If you've ever spent any time online, you might have heard how TOXIC the Arch Linux community is. You might even have been cyberbullied for using Ubuntu by a...
However, I do think a small portion of the Arch community are. There seems to be a segment that is quite aggressive with RTFM, even where the wiki is unclear, or are otherwise very condescending or even aggressive to new users.
People also really need to stop recommending Arch to new users, especially those looking to move to Linux for gaming.
I’d kind of hope that we’re not all like that - I use Arch btw. for my computers at home, but at work we use a combination of Redhat, Centos Stream and Amazon Linux, and I spend a lot of my day helping people with ‘Linux admin’ issues even though that’s not strictly my job.
When getting started with Linux, there’s a certain ‘glossary gap’ if you’ve come from Windows, not even knowing the right term to search for. Newstarts will complain that “waa! Linux is terrible, doesn’t recognise my hardware”, to which invoking a couple of udev commands seems like magic. Some people will get irritated when answering the same question in the same way for the tenth time and just post a link; really, those people need to step back and let someone else pick it up. The Arch wiki is fantastic, but it’s particularly fantastic if you already know what all the words mean and just need your memory prodding a bit. Having someone able to interpret a page for you is a huge benefit over having to fall down a wiki hole, which is very dispiriting when you’re trying to learn.
And yes, Arch is great for gaming - latest version of everything, look at my extra frames - but really, it’s only a tiny bit better than eg. Pop! OS, and that’s a much better choice for someone who’s never used Linux before.
I am split here. I dont expect anyone to know the manages by heart, but at least doing a quick search should be possible. If that obviously wasn’t done I’m fine with referring people to the friendly manual.
RTFM nice(1)
I really don’t see a reason to write more just to summarise what has already been written. Is that toxic though? I don’t think so. If someone then says that they don’t understand what that reference means, I’ll gladly explain how manpages work and how to search for info. Teach a man to fish and stuff.
You are describing a different scenario to myself here though.
There is nothing wrong with helping to direct people to the manual of course if it is genuinely of use.
There are many who are not as friendly as you in my experience who use these queries more a flex of their perceived superiority than any genuine attempt to be helpful.
It is these people who view arch as some sort of elite status symbol that makes them superior geniuses that are toxic.
I don’t think most Arch users are.
However, I do think a small portion of the Arch community are. There seems to be a segment that is quite aggressive with RTFM, even where the wiki is unclear, or are otherwise very condescending or even aggressive to new users.
People also really need to stop recommending Arch to new users, especially those looking to move to Linux for gaming.
I’d kind of hope that we’re not all like that - I use Arch btw. for my computers at home, but at work we use a combination of Redhat, Centos Stream and Amazon Linux, and I spend a lot of my day helping people with ‘Linux admin’ issues even though that’s not strictly my job.
When getting started with Linux, there’s a certain ‘glossary gap’ if you’ve come from Windows, not even knowing the right term to search for. Newstarts will complain that “waa! Linux is terrible, doesn’t recognise my hardware”, to which invoking a couple of
udevcommands seems like magic. Some people will get irritated when answering the same question in the same way for the tenth time and just post a link; really, those people need to step back and let someone else pick it up. The Arch wiki is fantastic, but it’s particularly fantastic if you already know what all the words mean and just need your memory prodding a bit. Having someone able to interpret a page for you is a huge benefit over having to fall down a wiki hole, which is very dispiriting when you’re trying to learn.And yes, Arch is great for gaming - latest version of everything, look at my extra frames - but really, it’s only a tiny bit better than eg. Pop! OS, and that’s a much better choice for someone who’s never used Linux before.
I am split here. I dont expect anyone to know the manages by heart, but at least doing a quick search should be possible. If that obviously wasn’t done I’m fine with referring people to the friendly manual.
RTFM nice(1)I really don’t see a reason to write more just to summarise what has already been written. Is that toxic though? I don’t think so. If someone then says that they don’t understand what that reference means, I’ll gladly explain how manpages work and how to search for info. Teach a man to fish and stuff.
You are describing a different scenario to myself here though.
There is nothing wrong with helping to direct people to the manual of course if it is genuinely of use.
There are many who are not as friendly as you in my experience who use these queries more a flex of their perceived superiority than any genuine attempt to be helpful.
It is these people who view arch as some sort of elite status symbol that makes them superior geniuses that are toxic.