Linus would not be angry if John hadn't been trying to break Rule Number 1 for three weeks in a row, so an alternative solution is to simply not break the rules. Granted, if you disagree with the rules on a fundamental level, that doesn't work--so, third solution: leave and start your own project.