In The Register's Open Season podcast #17, Matt Asay admits he's beccome frustrated with the amount of venting that occurs periodically in the open source community. Matt's been a champion of open source for years, yet he still got flamed over some pretty reasonable observations about open source. But are the group dynamics in open source any different from what happens in any online community? It seems there's In The Register’s Open Season podcast #17, Matt Asay admits he’s beccome frustrated with the amount of venting that occurs periodically in the open source community. Matt’s been a champion of open source for years, yet he still got flamed over some pretty reasonable observations about open source.But are the group dynamics in open source any different from what happens in any online community? It seems there’s always some number of poison personalities who want to bitch about everything, whether it’s the classic GPL vs BSD licensing, vi vs. emacs, PC vs Mac or whatever. We’ve all seen it and done it; once the layer of face-to-face interaction is removed via email or web discussion group, many people say things they would never say in person. (Hey, I’ve done it myself!) Sometimes people resort to exageration or antagonism to get their point across in the ether. And let’s face it, software programmers are hardly the most diplomatic or genteel types to begin with! Personally, I think it can be a distraction for the community — and ultimately works agains an individual’s credibility and their desired outcome. Who wants to listen and work with someone who is always taking the most extreme negative position? All the drama and gloom is draining. The best you can do is operate transparently. And remember you can’t please everyone. In fact, if you really want to innovate, you can’t be afraid to polarize people. As Guy Kawasaki says, don’t let the bozos grind you down. Or perhaps as Bill Snyder points out, Open source needs an attitude adjustment. Open Source