I hear that from you and others, and then I read debacles like the Sievers/Torvalds thing on the mailing list (and some other instances of buffoonery linked to there), and immediately conclude that the "welcoming"-ness must only apply as long as you are following the current groupthink and not disagreeing with the BFDLs.

Heck, even that wouldn't be a thing if the people involved had the ability to publicly say "I was wrong on that" - but not even that happens that I've seen.

Tbh I think in the Linus case the one using a less-than-welcoming tone wasn't Sievers. :)

Of course they have a strong vision, and popping up proposing something that has already been discussed to death and rejected won't be the most pleasing experience ever (it happens all the time here, I don't even want to imagine how tiresome it should feel for them).