I am reposting this with apologies to all concerned. Outlook mangled the
message text. The top few paragraphs were not my own. They belong to James
P.

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>Unfortunately this seems to be a growing trend following the Microsoft
playbook of acquisition, suppression, and extinction on various Linux
communities and mailing lists I've been privy to as of recent.

>Fewer and fewer distributions have avoided systemd but discussion into
alternatives is growingly met with hostilities. ArchLinux took a severe
hardline approach and rampantly banned any anti-systemd topics and users as
well as anyone offering alternatives. While LQ has been trying to maintain
neutrality >as a position, growing numbers of systemd fanboys who
immediately attack and troll people just to get them hushed or banned is
climbing.

>In advance, I just want to say that what I am about to say is my own
opinion and in no way reflects or represents anyone else.

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Put politely as possible: "Stuff them."

I do not think that this is any one person, community or agenda. The Linux
community for the most part has been dominated by communities beholden to a
particular version of Linux and never to Linux as a whole. This encourages
"group think." Once you get them fixated on anything - it does not have to
be systemd - it could be package format or filesystem, everyone else is
wrong and they are right. It does not matter what the reasons are. Almost
all individual impulse is subsumed. When someone objects, for example Ian
Jackson over at Debian, the community becomes so hostile that they leave.

I just use the code. That is the whole point of opensource, and if people
do not like my opinions then so be it. I seldom participate in Linux
communities outside of developer discussions or help topics. Devuan is an
exception. I came back, because for some reason I am genuinely curious
about what goes on here. In the main, it is my opinion that the entire
community is just too toxic. Just like politics, people have become
intolerant beyond reason. I try very hard to be reasonable, but I frown on
Linux these days.

T.J.