We should be nicer to new Linux users

I was thinking about my beginning with Linux in 2008 and how hard it was to get good community support back then. There was always fear of asking stupid questions because the answers were very harsh. We all know that (RTFM, you should not use Linux, etc). With more experience over the years I wanted to help new users and I had the plan to be nice no matter what the question was. And I failed. I was thinking "what a stupid question was that"? I tried to answer nicely but then follow up questions arrived that killed my patience. I had the option to ignore the question and move on. But I did myself what I hated in my first days with Linux.. How many users were trying to get into Linux but gave up because they had nobody who can support them?

Now we are often accused of gate keeping. Linux is for the elite. Using Linux (especially Arch, Gentoo, Slack, Nix) means that we are the top 1% of users who can do everything. Stuff that those stupid windows and mac users cannot do with their closed proprietary systems. We use the terminal for everything. F*ck the GUI. Of course, not everyone thinks that way but surely many of has had similar thoughts at least once

I then went into Linux System Administration. I started with 2nd Level Support working on tickets. This involves working with users. Now those users were not your typical windows users who dont know how to create an ISO image or how to copy/paste commands into a Terminal. Those users were using servers in positions like application admins, project leads, or network admins running services on Linux hosts. Still, those were not Linux pros. They knew how to SSH into those boxes and do some things but most were pretty limited. The job required me to be nice to them of course. RTFM was not an option. But I could nicely advise them to read the PDF that describes this process very well. Or "I create a howto for you, no problem"

Most users are very thankful. This job changed me in how I talked to those with less knowledge. For me the most important thing is if the person is really interested to learn. Stupid questions are part of it. Now we have LLMs, this issue might be less relevant but we still have many posts on Reddit and other platforms from new users who wnat to start using Linux. Getting knowledge from people is different. It comes with experience. And if we have experience, and we have time to write on Reddit, we should at least be nice to those who ask. Otherwise just dont answer. And yes, those who ask questions can also be rude. Thats how the world is. We have many nice people and we have many not so nice people.. I prefer to be on the nice people side. Not just for karma, but having the privilege of knowledge and being nice to other people is a very good combination. Other will thank you for that. And with how Microsoft acts these days, it would be nice to snatch more users off them

https://redd.it/1tbcxi0
@r_linux