> Many people talk nice, but it's all bullshit.

Are you stating that you believe that there is a direct 1:1 correlation between people talking in a civil manner and people being "all bullshit"?

Are you also stating that calling someone names when telling them they are wrong somehow adds credibility to opinion of the name-caller? What about political attack ads that spend all of their time smearing the person rather than their policies?

Neither.

Could you expand on the "all bullshit" part then because it comes across as saying that there isn't any point to being civil with people.

No. You seem to deliberately want to misunderstand me. Many != all.

It wasn't deliberate. I wasn't grokking what you were saying. I was reading:

  Many people talk nice, but [niceties are] all bullshit.

Instead of:

  Many people talk nice, but [their talk is] all bullshit.

The ambiguity of that 'it' is really what this stemmed from.

So, basically you might be talking bullshit here. There is NO correlation between being a verbal assh*le and being efficient. People can 'deliver' without insulting others. Linus is a high headed rude man, and there's no need for that. You can be straightforward and succinct without being insulting.