If you're tired of seeing the same questions, why are you here? You can just ignore them. But treating a newbie like an idiot for not knowing better just discourages people from getting into your thing and keeps you from meeting cool new people.
ESPECIALLY because a lot of these questions come from kids that literally haven't had the chance to learn better yet. Just kindly point them where they need to go. It takes just as much time as telling them off.
Either that or you insult them for not knowing the answer already, tell them to google it (then why does this forum exist?) or get mad because they did know that their question had already been answered in a forum post in 2019.
Interestingly there's tools to remove the spyware. https://github.com/takeshixx/redstar-tools/. Probably still not safe to expose to the internet or run outside a VM though.
Linux Support Communities are a trillion times more welcoming, kind and understanding of new people today than they were 10 and 20 years ago.
I still am scared to ask questions, but at least when I finally have no choice and resign myself to asking a question.. its generally answered kindly, and if its not answered directly I'm at least put in the right direction. And that helps me build my own knowledge base, and helps me solve future problems on my own.
Unlike when I did my first dip into linux a couple decades ago where you'd be called some creative combination of Windows/Microsoft and a sexual slur and told to go the fuck back to windows if you are too stupid to have been born without the complete comprehensive understanding of the terminal.
I hope the community continues to improve, and welcome newbies and their problems like it currently does, so we can all grow and thrive together.
Gaming communities can be incredibly bad. Everyone else is a jerk or moron who wasn't born knowing that doing X increases your DPS by 2.3% on alternate Tuesdays. DUH
There is certainly a lack of perspective and empathy between those who spend their time concentrated on computer maintenance and those others who must perform other important tasks in their lives.
Written in a typical rude condescending hacker speak.
Let's call it for what it is - it's more of a frustration vent than a guide. And this approach will certainly not make these people read through.
There are always way more polite ways to put it, like:
"Most of the questions you face about software are replied to by unpaid volunteers taking spare time to help you - thereby, the more effort you'll put into properly filing the issue, the quicker you'll get a response. Here are main points that we may need in order to help with your problem, and a way to obtain all information required"
Before you ask a question, you must read the 10 page essay on how to ask questions. Asking questions is serious business after all, we can't have people doing it incorrectly.
Your sarcasm is on point but there are a limited number of people who can answer some questions. They get flooded and are answering questions on their own free time. So some people get left in the dust if they don't follow the rules.
Props to people are actually helping, it goes a long way and people do learn information differently. Sometimes telling someone just to read something doesn't click.
Yeah this is the is the biggest reason I dislike Linux forums in a broad sense. Snobby elitist pricks.
Don’t even get me started on arch Linux forums… my favorite is when someone says is something like “this is super fucking simple you just follow this guide: [insert wiki link that is basically a scientific dissertation on the history of arch]
"Well I use Debian, and I use only native packages! I update manually because I need to resolve those dependency problems! Go to hell with your Flatpaks and telemitry, I want freedom! Also I will never use Wayland because Mate doesn't support it"
People thinking they can give advice, while they are clearly using outdated software, not scaleable maintenance effords, etc.
I had this in the KDE forum. Literally 2 dudes telling me no system could auto update, while my system does, today.
It's the same on Lemmy. Linux people live in a fantasy world..it's like ya I've done some things on Linux but is it the best OS for most people? Nah. Not even close.
I also feel like a lot of those people are there just to be pricks. I don't think they really know much at all so their input was unwarranted in the first place.
The arch wiki is a very good resource and I use it for all Linux distros. But like most repositories of its kind, it gives you the how and not the why.
That's what most people want from another person, they ask "how" but I think they mean "why".
The contrast is very strong with the Arch Wiki, which does a genuinely good job - for a set of short articles - at explaining how that whole machinery works. Yet, if you don't understand something from there - good luck finding a person to explain what to do.
Interestingly enough the Arch Linux subreddit is or was way more tame in comparison to its forum
at least I always quoted the relevant paragraph in the wiki alongside a link since I believe it did a better job at explaining it than I could
and if it wasn't in the wiki I added it into it beforehand
If you truly understand a subject you like helping newbs, not insulting them. It is people who know just enough to sound like they do but are desperate to look like experts who are the biggest pricks.
I have had a mostly positive experience with the Arch Linux forums, though admittedly, I have never asked anything myself over there. I just turn out to find useful answers to rare problems that are hard to find in other platforms.
Maybe the real problem is the difference in expectations.
I found a Github issue for the exact same bug. Perfect!
It had only one reply. "This has already been answered here. Search the other issues for the answer."
It was the second issue ever for the repo. The first issue was entirely irrelevant. The half a dozen other issues that came after also were irrelevant.
In Linux community stuff at the beginning I was really annoying. You need to learn to search the internet first. Lemmy may be different because its free internet (unlike Reddit or Stack*) so duplicate questions may help.
Especially in the GrapheneOS Discuss there are people asking the most basic questions, not getting that its Android and those things are the same anywhere.
Or alternatively, if someone asks a question that you don't want to answer, don't post a reply. Just like you (general "you", not the user I'm replying to) don't give a shit, they don't give a shit that you don't give a shit.
Yeah, I stopped asking questions about any problems years ago because of the cli bros and god forbid you tried to help and didn't offer an "crowd approved" answer. It just wasn't worth the effort. I just switched to searching for an answer on my own. It makes me pretty bad at solving problems sometimes/often times when I do have an issue, but I still manage to muddle through well enough for my own personal amusement.
Thankfully, unless you choose to walk a path of sackcloth and ashes, these days distros are pretty fool proof and don't need much cli effort anymore. And the older I get, the less I want to bother with anything exotic with any distro I want to use. I just want something that works.
The only issue that has cropped up on my current release LM Cinnamon install, is I have added 2 extra storage devices added to a cheapie AWOW micro box. They are both easily recognized, (formatted Ext4), and are available through the file manager for use. One is an 250gb internal drive and the other is a MicroSD is a 128gb card in an external slot. And both show as extra storage and neither are available as bootable disks - only the usb ports allow that.
What I have found is, on boot the main drive shows up on the desktop and the smaller microSD card automagically also shows up and is available for use from there. But the 250gb added internal drive has never shown up on the desktop on boot until I open the file manager and click on it. When I do that, it appears on the desktop but locks out the microSD card shortcut/icon on my desktop, (still accessible through the file manager).
I'm not sure if this is an issue with LM or just how this Cheap, Cheerful, Chinese micro box has it's firmware set up. I lean towards the firmware in the box myself, if so it probably isn't fixable then. And honestly, this isn't really a showstopper problem and more of a quality of life issue that isn't all that difficult to work around - just use the file manage and it isn't a problem. But it would awesome if all three desktop shortcuts played nice together.
Check your /etc/fstab if the disk is permanently mounted, it is likely not. As it can be mounted this doesnt sound like a firmware issue.
And yeah the disappearing thing is a Linux Mint issue and in general desktop icons and links are very Desktop-specific, as they replicate Windows behavior a lot.
