TL;DR: I wonder why we always have the same 2 posts as top posts of the day.
They appear a bit unnecessary and mildly annoying to me.
Do you think the same? Or do you like them, and can explain me why, so I can change my view?
Please don’t just blindly downvote, writing this post took a lot of time. And if you feel the need to do it anyway, tell me why first.
Maybe I am the only person who thinks that.
I probably am, at least according to numbers.
Basically, I’ve got the feeling that every top post of the day for the last weeks is something like “I’ve freed myself from evil Windows’ shackles and finally switched to Linux.”, or “What distro do you recommend?”.
Don’t get me wrong.
I feel super happy for every newcomer discovering the wonderful world of Linux and FOSS.
I, just like most others here, always try to help them in finding their right distro and guiding them in their first steps.
We all have been there.
And I’m super proud of us all, as a community, that we happily embrace every new member. We definitely have to keep that behaviour, it’s what connects us and makes us strong.
I just think we should redirect them a bit onto the specific communities.
Not by banning or censoring, just as friendly reminder, e.g. by a sticky post, comments like “Hey, check out !linux4noobs@lemmy.world” or something else.
It doesn’t help much if there are the same threads every day, with people circlejerking on hating Windows and recommending Mint a hundred times, just like 100 people before did on the same thread.
I hate Windows too, but it feels like we’re identifying and comparing ourselves with the bitter ex-partner we had a while ago. No, not being Windows shouldn’t be the main reason Linux is great.
There are so many great posts and discussions, that are all going missing in this swamp of “Winblows bad, hehe”.
We should focus on what makes our software great, and not what the “bad ex-partner” did wrong.
Same with newcomer posts.
I think if the posters get redirected to the correct sub, they will receive more help, since the people partaking in the community are there because they wanna see exactly that.
At the same time, I’m afraid this would undermine our openness and friendliness of this community, and result in being as shitty as Reddits’ sub.
!Just as an anecdote, when I was a noob, I posted a question there, and, like 5 minutes later, I got a dozen of non-constructive, offensive comments. 10 minutes later, my post got removed. This was my first contact to the Linux world btw. Guess who switched back to Windows for another half year because of that?
We have to prevent this at any costs.
Anyway… !<
I really enjoy this community here and wanna keep it this great.
I just wanted to ask you, what you think about those everyday-top-posts.
If you like them, please try to change my mind and explain me why :)
Edit/ Additional stuff/ Learnings:
- I don’t hate those “I switched to Linux”-posts, just to clarify. They’re fine for me, they just feel like white noise. But I’ve read many times in this thread that a lot of people enjoy those posts. If that’s the case, I’m totally fine! :)
- I think putting those posts in a weekly sticky thread could be worth an idea? Then everyone could describe their experience of this week of switching from one distro to another, e.g. “My first week of Gentoo” or something like this. Would be an interesting read for everyone.
- I also believe those “Fuck Windows”-posts can be kind of therapeutic for some people, since Windows became really shitty and annoying in the last years. And when you feel the relieve from finally getting rid of it, you tell that everyone. Understandable.
- Splitting the community isn’t the best idea too. We can always learn from each other and I like the diversity of this community.
- Thank you for your kind and constructive answers! ✌️
Personally, as a noob myself, I enjoy reading about others’ experiece when they switch. No idea why. Just fun to read usually.
On another forum there are sticky weekly posts where people can write about X, like in our case it could be:
Share your story of how you met your distro
- How is it going so far?
- What surprised you positively?
- What difficulties did you have?
I love this idea!
I really would appreciate something like this.
In that way, everyone can still write and enjoy their own or others’ stories.Especially, since this would not only apply to newcomers, but to experienced users too, e.g. “My first week with Gentoo” or something like this. I like it!
Edit: I added your idea to the post
It sounds great to include more people but we should def focus on the young/ fresh experience. Do you come up with a better one? Is a question missing?
I support this. I’m happy linux is spreading but I’d rather read distro and developer articles over someones trials and tribulations of running an installer script.
That would be perfect. Especially when others would respond with ‘Have you tried this’, it could also create great learning opportunities
Have you met flatpaks?
It solves a packaging issue and keeps your base system clean.
I’ve considered it, read about how it works, and i still might, but for now i think it takes quite a lot of space on my pc.
