People still work with him and he is successful. From what I can see (I've never dealt with Linux community), people that work with him know what to ignore and what to listen to.
Moreover, I guess I have a different way to deal with offensive people even if they were serious - to ignore and scoff it off. I would never feel "offended" ever. Offense is taken and it is a choice. That's how I operate but your mileage may vary.
That's part of the problem. A bunch of people effectively didn't have a choice but to put up with this sort of communication style because their job required them to interact with the Linux community.
> Offense is taken and it is a choice.
This is a meaningless platitude. Whether you take offense or not, sometimes the most productive response is to tell someone their behavior is counterproductive, instead of stoically shrugging it off.
This is the surefire way to create conflict where there could have been a peaceful resolution. Learning to tolerate and ignore is a blessing IMO. If it gets excessive and affect's people's lives, jobs, personal threats, yes - that's not excusable.
It turns out when you ignore people, they get the point. You don't need to bark back at dogs. Keep your head up, mind your own business and move on.
Not acknowledging it when someone's causing problems under the banner of "taking offense is a choice" is definitely a surefire way to make problems worse, too.
