Linux

Personally, as a noob myself, I enjoy reading about others' experiece when they switch. No idea why. Just fun to read usually.

I will install Windows and remove it again just to annoy you.

Post better content to the community that is more interesting. The problem isn't these posts, it's the lack of other engaging discussions.

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.

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.

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.

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 a Linux community, so of course people will be moving away from other operating systems and installing Linux. I don't see why everyone that does it needs to post about it. It's like the people that make a big deal about leaving a party instead of just leaving.

It's annoying. Maybe there should be a separate "SwitchedToLinux" community for these posts.

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.

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.

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.

Nah it's cool.

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.

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.

I don't remember seeing a single one, so they're probably not annoying me.

Exaggerated complaint posts about non problems there are way to many, though.

It's not only you. I suppose we need a separate community, linux-newbie or something like this, for such posts and questions about choosing a distro.

I like them as long as they're describing their experience and/or motivation behind the step.

What I don't like is posts that are simply bashing on Windows (because apparently it's cool?) and praising Linux like it's some sort of silver bullet. Share your negative experiences and describe hoops and workarounds you had to jump through to make Linux work for you. Or describe why it didn't work out for you and why you're back to Windows (and then, dear commenters, don't flame the guy).

I don't read them, but it's like advertising to get the Linux train rolling. I'm pretty sure those posts have significantly contributed to a lot of people giving Linux a try.

No

oh yeah, it's been annoying me, too. I haven't subscribed to read countless blog posts of people who set off on the exceptionally unique journey of installing Ubuntu and liking it more than Windows.

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.

I've said this sentiment before, but I'll repeat it here.

If you're a pro uber-1337 Gamer, you probably have over 1TiB of storage available. Keeping 64 or even 100GiB of space free for a Windows install isn't really going to break the bank. IMO it's worth keeping a Windows 10 install around just in case you need to use something that only runs on Windows, or some game really doesn't agree with Linux. Nuking a Windows install feels a bit reckless, especially considering the pain of installing it and getting licenses set up.

Part of me worries that these posts are making it seem that deleting your Windows install is some kind of "rite of passage" people have to go through, even though I bet many devout Linux users here still have a Windows install "just in case".

I would like to see a sticky "shill your distro" and/or "guide to recommended distros for a new user" thread. Most people making those threads are usually fine with something like Mint, Ubuntu, Pop or Fedora, and replies sometimes get into technical debate or people shilling their favorite distro (which would be better served in a dedicated thread).

However, we're only a small community here, so most activity is good activity, as long as we don't repeat the exact same posts over and over.

Maybe it bothers you more because your Lemmy feed is not as well populated with interesting posts as you would hope?

I do wish people would check the post history here before asking "what distro should I use." Or search the web for "how to pick a Linux distro in 2024" there are no shortage of those, although to be fair to them, you are a lot more likely nowadays to find nothing but AI-generated bullshit.

Like this commenter here mentions, there are pinned posts saying "share the story of how you met your distro." I would love it if moderators could take posts and turn them into comments on pinned posts like "share. But we don't have that as far as I know, so what can you do but contribute a patch to the Lemmy software maintainers, or else just deal with the noise.

I really don't get why anyone would be annoyed about this specifically when recurring topics and posts are just pretty common.. about litterally anything. I find it even more weird since it's about people ditching windows (I mean how many topics and posts hating on windows, praising Linux, suggesting Linux, and whatever else...just lots and lots, and somehow people are fine with that, so why would it be any different here ?)

Beside, people just want to share things, regardless if others did exactly the same an hour or a decade ago. Why care when it's just so easy to move on to something you'd be more interested in ?

One thing I do find tiresome more than anything within the Linux community though is talks about noobs like they are some cringe childs being boring and acting childishly...everyone have been noobs seriously, even you mentioned toxicity and the lack of openness/friendliness towards noobs if we ostracized them..yet you are suggesting it anyway. I get noobs aren't always fun but come on ! And about newcommer posts...noobs will seek help wherever they can seek it, having another place to help them is not going to change that, so we might just as well help them and redirect them to helping sites anyway.

It's a phase. I understand the annoyance, but the community isn't big enough to create a dedicated community for "I deleted windows" posts. It comes down to how many people we have in each camp: actual linux users, newly transitioned users, prospective lurkers. Given how many people came to lemmy for non-linux reasons, I assume that last camp currently outweights the rest.

maybe a different structure could work where main linux community is for noobs and we have some kind of seasoned linux community

Most of those posts are fake too, just karma farming.

There's a huge middle ground between constant reposts about the same topic and hostility to new users. Megathreads have often been the solution to that particular problem. I don't know if Lemmy has a merge functionality, though. It seems like the mod tools are kind of limited.

For me I'd rather people post something over nothing even if it's the same post to us it's clearly something the poster felt was important to them.

They are top posts for a reason. It's because people enjoy them. Everyone has the choice to ignore them.

I like seeing the posts of people finding comfort with their new linux installs even tho they might appear a couple of times.

Linux is still considered a niche so the most likelihood of the newer folk appearing is higher then the more experienced ones. Also I wasn't always experienced and if it wasn't for newbie friendly content I wouldn't be here helping other people as well.

After all, information doesn't spawn out of thin air, it requires someone to carry and distribute it so that other people become also educated in those ways.

Which is way I find weird finding some people say "people are dumb they should do x, y or z cause its better" but then they don't provide any information and expect others to also know what they already know/have learned recently.

In conclusion, sharing is caring and I don't mind people sharing their experiences which also helps others on the same situation.

Perhaps a pinned, weekly post? It's not like federated sites have enough traction yet to make a weekly thread full of buried posts, so it should work in the meantime

Yes.

These posts are the "I voted for peace" decorative lapel button of the '60s and '70s. These posts were the leading edge in the '90s and a little of the '00s.

Now they're tiresome. It's like people who've come late to the party and want their fanfare; people who came last in the race and proclaim themselves the leaders. The race is over, the banners are down, the spotlight's off and the newsmedia's gone home. No need to proclaim victory, nor virtue-signal inclusion in a group that isn't exclusive.

I feel like limiting or discouraging them would really hurt adoption.

Many times people share their use cases.

If someone with similar use cases finds out "wait, it us possible for me yo use Linux?" they could become tomorrow's post.