Lol, thanks for the reading material, i will definitely read it and, who knows, maybe even reconsider!
This definitely needs to become a thing!
For me too, it gives me an encouraging feeling like; hey, i’m not the only one who ran into this or that issue, or who switched to linux because of this or that reason. And it’s nice to know that i’m here with others who are also quite new. It would feel very daunting to be here and know that all members here have been ‘linuxing’ for decades and i would just lurk then.
I always read those posts that OP mentions. If you don’t like them, just skip them? I’ve been with other lists for many years and newbies were always welcome. I liked answering their questions, even those i heard a 100 times before, and if i didn’t feel like it some days, i could always skip them and know that others would have answers too.
I don’t mind them any more than I mind a bunch of other dumb posts that people feel compelled to share for reasons I don’t understand.
And a lot of them do seem earnest, like they’re showing off a macaroni picture they’re super proud of.
If my adult roommate came home and showed me a macaroni picture they’re super proud of, I probably wouldn’t be personally impressed, but I would be happy for them that they’ve found something they like and are proud of.
And a lot of them do seem earnest, like they’re showing off a macaroni picture they’re super proud of.
It is cool with me if they think switching to Linux is a feather in their cap.
Post better content to the community that is more interesting. The problem isn’t these posts, it’s the lack of other engaging discussions.
I will install Windows and remove it again just to annoy you.
Do that and keep my updated ✌️
5 minutes later:
Holy shit, installing Windows is miserable! Fedora works OOB! For no reason, neofetch!
What having issues looks like:
Idk, I try to be there to cheer on people that make the switch and post about it.
I get that the same type of thread several times a week is annoying. However, sometimes I think there is stuff to learn/remember about people switching over now, since there are things I would have long forgotten/gotten used to since initially switching 8-ish years ago, the new user experience is valuable and important to get feedback to help more people transition better.
As someone who recently made the switch (without posting about it woohoo!), I’ve found more information across the clone posts than in any one thread, I second the megathread idea mentioned above.
I’ve made a few comments regarding distros/switching on many of the aforementioned posts and I would happily dig them up and repost them as a comment on a megathread, on the slim chance my experience helps smooth out the entry for others.
Not at all. You seem to think there’s a more appropriate forum for people to join the Linux community, and introduces. Where is that? And how do new Linux users find it? Knowing nothing about Linux distros, where should they ask about distros? Distrowatch catalogs 274 distributions - how do newbies navigate those?
I do think having a “which distro” stickie or sidebar would be handy, but I don’t at all mind the “I ditched Windows” posts. It beats random venting, ranting, and flame wars.
No I don’t mind them. I am a linux noob myself and these kinds of posts are what helped me decide to switch.
While we’re complaining, you know what I don’t like? Completely incomprehensible posts about some super specific subsystem. “fdplq updated to 0.5.pi.007.69!” Wow, that will change my life the next time I boot up my computer to read some Lemmy and play a game for an hour or two.
But they are all part of the linux community. I’m not gonna say the way I use linux is any better or worse than anyone else.
And fortunately, nobody is forcing us to click on those posts we don’t care about.
I deleted windows btw, and I’m very happy about it.
I used arch to delete windows.
The urge to comment “I use Arch btw” is overwhelming
waits
waits
in a compulsive panic btw!
But OP did it first, and now he’s already few steps ahead in the OS game, and prefers to let everyone know that he was there first. So stop these posts you guys.
Thing is, I don’t know what else you’d really post here. Linux is an OS (don’t get pedantic with me), there’s only so much to talk about other than using it for the first time or getting recommendations on distros/desktop environments/apps/hardware/etc. There’s always something going on with Linux, but most of it is specific to one distro/desktop environment so people will probably go to forums for those specific things to discuss them.
Also, yeah he threads are pretty tired for people who have been here even for just a few months, but for the people switching over, it’s all brand new. They want to talk about their experience and I can’t really blame them. Maybe there should be megathread as suggested elsewhere.
What would you like to see posted? What could give this community more of a direction?
What i really would love are tips and tricks. I remember another community that started doing that, but after a few times they stopped. Very frustrating, because it was quite interesting to read.
I also like all kinds of discussions about why one chooses this or that terminal, or why they choose flatpak over certain repositories. Discussions about what went wrong and how they solved it (because then you learn where you need to look for issues and what people need to know from you to be able to help out).
