Actually, is this an example of what they call "virtue signaling"?

It's not virtue signaling because there's actually action behind the words. If there was just a statement without change or action, it would be virtue signaling.

Thank you. I get it now. It's one of those terms I'd heard often but never completely understood.

Virtue signaling can involve action. I disagree with the above definition.

Actually a really strong signal is an action that is a sacrifice, regardless of whether it has a real positive impact.

Yeah that’s what stood out to me when I read it, as well. Everything was sounding reasonable, and then he gets to this part I read as: “my anti-PC position was untenable because bad people are also anti-PC and I don’t want to be associated with them.” That’s just not a viable way to operate. I’m sure some of the most vile people on the planet use Linux... should he stop to avoid being associated with them? Besides, if your motivation is not liking when people compare you to a Nazi, then Godwin’s law says you can’t win no matter how hard you try. The lack of objective measures he referenced early in the article will allow his accusers to shift their criteria at will.

In Linus' case, there is reason for people who don't follow Linux closely to think he is part of the "disgusting underbelly".

A few people I know, when discussing this story, know Linus mainly as the Linux kernel developer who writes long insulting e-mails to people who's posts he doesn't like. The "retroactive abortion" seems particularly famous.

I'm not saying this is fair, given the massive and positive effect of the Linux kernel, but that doesn't stop it being true (based on my tiny sample).

It's a terrifying reason to change the CoC because he does not want to appear racist. The mainstream media and Twitter hide the sane & reasonable people that oppose many diversity + inclusion measures, while showcasing the nastiest people from that side of the argument. Linus has taken that false image as the truth; he wants to separate himself from the people on that side. But the truth is that there are a greater number of people that oppose diversity, inclusivity, and equity efforts on the grounds that they trample an individual's moral authority & are based in Marxist lines of thought, than there are people who oppose those efforts because they have a deeply held prejudice.

It's truly sickening that the truth about diversity, inclusion, and equity is so muddled that even Linus can be deceived about it's nature. Fundamentally, the D.I.E. values are racist, Marxist, anti-capitalist, anti-merit, anti-competence at their core, and they pose a significant threat to modern working culture. Their threat is mostly their guise of compassion.