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   Linux in a Bit (linux_in_a_bit@infosec.exchange)'s status on Friday, 30-Jan-2026 08:41:56 JST Linux in a Bit

   What's the most common complaint I've heard about Linux?

   Not the installation process.
   Not finding a distro.
   Not getting programs to work.
   Not troubleshooting.
   Not hardware compatibility.

   The most common complaint about Linux I've seen is this:
   For a normal computer user, asking for help is just about impossible.

   They ask a simple question and:
   People respond "Did you Google it?"
   People respond "RTFM"
   People get mad??? at them for making an easy mistake.

   You can't expect people to know to, or even know how to deal with any of that stuff. Either walk them through doing those things step by step, or actually try answer their question.

   Search engines these days are awful, manuals are hard to read for most people (especially stuff like this), and normal people make mistakes we think are easily avoidable.

   The solution to making Linux more popular is not ruthless promotion. The solution is to actually help people who are asking for it.
   If you don't want to respond in a legitimately helpful way, it's ok to take a break.

   • GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     iced depresso (icedquinn@blob.cat)'s status on Friday, 30-Jan-2026 08:41:55 JST iced depresso

     in reply to
     @Linux_in_a_Bit my favorite in the irc days was when people said to rtfm and someone would paste the manual page back and it would say "TODO."
   • Embed this notice
     🤯Matera the Mad🤯 (matera@mastodon.sdf.org)'s status on Saturday, 31-Jan-2026 03:18:30 JST 🤯Matera the Mad🤯

     in reply to

     @Linux_in_a_Bit
     Make Linux Kindness a Thing

   • Embed this notice
     Blurry Moon (sun@shitposter.world)'s status on Tuesday, 03-Feb-2026 07:41:26 JST Blurry Moon

     in reply to

     • ⚡Lord of Misrule⚡
     @toiletpaper @Linux_in_a_Bit yeah same, the worst experience I ever had on irc was on #Debian simply asking how to do xinerama in X and got berated for even wanting two monitors
   • Embed this notice
     Blurry Moon (sun@shitposter.world)'s status on Tuesday, 03-Feb-2026 07:41:27 JST Blurry Moon

     in reply to

     • ⚡Lord of Misrule⚡
     @toiletpaper @Linux_in_a_Bit this person's comment came out of the 1990s, it's infinitely better now and infinitely better than the windows world where people just tell you to run chkdsk
   • Embed this notice
     ⚡Lord of Misrule⚡ (toiletpaper@shitposter.world)'s status on Tuesday, 03-Feb-2026 07:41:27 JST ⚡Lord of Misrule⚡

     in reply to

     • Blurry Moon
     @sun @Linux_in_a_Bit
     
     Fwiw, I started out in the 1990s and RTFM was the standard 1337 h4xXx0rz answer to almost any question.
     
     Even now I occasionally get laughed out of the room for asking a n00b question about something I'm trying to learn. Yeah, it grates on the nerves, but nothing I'm not already expecting.
     
     For Joe Normal, that can be a make or break moment for their interest in the technology whatsoever, especially with all the schools indoctrinating kids these days to be such snowflakes. You're right though, it's still far better today than the 1990s by a long shot.
   • Embed this notice
     ⚡Lord of Misrule⚡ (toiletpaper@shitposter.world)'s status on Tuesday, 03-Feb-2026 07:41:28 JST ⚡Lord of Misrule⚡

     in reply to
     @Linux_in_a_Bit
     
     That's not limited to Linux support. It's endemic to any popular project where the support consists of random volunteers from the internet (often part of their own clique) who cannot be fired by their employer for being rude to customers.
   • Embed this notice
     FoolishOwl (foolishowl@social.coop)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Jul-2026 09:36:47 JST FoolishOwl

     in reply to

     • iced depresso

     @icedquinn @Linux_in_a_Bit A few years ago, I asked for help in the IRC channel for Debian with an update issue. They asked to see my sources.list, so I shared that. Then they told me not to create a Frankendebian, and told me to read the manual. So I linked the page from the official Debian system administration manual from which I'd copied the sources.list, verbatim.

     The manual was, in fact, bad advice. But I had read the whole chapter and followed that advice.

     iced depresso likes this.