Experiences from newbies are nice too; what distro did they choose and did they run into issues.
Sharing interesting websites would be nice as well.
Just some thoughts.
Removed by mod
This copy pasta needs to die. We all know what he meant with ‘Don’t be pedantic’
I didn’t realize it was pasta. I thought it was just some asshat on a high horse.
Yeah, I don’t mind. Everyone has a survivor story.
Although it is interesting isn’t it… That Linux usage is still seen in opposition to the horrors of windows. I mean, few come here talking about adopting in spite of having a great time with windows, or even without mentioning it at all.
I hope that one day it isn’t seen as an alternative to but as a thing in its own right.
Well kinda obvious, if you like windows you won’t bother to look up other systems and hardly will you switch off of it. And as long as windows will come preinstalled in people’s PC Linux will always be seen as the rebel choice.
Last sentence makes no sense tbh, the only way we can’t be the alternative to windoes is by not being an operating system.
Windoes!
I just meant that Linux, even in these communities is posited as something you try after windows rather than go to first.
Look, I know there’s a certain romantic notion that Linux is “the rebel choice”, but the truth is that it is the normcore backbone of the internet and the go to OS of a ton of academic ecologies.
So yeah, kinda obvious, when you think about it.
Maybe they are, but this is the way the medium works - you don’t get to control what people post (unless you are mod). Scroll past and move on.
This was a solved problem on other sites via wikis and weekly threads. There’s no value in another “what distro should I use?” post. It’s great that people want to contribute, but there should be a more centralized resource we can refer people to where people can focus this energy.
As for the Windows threads, they’ve been a staple of every Linux-focused community for as long as I’ve been browsing them. I guess if it makes people feel better then I suppose that’s enough of a reason to keep them around.
I often do like these posts, because it usually shows their past suffering, and the new freedom they enjoy. It is also an opportunity to share the common community feeling with them.
After all, to me many years ago when I saw Linux booting for the very first time (no GUI, just lots of text from the kernel) that was one thing about Linux that I liked : names of human beings visible. If you look at software by Microsoft or Apple on computer installations you will normally see zero names, it is all very formal.
Social interaction between Linux users, starting with solving Linux questions, has been there for years in forums. I like seeing people help other people and move forward together.
Same with newcomer posts. I think if the posters get redirected to the correct sub
And what sub would you suggest ?
This is what I enjoy most about the Linux experience, like you say it is a very human experience that everyone likes to share.
When is the last time you had a noob online or anywhere tell you they booted up their system with a fresh new install of a new to them OS that they found called Microsoft Windows or Mac OS
To me, and I’m just a novice that is capable of knowing enough to destroy my system, any time I hear or read someone new who ditched a commercial OS to become a Linux user is an amazing accomplishment. It means the person who did so went out of their way to use something they had to work for, not with money but with knowledge, experience and trial and error.
Every time I hear that story, it makes me feel good and hopeful for humanity because it’s one more person who broke away from an all powerful corporate master.
I’ll never get tired of hearing these stories or seeing these posts.
Well said, and a nice read. 👍
Thinking about this I think that a lot of consumers who buy their new laptops will have ChromeOS, Microsoft Windows or Apple Mac OS pre-installed, and when they have problems with it, most of them might go back to the shop to get help, or even buy just another new computer. Another good feature of Linux is that it does not necessarily force you into hardware upgrades every few years, and it can even run on all kind of devices., making Linux flexible and sustainable.
Thanks for putting the TL;DR at the top instead of at the bottom where I’ll never see it because I already decided not to read
They all get a downvote from me.
I thought about it too, but I personally want to use the downvote function only to signal a low-effort or low-worth post, not my opinion or dislike.
Remember, it’s supposed as filter, not opinion system.So while I personally don’t find much liking in some posts in general, there has always been a person behind it that invested time into writing that particular comment or post.
To be fair though, is announcing you just removed windows not a totally low effort post?
Depends. If it’s just one sentence, it won’t add any value or stuff to discuss.
But if it’s an experience report it can always be interesting to read and adds value.
This world, and this community, need more people like you. You strike me as a king person that has no issue speaking his/her mind. And I learned from you how to better use those uovote/down vote buttons. Thank you, for real.
