Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
I just watched a video on Youtube that commented on some twitch streamer dude with long hair, (he said “pirate software”, not sure if it is the channel name or the streamer handle) that apparently weighed in on the game preservation petition going around in the EU and the comments he got. While the things he said all pertained to this issue, it had stark parallels to some of our forums and groups on the Linux side. As FCM is a magazine dedicated to welcoming n00bs, I thought it may be appropriate. Trigger warning: I will use the term “Code of Conduct” (CoC) here and though it has lots of negative connotations, as it gets weaponised to get politics or political opinions into things that should not have them, think of it as the old “forum rules” that you used to see on, well, forums, when I use it. Currently, there are a few (and getting fewer!) easy accessible options where users can get help on Linux issues, in the local vernacular particularly. Lots of times there are n00b questions, like, I’m new to Linux what is the best distro? Or, what is the best app to do x or y. While I think that people need to learn to ask better questions, myself included, we are also products of our cultural influences. (For instance, listening to the radio, or conversations, the local word for “song” gets replaced with the English word, “song”, in almost every interview and group chat, and no-one bats an eyelid.) People are bad at asking questions because they are lazy too, they don’t want to type out a paragraph, just a short sentence.
You’d have to admit, that if someone told you their fridge stopped running, and asked you, how to fix it? We could all agree that one needs more information. Lets face it, a fridge is a fairly simple appliance, but just saying that it stopped running, tells you nothing. While this is frustrating to someone trying to help, a comment like, “move to Alaska, so you don’t need it”, is not helping the situation. After n00b questions like these, come the smarty pants comments like, RTFM (read the f-ing manual), or the really non-helpful comments or downright nasty ones. At this point, I’m asking myself, why are you weighing in? This is where the Youtube video struck home for me. People think their opinion matters (and we will get back to this). They don’t bother to read the previous comments and just want to express their opinion. For the people who genuinely want to help, you now need to wade through the marshes to find out if your own was applied, or not. The other part is that when you get the same thing over and over, it “dulls” the senses. While I like to type the word n00b, as it stands out, (catches the eye) some people may think that I’m talking down to a new user, but I’m not. I kind of giggle when people call me a n00b somewhere, as being the n00b allows me some liberties. For me, these are just words on a screen that convey no emotion - any emotion you find in the word n00b, you put there. The same could be said for the word “newbie”.
I used to work for an OEM and had to join lots of forums for manufacturers and to get issues sorted out with compatibility between brands, for instance and I would gladly be the n00b if I needed help. However, these types of forums are a lot more professional, unlike dealing with the unwashed masses of say, facebook. They have a CoC you need to adhere to and it is moderated by a professional in the field, (or if company owned, an employee) unlike say, social media. The CoC’s here are all related to the forum and the subject though, nothing to do with politics. While I don’t advocate for AI, it could be helpful in pointing users to resources based on the content of their questions. I mean, you do not need to answer the same question over-and-over-and-over of “I forgot my password on Ubuntu, how to reset?” when it can point them to a knowledge base (KB) immediately, thus avoiding those unhelpful and toxic answers like, “KYS, use Arch”. Why I say AI here, is because searching knowledge bases is not as straight forward as you may think. You could use the “wrong” phrase or structure your query “wrong” and get no answer, while it is definitely there. I can speak from experience here, as I used to work for a UK based company and when I got no joy from their KB, I would ask in our group and someone would search with another term and find what I was looking for and comment that “you did not look hard enough”, whatever that means. English, not being my first language, I would never have found it, as I did not know that specific search term, so I truly understand when n00bs cannot find what they are looking for.
Getting back to the other point, some people just want to add their two cents, they think their opinion matters or it will change anything. Telling a Cinnamon user to switch to KDE is not helpful. Yes, you may find KDE easier, but they may not, also it is your opinion and it does to solve the problem the user has, of connecting their phone to their computer. Though as a whole, we have to be open and welcoming to new users of Linux, we also somehow need to eliminate the common questions that you see every day and also keep the channels clear of the Dunning-Kruger type of users, who have installed some obscure i3-looking desktop and think they are superior to new users who are struggling and leave nasty comments. If I look at it from the perspective of a maintainer of free software, I can understand the frustration when people who don’t donate just “demand” things and I also understand that there are people who use Linux because they cannot afford software. But! I’m not talking about those, I’m talking about the common everyday Linux n00b asking a question somewhere that is open to everyone, like say, facebook, as that is all they know. I won’t say social media as a whole, as I find that to me mostly empty cans making the most noise.
To N00bs, I want to say, put as much effort into the question you are asking, stating what you have read and tried before asking, as equivalent to the effort that you would expect in explaining the answer. A quick search in the forum also never hurt anyone before asking your question. Never write off real people and real answers related to their experience, for AI slop. The glue may keep the cheese on the pizza, but the following diarrhoea won’t be fun. I know I have mentioned AI as a possible solution, but I mean there can also be manual means, where a user has to read the rules and common questions first, before being allowed to post. Making the questions searchable in a way that if a user asks a question, that not only direct hits come up, but related ones too. Maybe the forum software or KB software has to change, which expands the search to the next nearest term? All I know is that if we want Linux to be accepted, we need to keep the n00bs and the trolls apart and maybe get more moderators to just “sweep and clean”, removing “nonsense” answers to posts. If you think I was picking on facebook, maybe I was, but you have to admit, that there are still ‘eedjits’ on there that post crap like, 1like = 1prayer or send this to everyone, Bill Gates will share his wealth, just saying…