You made a mistake, your noob!

My noob what? Indeed. The spelling is intentional. I feel like ranting, and I'm not even angry, it's insane. Anyhow, please enjoy this very fine rant about the misplaced focus on little details and newbie bashing in the open-source and Linux world in reaction to user errors and bugs in software as an alternative to real strategic market goals.

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/you-made-a-mistake.html


Cheers,
Mrk

 

As I've said before the Linux community is both the best and worst attribute to the project. It is full of unearned elitism of all flavors (elitists using Ubuntu who look down on Windows, Arch/ Gentoo elitists who look down on Ubuntu users, and the list goes on) and while you're likely to get an answer eventually they're really very silly about the whole thing.

I think it's this whole "Windows is an OS, Linux is a lifestyle choice" and it really shows. I'll give this a read.

 

Now that's absolutely untrue. I've never come across anyone like that. Never. Ever. Off to measure my nose.

 

I've not come across mockery of noobs for making elementary mistakes. Yes, they can be ignored or answered in incomprehensible terms. The sad part is the intra distro hatred. Quite off-putting and enough to dissuade at least some of those inclined to venture into Linux waters.

 

Mrk,
Maybe a bit exaggerated but all too true. Fortunately my firewall deflects lances. I'll agree that this does seem at its worst on Linux forums but it's definitely not limited to them. It's creeping in here when it comes to XP. If you say 98, brace yourself because you know it's coming. It's not much different on product forums or IRC. Not long ago, I was involved in a discussion about a bug in the app that affected all versions of Windows. All was fine until they learned what OS I had. Then all useful discussion ended.

The modern version of the Pinocchio story?

 

Completely untrue, never met anyone like that, ever!

 

this thread going to be like fifa world cup

ole...... ole ..............olee..............

edit: some little hidden gems which i like most ........there is much more and really big picture........in ........Dido Vinci Code

 

But..but I do uname -a to make sure I don't delete the current kernel. (I only keep 2; one deletion frees 248 MB !)
Proud of being noob - no kdumps here.

 

I'm a noob myself and I take newbie bashing for what it is, which is middle school drama. I guess it's inherently the downfall with self-help forums (like this one, too). Everyone is a volunteer. Some people have agendas that they shove down others' throats. Some are there for the social aspect. Some are simply trying to learn. Some just want the easy way out. And of course there are always the pesky trolls. In the end, it's an open society of people. And some people suck at people skills. That doesn't necessarily make them wrong but it can make them hard to talk to.

So if I log into SomeLinuxDistro.forums. com I don't expect to get courteous, quick, and perfect advice for my problem. I may get some good advice. I'll get overly-complex advice from some guy wanting to show off his ability to condense a 10-line script into one line, where a window in the GUI to do the same thing already exists and works just fine. And I may get some spectacularly crappy advice. It's up to me to research it. And to ignore the noob-bashers.

The only thing that gets under my skin is when people spew incorrect information with authority (not referring to this thread at all). If you've spent any time on a distro forum, then you've seen the ubiquitous uneducated-holier-than-thou egomaniac. Him I won't ignore & I'll take him to task every time. Where are your facts? Research it or shut up.

Oh, and I avoid all the unity/gnome/KDE threads like the plague. That would be my advice to you, Mrk

 

LOL- can you post your configuration to that? What's the port number for noob lances?

What?!? I've seen vasa1 on Ubuntu forums. Lurk the Absolute Beginner forum for 10 minutes and you'll find some mockery.

 

You mean this forum?

 

When they practiced with lances, they used to aim at the hole in rings. It must be port zero since it's the only one they can find the middle of. Configuration, redirect it to a honeypot (or a tar pit).

 

Waiting patiently for actual examples with links

 

@vasa1- are you serious? If so I'll link some later today. Maybe your definition of noob lancing is different than mine. But it's so common I can't believe you're saying it's not there.

 

Yes. I'm serious. That is why I specified a forum as opposed to "ubuntu forums" whatever that means.

 

Turns out I didn't have to go far to find some evidence.

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=316077

I'm done with the debate on noob lancing. Feel free to continue it without me.

Anyway, MrK, I enjoyed your blog post and I look forward to future posts from you.

 

@ vasa1 and Brandicandi, are you guys not having some issue because of a misunderstanding?
Afaics, BrandiCandi means that vasa1 should have been able to see some examples of 'noob mockery' on f.i. the Ubuntu Absolute Beginner sub-forum where vasa1 has posted several times himself.
I don't think BrandiCandi means, vasa1 is the perfect example of a lance wielding noob slasher.

-On topic
Mrk, funny as hell article and lots of truths.

 

Maybe- sorry if that's the case. No, I was not saying that vasa1 lances noobs on Ubuntu Absolute Beginner sub-forum. I was saying that there are plenty of examples of noob lancing from all sorts of people not including vasa1 on the Ubuntu Absolute Beginner sub-forum.

 

PCLinuxOS forums are extremely "New Friend" friendly. Yup New Friend is the title n00bs are given.

Just don't ask how to install a program from outside the PCLOS repositories!