Rob Pike on complaining ⇝

Go creator Rob Pike in reaction to how Go and Dart have been received by the development community:

I resolve to recognize that a complaint reveals more about the complainer than the complained-about. Authority is won not by rants but by experience and insight, which require practice and imagination. And maybe some programming.

Thoughts on the languages aside, Rob touches on something I've been mulling over the last few weeks - the seemingly growing din of complaining online.

Perhaps my aging ears are just more sensitive to the sound. Perhaps my childhood fear of turning into a grumpy old man is manifesting itself as an acute awareness of other grumpy people. Either way, in order to avoid just complaining about complaining, I've decided to take some positive steps.

Less garbage in. I recently went on a Twitter and Facebook purge, removing folks from my streams that had a low value-to-snark ratio.

Less garbage out. I'm trying to watch my tone in what I share online. It's not about squelching my thoughts, it's about adding value.