Okay, have you been following closely Linus or Crockford? I know I haven't, which is why I always start from the position of "I don't have the full context."
My initial assumption is: Linus/Crockford/whoever-else-is-coming-across-as-a-cranky-old-person has seen whatever-he-is-berating or something very similar before, not just once but ridiculously often. That makes the reaction quite understandable and justified.
Plus, let's face it, we all want to be free to react like that when it's deserved ;)
You know....you may be right...about 'we all want to be free to react like that when it's deserved'.
I guess it was off-putting to me because of the ephemeral effects of him being who he is. Anybody could (and probably would) complain about the way Github has implemented various features - but they wouldn't get the attention that he has gotten. Maybe that's why I perceive it as him being 'cranky'.
So maybe my criticism was unfair because I wouldn't have criticized DHH for doing the same thing - or who knows, maybe I would.
My initial assumption is: Linus/Crockford/whoever-else-is-coming-across-as-a-cranky-old-person has seen whatever-he-is-berating or something very similar before, not just once but ridiculously often. That makes the reaction quite understandable and justified.
Plus, let's face it, we all want to be free to react like that when it's deserved ;)