Critical Communities

I was reading a blog entry on the Java and Ruby communities. It was interesting in the fact that the chose the Java community because of "critical" participants like the Bile Blog. It was argued that the Ruby community is too over-zealous and not critically introspective.

Well, I'd like to be brutally honest right now. Cursing and calling people "stupid" does not make a community. It discourages existing members and pushes potential new members away. I think being introspective and honest in your community is a must. I see this in spades in both the Ruby and Java communities. If you look long enough at the Ruby blogs, you will notice that we are all aware of the problems. Same goes for the Java community as well. But, what makes me love the Ruby community is the "roll up your sleeves and help" mentality. If you don't like something, work to make it better. I find this extremely positive. Now, I know this is in the Java community as well, but it's more pronounced in the Ruby community.

I find that the Bile Blog gives the Java community a black eye and it's one of the reasons why people are flocking to the Ruby community. It's more positive and not yet mired in endless negativity. I would be shocked if there was ever a Bile Blog for Ruby.

I like being apart of both communities. They both have things I love. But, I love the overwhelming positivity of Ruby. I think a lot of that comes from Matz.