Gonna leave this gem here
this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2025
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Learning a Romance language makes previously inscrutable, dignified sounding place names absurd. Mouse Mouth? They named it Mouse Mouth?
the Windows user who helps people troubleshoot is far superior to the best Linux user who refuses to learn how to help. Having the better OS doesn't make you more virtuous or some shit. no identity can make you a good person
Why is "gives free tech support," an expectation of being a good person? I spent 7 years of my life doing tech support professionally.
a) I never want to do it again, because honestly fuck computers, but b) If I have to, I'm certainly not going to do it unless I already like you or you are paying me.
Figure your own shit out. I have a life to live and I don't have infinite free time and energy to help you unfuck whatever stupid bullshit happened to your computer. Especially if you're being entitled about it.
honestly I've used my ability to fix people's computers as a way to integrate myself into new communities and offer my time and attention to people who need it but couldn't afford my consulting rate or who are at enormous risk. it makes me happy and helps them not get pwned, I think that's enough value for me. maybe I'm naive, though, and tbh that's fine in this case.
that's fine so long as you don't just tell people to use Linux to solve problems. you're free to not offer help so long as you don't offer sarcastic help that jerks off your own superiority
IDK, apply that logic to anything else.
Suppose someone says "I hate having to change my car's motor oil and I hate the effect oil dependency has on the world", then I say "you should consider getting an electric car, they're way cheaper and better than they used to be".
Am I now on the hook to solve that person's car troubles forever? Do I have to plan every roadtrip for them so they can hit the necessary charging stations?
Likewise, if that person has a problem or it turns out that an electric car can't meet their needs and they have to switch back to gas is it my fault? Is it the fault of every electric car owner for talking about them and advocating for them?
I don't think you should be an asshole to someone asking for help on a forum (though that's not what the tumble post above is even about? They just seem to be complaining about their technical issue being too hard or the explanations being too verbose?), but I do think that if someone went onto the electric vehicles community and posted "I live in the middle of Alaska and drive 400 miles uphill through the snow at -40 every day! How DARE you think EVs are ready for the mainstream!?!" once a day like people do to Linux coms the EV people would start to get annoyed pretty fast.
Honestly, you shouldn't just advise someone to get an electric car like that either. They might very well not be able to and know they aren't able to. They may prefer we just get rid of cars all together in favor of rail travel.
You're kinda missing the point in the same way that people who suggest Linux do. People expressing frustration often aren't looking for answers. Unsolicited advice is not wise to give, especially if you don't articulate how it affects you. If you're annoyed that people keep complaining, express that you are annoyed instead of trying to point to what you think is the solution. You might be wrong about problem or even the solution, but you won't be wrong about your emotions.
See, this is something I think I might be too autistic to understand.
I'm supposed to welcome people to niche communities, which I assume includes helping people with their problems, or else I'm being exclusive and elitist. But also sometimes people post about their problems without actually wanting help, and if you try to help them you're being annoying. So, don't help anyone unless they explicitly ask for help, even though in 99% of other situations someone implicitly asking for help means they want your help and its extremely rude to ignore them. I sure hope nobody having their problems ignored takes that as rude or elitist or exclusive.
If you’re annoyed that people keep complaining, express that you are annoyed instead of trying to point to what you think is the solution. You might be wrong about problem or even the solution, but you won’t be wrong about your emotions.
The emotion I get as an autistic person trying to trying to interpret people saying the opposite of what they mean then being considered an asshole when I'm neurologically incapable of interpreting coded messages is that I want to kill someone and then myself.
I get that. I've always found it hard to not just tell people what to do, especially when I known I'm right. What helps me is framing things in terms of my own experiences. I don't know other people's circumstances, but I do know my own. Outlining why something works for me helps them understand better than any advice I can give.
I don't think it's an expectation of being a good person.
I do think that "free tech support" is a way some people like to give back to the community that gave them a completely free operating system.
Big "fuck you i got mine" energy here.
Classic.
Is it "fuck you got mine" when you're already burned out from work and your uncle that you don't like asks you to unfuck his computer for free? You buy little pastries because you get a guest and your mom taught you well, spend 3 hours unfucking his PC that his new stepchildren fucked and all you get in return is a k thanks bye. And a few months later you get the request to unfuck his PC again and sit there like "why would I do that?".
It’s free labor lol, what do you expect? I’ll point you in the right direction and answer questions as best I can, but I won’t do it for you.
If I setup something a little complex on your behalf, say a Minecraft server, then I’m also on the hook to continue maintaining that thing indefinitely. Theres only so much time in the day /shrug
Exactly! I'm so tired of troubleshooting windows issues on a machine that HAS to use windows due to its applications not working on anything but windows (yes even using docker) and getting "switch to linux" as an answer. Linux is great, but it's not a panacea, the way linux users online (and especially here on lemmy) act is insanely cult-like and extremely unhelpful.
Thats not true, if you are able to compile a RISC V kernel then you are more than welcome to join us in our kline bottle!
What the fuck is a kline bottle, the only bottles I know are Klein bottles. Might as well call them huge bottles while you're at it.
You got me I just spelled it out in my head and didnt check, but that also allows you in! Welcome to the bottle.
(By the way this was a bilingual pun - "klein" means "small" in German. I also just now realized it would've been even better if I suggested you call them "gross bottles", as "gross" translates to "large".)
Help I'm still outside.
You mean kernel bottles?
I'm sure I could compile a kernal if I put my mind to it.
You know you should. Just take what they give you as a default (like fedora) and just look at it and be like you know I dont need all these network drivers, turn them all off and compile and feel like a hacker for a day!
Why did I read this as k-line bottle