Yes, that's the main point. It's mind boggling that people like Linus Torvalds and some others find it acceptable to throw curse words and use foul language in the public technical mail lists just because they feel frustrated or don't like something (even if it's justified). Or may be they feel they have some privileged status which puts them above normal manners? They don't. As Lennart writes, such attitude greatly discourages any participation just because the environment isn't healthy. This simply should be unacceptable in any decent community.

It makes me sad to see the kind of attacks he has to endure. Initial reactions here on HN were all like "of course, death threats are not ok, BUT..". This sickens me. Death threats are not OK. Period.

Lennart Poettering is not pulse audio. He is not systemd. He is a human being and deserves to be treated with respect and basic human decency.

I do not know (and do not care) how much he himself contributed to his being in the position he is in. Nobody deserves to be treated this way.