Programmers and empathy. If you're a programmer/hacker/geek, it's worth reading (and even re-reading) the talk Geek Culture Considered Harmful to Perl. The main point I see in this talk is not limited to Perl. The author quotes The Jargon File: "[h]ackers have relatively little ability to identify emotionally with other people". If you're not like that, if you have high levels of empathy, great. But the level of empathy could always be increased and realizing that there is a problem (and we have ample evidence that there is in the amount of rudeness going on on mailing list and boards, esp. where people can post anonymously) is a first step. The second step is trying not to be rude - it can be learned.