Hostility actually affects people. Who knew?

[nancylebov]

Article about hostile feedback having a dispiriting effect on open source developers.

https://medium.com/@thejameskyle/dear-javascript-7e14ffcae36c#.k9k5mjty7

The comments are the usual Team People Should Be Kinder vs.Team People Should Be Stronger. While I'm on the Be Kinder side, I don't expect either team to make a lot of progress. Also, I wonder what would happen if the Be Stronger team won-- would the world be a better place if people were unshameable?

Comments

[twistedchick]

Everybody knows hostility affects people. Everybody. Look around a playground for the kid who's being picked on, or the one who's being yelled at. Look at yourself when you have a hostile customer. What in the universe would make you think this is new or unknown?

[nancylebov]

I think you missed that the subject line was supposed to be ironic.

There are a lot of people, perhaps especially in IT, who don't know or don't want to know that hostility has a bad effect on people.

I don't know whether you read the linked article, but it was from the point of view of an open source programmer who found that the nasty feedback he was getting damaged his desire to contribute. Half the comments advised him to grow a thicker skin.

In short, the idea that hostility affects people is not nearly as well known as it needs to be, even if it's obvious to the two of us.

[noelfigart]

Open source? As in, I'm doing this development project for free because it's interesting and I believe in it?

"Grow a thicker skin and work for free so we can be mean to you."

This doesn't even remotely make sense! The people who are all about toughness are supposed to be all about what in it for them, aren't they?

Some people's children...