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! ✌️
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.
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
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.
I find them mildly annoying, but generally tune them out.
The offensive responses, are much worse. Linux users can VERY much be a “boys club” and treat newcomers as lower life forms.
The issue is if you tune them out what’s left? It’s most of the content here.
Hell just the other day there was a “what new tech thing have you done this year?” And 95% of the responses were just some variation of “Installed Mint/PopOS!/Endeavour and started using Firefox.”
Like it’s great that you’re making the transition, but I was hoping to hear what new self hosting service people got working on their home server, some new residential network installs for security platforms, etc.
Not just “I changed browsers.”
Check out the self hosting community.
Linux users can VERY much be a “boys club” and treat newcomers as lower life forms.
I mean, the OP linked to the Linux beginners forum in their comment, so it can’t be that much of a boys club.
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.
It feels like a common and repetitive theme that doesn’t bring much discussion to the table. I might be an old grumpy fart, and I probably would’ve done the same posts back in 1997 when I left Windows NT 4.0 in the rear view mirror.
I’d much prefer to keep the discussion on Linux and not other operating systems. I enjoy AmigaOS and MorphOS as well, but I can’t recall anyone every comparing those to Windows on the forums.
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
Personally, I’m not interested in the type of posts you mention. However, I don’t mind it. In general I think it’s great to tell the world if you ditch Windows for Linux, because it shows other (Windows) users that they can do it, too.
Though I have to agree that for a dedicated Linux community, it doesn’t add too much value. If I think a post is a bad fit for the community, I vote it down.
I feel the same way. Most of the feedback on your post seems to be from newbies who like it, so maybe we should start a new community for us advanced folks instead of referring everyone to !linux4noobs@lemmy.world.
Dividing the community is probably not the best thing to do right now… There’s also the intermediate power user, with specific question in regard of grub or how to update the kernel issues.
The kind of question that are easy for advanced folk but can be a big ? for intermediate people.
Do we also start a new community for them?
IMO that’s a bad idea…
Not yet. I’m sure I’ll get there eventually, but for now I’m enjoying watching people make their own choices for OS.
I don’t mind them. I like to hear what drove people away from Windows and into Linux’ loving embrace. I’m still pretty new myself, so grain of salt I suppose.
I don’t really mind either way whether these posts are allowed to remain or should be culled.
If you keep them around, they will just keep shitting up the feed. The overall browsing quality of the community goes down, hindering the user experience. I don’t think it’s uncontroversial to say these posts have next to no value; they’re essentially equivalent to birthday notifications or “I voted” stickers. Like… congrats! You and everyone else! Now what? Where’s the discussion here?
On the other hand, I do want to think thrice about controlling this with moderation. All too often on Reddit I’ve see the trope of a sub that appears to be crawling, and you get the idea to join in with an enthusiastic post, only to get removedsmacked by automod because you posted this on the wrong day of the week, or this post type is outright banned because the community is sick of seeing it. It’s sensible, yes. But ugh, what a demoralizing filter for newcomers. Overly curated subs/communities are not public forums, they are increasingly impenetrable cliques. That may not necessarily be a bad thing if we think the tradeoff is worth it. But we have to keep in mind what we become when we make that trade.
The one thing I will say willl absolutely not help anything at all is making a designated containment community for this specific kind of post. The whole complaint here is rooted in there being no discussion value for these types of posts. You think a community comprised entirely of those would be a community anyone would want to post in? It’d largely be the Lemmy equivalent of a donotreply@ email address. A dumping ground where unwanted posts go to die. And I don’t know about anyone else, but somehow I find being directed to a designated dead-end forum by mods is an even bigger slap to the face than simply having my post removed.
Can’t have linux without a hint of elitism.
“Im much better than all my other friends who are still using Windows … yuck”
Eh, elitism seems to float around all tech communities. PCMasterRace, C, CLI, Apple, Tesla/cars, Snap-On, heck even bidets have elitist advocates. Any time there are multiple way to do something, someone will be snooty about it.
heck even bidets have elitist advocates
Learned something new today, had no idea.
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.
Most of those posts are fake too, just karma farming.
If your assumption is true, then I feel really sorry for those posters, really.
Getting many upvotes should only be a sign of “This post is relevant for many people”, not “Many like it”.
The up- and downvote system is supposed to be a filter, not a like- or opinion system.
And, even if account karma really exists, then it still doesn’t mean anything.
I also had many posts/ comments that got negative votes, and I would never have thought about deleting them, except if I accidentally hurt someone with them and someone notified me of that.
Otherwise, I stand to my opinion and/ or use the edit function to add my changed stance.You think a post or comment should be higher up, because it’s useful or OP put a lot of work into writing it? Upvote.
Post has no relevance (for no one, not only you) and isn’t worth seeing? Downvote.I constantly upvote stuff I don’t even care about or that I see controversial, just because OP took a lot of time.
At the same time, comments like “This!” and other Reddit-ish comments and post are instantly downvoted because they neither promote discussion nor relevance.
