Original Comic: https://thejenkinscomic.wordpress.com/
Always be a helpful penguin
Unhelpful Linux User Archetypes:
The Configurator: All problems are configuration problems. The fact that a user has a problem means they configured their machine incorrectly. All help requests are an opportunity to lecture others about configuration files.
The lumberjack: Insists on logs no matter how simple or basic the question. “How do I get the working directory in the terminal?” -Sorry, I can’t help you unless you post your log. “What does the -r flag do?” -You need to post a log for me to answer that question. “Is there a way to make this service start at boot?” -We have no way of knowing unless you post your log. When a user posts their log, the lumberjack’s work is done. No need to reply to the thread any further.
The Anacdata Troubleshooter: Failed to develop a theory of mind during childhood. Thinks their machine is representative of all machines. If they don’t have an issue, the user is lying about the issue.
The Jargon Master: Uses as much jargon as possible in forum posts. If a user doesn’t know each and every term, that’s on them. If you did not commit to mastering every aspect of a piece of software before asking for help, were you even trying to solve the problem?
The Hobby Horse Jockey: All problems are caused by whatever thing the contributor does not like. Graphics driver issue? Snaps. Computer won’t post? Obviously, Snaps. Machine getting too hot? Snaps. Command ‘flatpack’ not found? Oh you better believe snaps did that.
The Pedantfile: Gets mad because everyone asks their questions the wrong way. Writes a message letting the user know they asked their question wrong. Message usually appears within a minute or two of someone providing a solution to the user.
These types exist for most any technical problem. The last one is the whiny one who also slams someone with a solution they don’t approve of. Even if the solution satisfies the person asking for help or perhaps because it satisfies them.
See most of these on the Arch forums
Bonus points if the lumberjack doesn’t specify what logs they want or how to get them.
So you’re saying that there are some asshats out there? Those are everywhere.
The open source community, and Linux community in specific mostly is a very positive and helpful bunch. I’ve been on IRC and fora for years and yes, yes, sometimes somebody says something negative, gee wiz.
So far the most negative types out there seem to be in this post all complaining about how negative everyone is while in reality it’s not that bad
The Repeatophobic: If a question vaguely reminds them of a previously posted question, they become enraged and insist the new thread be locked.
It’s infuriating how many times I’ve seen a locked thread with no answer linking to a similar yet different problem that doesn’t solve my issue.
It’s kind of stereotype, i’ve always find the help i needed on Arch, but yeah there’s bad guys everywhere
The quickest way to get the right answer in any community, in my experience, is to provide the wrong answer. People will come out of the woodwork to correct you.
Yup. This is known as Murphys Law
No, that’s the one where “everything that can go wrong, will go wrong”
You’re thinking of Godwin’s law
No, that’s the one with nazis.
You’re thinking of Moore’s Law
No. That’s the one where:
7 cups green cabbage , finely shredded (Note 1) ▢1 medium carrot , shredded (1 1/2 cups) DRESSING ▢1/2 cup Hellman’s mayonnaise (or other whole egg mayo) ▢1/2 cup sour cream or yoghurt, full fat is best ▢1 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (or sub with white wine vinegar) ▢2 tsp Dijon mustard ▢2 tbsp white sugar ▢3/4 tsp celery salt ▢1/4 tso black pepper
You’re thinking of Cole’s Law.
I’ve found Lemmy’s Linux community to be extremely helpful I hope it stays this way
It’s one of the things that I like the most about lemmy over reddit. The reddit linux community was toxic, insular and gatekeepy, even as a moderately experienced linux user I had difficulty getting help.
“Learn how to Google noob!”
Fuck sakes, I just spent several hours deep diving forums and Web search results looking for an answer to my question, and the only thing I could find that was exactly my problem was concluded by OP editing their post to say “Ah, never mind, figured it out.” And not including the solution…
It should be legal to hunt that person down and clamp a lobster to their nipples.
We should do our part in reporting unhelpful users. Especially those that recommend Arch or more advanced distros to beginners.
probably because lemmy’s pretty small compared to places like reddit and because everyone sees the same content with the same sorting, places like reddit make a few “help” requests visible and make them feel unimportant
I asked about servers once and they told me don’t host a server under any circumstance.
“If you don’t know to do X, don’t even bother learning.”
I installed Linux on my gfs (now wife) old laptop years ago when the beginner distros was way less user friendly. When I asked on a forum for help it was just the sound of crickets. When she made her first post starting with “my boyfriend installed Linux and I don’t understand how to…” They fucking fell out trees to answer her questions
Let us know if she still needs help
lol bunch of thirsty incels.
Is your wife single?
This kind of behavior mystifies me. I get that it can be frustrating to deal with lazy folks, but especially with how shit google/ddg are nowadays, when people are looking for help and are met with this kind of treatment it’s pretty discouraging! I’ve been an Arch user for about a decade, and sometimes I run into problems that should be googleable but aren’t.
It’s especially concerning, considering how tech illiterate the next generation is. They’re very used to walled gardens, and if they can barely manage a MacBook, they’re going to really struggle starting with things like the command line.
Lighting a candle leaves you with two lit candles. There’s no reason to gatekeep knowledge.
If 10% of newb questions were just answered plainly in forums then google would index those and these easy solutions would be actually google-able. Nerds gatekeeping basic info by forcing people deep into man pages to find the needle in the haystack argument that is used for 99% of commands surrounded by a bajillion arguments that are basically dev-tools used for bash scripts make adopting to a CLI mega frustrating.
Most forum advice is about obscure driver issues for some random piece of hardware or “help! update broke my shit” type of posts.
The trick is to say “Linux sucks! It can’t even X!” Where X is what your issue is preventing. You’ll get the answer, to prove you wrong.
X is deprecated, you should have moved into systemd-Y
You should change to Arch, I don’t use X but Arch is better.
What does he mean by X, x11 or xorg ?
Heh, i like that take more, I interpreted it as X as in a placeholder for any subject
I’m thinking of using my second SSD to install Linux, is Arch actually good or just a meme?
Depends on your use case. Arch is a DIY distro but is well maintained and has the latest packages on their repo. Its user centric, unlike many distributions that are user friendly. You could read the archwiki to find out if its for you
I used Ubuntu for about a decade and I still use a Linux system via SSH to run code, so I’d like the challenge. I just wanted to know if it’s worth the work or just a meme, thanks!
