Speaking to the first portion of your complaint, I remember coming across that particular feature of YAML years ago, and being surprised at how odd it was that it was present. I shrugged it off because (at the time), I considered YAML to be something that simply would not enter the serialize / deserialize phase of incoming requests. Ignorance of all the frameworks actions on my part, and further ignorance to not think of the security effects of that particular feature, certainly. I would presume that I am not the only in that situation.
You're definitely right that the security reports should be handled better. I hope that this whole situation results in a better security culture in the Ruby community.
Regarding your tone ("intellectually dishonest", "trained monkey", "systemic engineering incompetence pervades an entire language community"), it's a bit of hyperbole and active trolling. You are certainly right in many of your points, and you are certainly coming off as a jerk. It may not be as cathartic for you, but I'd suggest toning it down to "reasonable human being" level in the future.
> It may not be as cathartic for you, but I'd suggest toning it down to "reasonable human being" level in the future.
The Rails community has exhibited such self-assured, self-promotional exuberance for so long (and continues to do so here), it feels necessary to rely on equivalently forceful and bellicose language to have a hope of countering the spin and marketing messaging.
Case in point, the article seriously says, with a straight face:
"They’re being found at breakneck pace right now precisely because they required substantial new security technology to actually exploit, and that new technology has unlocked an exciting new frontier in vulnerability research."
Substantial new security technology? To claim that a well known vulnerability source -- parsers executing code -- involves not only substantial new technology, but is a new frontier in vulnerability research?
This is pure marketing drivel intended to spin responsibility away from Ruby/Rails, because the problems are somehow advanced and new. This is not coming from some unknown corner of the community, but from a well-known entity with a significant voice.
I can understand your frustration with the community. I share this frustration at many times, because I feel that Rails / Ruby tends to value style over substance.
I'll also raise an eyebrow at that particular sentence, though without spending much time looking into what's backing it I can only add that I too find that slightly incredulous.
I definitely question your stated intent. Were you to "counter the spin and marketing messaging", would that reduce the number of vulnerable machines? Overall, reduce the number of people that use Ruby/Rails, if that is your intent? Given the number of comments you've made to that effect versus the number of folks using Ruby/Rails, I'd suggest you have a very long battle in front of you.
Put another way, I perceive your tone as an exasperated, reactionary tone to a group that you happen not to like. If you are indeed trying to achieve some greater good here, I believe there's more effective ways you could achieve it.
Otherwise, just tone it down in the future. You had good points, there's no need to insult people from an effectively unassailable position.
> Overall, reduce the number of people that use Ruby/Rails, if that is your intent? Given the number of comments you've made to that effect versus the number of folks using Ruby/Rails, I'd suggest you have a very long battle in front of you.
I'd like it to be 'cool' in the Ruby community to apply serious care towards security, API stability, code maintainability, and all the other things that aren't necessarily fun, but are very much necessary to avoid both huge aggregate overhead over time, and huge expensive failures like this one.
I'd like to see a shift towards an engineering culture where taking the time to consider things seriously is considered 'cooler' than spinning funny project names, promoting swearing in presentations, and posting ironic videos.
It seems increasingly obvious to me that for this to occur, one can succeed in pushing back against emotive marketing with a similar approach, and thus shift the conversation.
You're definitely right that the security reports should be handled better. I hope that this whole situation results in a better security culture in the Ruby community.
Regarding your tone ("intellectually dishonest", "trained monkey", "systemic engineering incompetence pervades an entire language community"), it's a bit of hyperbole and active trolling. You are certainly right in many of your points, and you are certainly coming off as a jerk. It may not be as cathartic for you, but I'd suggest toning it down to "reasonable human being" level in the future.