Dear Open Source Project Leader: Quit Being A Jerk
This isn't restricted to open source project leaders, or even open source developers.  You'll find the same childish elitism in pretty much every field of human endeavor.<p>Programmers certainly do it.  Laughing at noobs and being mean to them is pretty much the sole purpose of IRC, unless I'm mistaken.  Surfers do it.  Climbers do it.  I've even seen rocket scientists do it.<p>The interesting thing is watching which members of a given group behave this way.<p>It's not everybody.  There's a certain skill range where you find this behavior.  Generally it ranges between "reasonably good" and "better than most people I know", and it grows exponentially in that range (though, again, only in people who are given to such behavior).<p>But there it stops.  Once you hit a threshold of "better than pretty much everybody in the world, even those who have dedicated their life to this stuff", you don't really see this sort of elitism anymore.<p>I live in the climbing mecca of Fontainebleau, and can watch first hand as 7a boulderers from around the world descend and act like jackasses trying to scootch their butts off the ground on problems that are hard (but not world class) while scowling with superiority at the lowly rabble that might dare touch the holds of their project.  It's best to simply wait until they give up before going over and doing the problem.<p>But occasionally you see a guy working an 8a.  That's pretty stout by anybody's definition (even at font), but he's not shouting or swearing at it.  He's just calmly doing his thing, uninterested in being the center of attention, and more than happy to talk to anybody who walks up without the least hint of snoot.<p>I think you find the computer programming equivalent of that guy from time to time too.  He's the "bourne shell" guy that another comment mentions downthread, and he's above the elite.<p>The cool thing is that you don't have to be as good as him to act like him.  All you need do is not be a dick.