It is both. It means the only people who stick around are those who can tolerate the childishness. This certainly reduces the number of capable people that are willing to contribute to the project.

I don't care much how Linus acts since I don't work with him. Some people try to emulate him and I sometimes come into contact with them; that's not great for me, but far be it from me to tell Linus how to act on his own mailing list. All I'm doing here is pointing out the fallacies in your defence of his silly behaviour.

Do you also prefer his hysterical style? I am hardly "invading Linux" by commenting on an HN thread.