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<cough>Bullshit</cough> If you were a Linux user in the mid-90's, then about the only place to get "help" was #linux on EFnet. Collectively, I don't think I've

<cough>Bullshit</cough> If you were a Linux user in the mid-90's, then about the only place to get "help" was #linux on EFnet. Collectively, I don't think I've suffered more abuse on the internet than in that forum. And, yes, I'm still bitter. It was NOT a noob-friendly place. The best place -- ever -- to get Linux help was, and will always have been, the Gentoo forums, but that didn't take off till the early 2000's.

mdekkers 10y ago
The best place -- ever -- to get Linux help was, and will always have been, the Gentoo forums True! However, obligatory "Gentoo is rice" link: https://fun.irq.dk/funroll-loops.org/ https://fun.irq.dk/funroll-loops.org/
- nthcolumn 10y ago
  Sven Vermeulen wrote great docs and the community was my first social media. Then that compiz-beryl thing happened and... where is she now I wonder?
bubblethink 10y ago
I wonder how much of Linux's recent success (I know it's still a tiny fraction) is just because of Google. I can't imagine using Linux if you take away the ability to Google. The fact that usually the results are posts by actual people and not some company stooge makes a world of difference.
- djent 10y ago
  You get the same results on DuckDuckGo, etc. there's no search engine lock-in here.
  - tajen 10y ago
    Sorry, doesn't DDG use Google as a back-end, just anonymizing the results?
    - linkregister 10y ago
      DDG uses a variety of search engines' responses, including Google's. It has its own crawler as well. https://duck.co/help/results/sources https://duck.co/help/results/sources
  - adrianratnapala 10y ago
    No tajen, at least the Wikipedia article for DDG gives no hint that it uses the Google backend. Nor had I ever heard of such a thing.
kuschku 10y ago
Oh, it’s quite easy to get help there, and has always been. You just have to be tricky: People will not help you, but as pedantic as they are, they’ll correct mistakes you make. You go there, and say "I’m disappointed that you can’t even use <device> with Linux" and you’ll get hundreds of answers telling you exactly how to use it.
- anonbanker 10y ago
  #linux, the notorious troll channel on EFnet, only provided help when counter-trolled.
easytiger 10y ago
My experience was clearly different to yours, and it was from 1998 onwards. No need for that kind of behavior.
anonbanker 10y ago
#linux was a troll channel, so that's a poor example. #e (The Enlightenment Window Manager) had people very eager to help. So did #redhat, #mandrake, #debian #stampede, #slackware, and even #linux-users. All were quite active from '98-2002, before freenode swallowed everything. source: I got trolled by swedes in #linux before abandoning that wasteland for greener pastures listed above.

mdekkers 10y ago

The best place -- ever -- to get Linux help was, and will always have been, the Gentoo forums True! However, obligatory "Gentoo is rice" link: https://fun.irq.dk/funroll-loops.org/ https://fun.irq.dk/funroll-loops.org/

nthcolumn 10y ago
Sven Vermeulen wrote great docs and the community was my first social media. Then that compiz-beryl thing happened and... where is she now I wonder?

bubblethink 10y ago

I wonder how much of Linux's recent success (I know it's still a tiny fraction) is just because of Google. I can't imagine using Linux if you take away the ability to Google. The fact that usually the results are posts by actual people and not some company stooge makes a world of difference.

djent 10y ago
You get the same results on DuckDuckGo, etc. there's no search engine lock-in here.
- tajen 10y ago
  Sorry, doesn't DDG use Google as a back-end, just anonymizing the results?
  - linkregister 10y ago
    DDG uses a variety of search engines' responses, including Google's. It has its own crawler as well. https://duck.co/help/results/sources https://duck.co/help/results/sources
- adrianratnapala 10y ago
  No tajen, at least the Wikipedia article for DDG gives no hint that it uses the Google backend. Nor had I ever heard of such a thing.

kuschku 10y ago

Oh, it’s quite easy to get help there, and has always been. You just have to be tricky: People will not help you, but as pedantic as they are, they’ll correct mistakes you make. You go there, and say "I’m disappointed that you can’t even use <device> with Linux" and you’ll get hundreds of answers telling you exactly how to use it.

anonbanker 10y ago
#linux, the notorious troll channel on EFnet, only provided help when counter-trolled.

easytiger 10y ago

My experience was clearly different to yours, and it was from 1998 onwards. No need for that kind of behavior.

anonbanker 10y ago

#linux was a troll channel, so that's a poor example. #e (The Enlightenment Window Manager) had people very eager to help. So did #redhat, #mandrake, #debian #stampede, #slackware, and even #linux-users. All were quite active from '98-2002, before freenode swallowed everything. source: I got trolled by swedes in #linux before abandoning that wasteland for greener pastures listed above.