As I understand it a lot of people are switching to Linux now with the various reasons to do so such as the Windows 11 bit that bricks older hardware, Windows for all the AI nonsense, ten other Windows related reasons, and gaming finally working with the penguin. It could be you’re just overwhelmed by a sudden influx of less experienced users.
They can’t. The current grow pulls in a lot of new users who are not accustomed to solving problems that way.
Distros are trying to deploy ever better tools to mitigate initial issues, but eventually the ugly reality of daily maintenance becomes relevant. That requires time consuming 1:1 communication.
And it isn’t scaling at the moment. The traditional support channels are mostly carried by a small group of people that is overwhelmed with the new demand. Imho. Maybe the Arch forums get away with the harsh answer, but the Cachy support discord … my God. There’s usually one, knowledgeable, mercy soul serving a dozen conversations. It feels not a question of if but when that person burns out.
I understand how frustrating it is to see all the same topics with people unable to search a little deeper then the first result. The AI in this aspect does not help at all, as it makes people so used to getting somewhat direct and fast answer.
The tool is far from ideal, but it is something, that made the linux experience not so daunting.
At least for me, the inicial setup was amazing and it not being all knowing forced me to delve into more appropriate channels like this forum for example.
We deal with lots of crazy bullshit everyday, but maybe something little positive might cheer somebody
Actually there’s likely a lot of truth in that, judging by a lot of discussions and arguments I’ve seen across a few forums… if you exclude the neuro-diverse, there’s probably not a lot left 
So perhaps what we’re ranting about here is that after we escaped the nightmare that is Default Computing, we’re now getting upset that all the normies are rushing in to greet us, whilst complaining because their drag 'n drop isn’t exactly the way it used to be on MacOS or Winblows…
Pretty much. Add a little bit of “angry old man” and that describes me.
Actually now that I have some Linux years under my belt, I actually want a Mac, just to try out since it is BSD. I haven’t been on one since system 7 or whatever it was called back in the 90’s.
Same here. The person is called CSCS and personally, I am afraid they will burn out sooner or later.
I decided for myself that I will only answer the questions I know I can truly answer and also only when I see the will of the asking person to educate themselves. Everything else is just too much.
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I’m gonna have to disagree with a lot that’s been said in this thread and agree with some. People in general haven’t changed much, it’s groups of people you’re basing your perception on that have - I mean, have you never dealt with technologically inept 70 year olds? 20 year olds who know ins and outs of Linux? I have, much like I’ve dealt with those swapped around. It’s more or less a matter of either seeing (or wanting to see) computer as a magical black box that gets things that you need done done vs seeing it as a complex system it is under the hood, and that has more to do with one’s background than anything else. And, to be fair - a magical black box sounds wonderful for those simple use cases it can cover, and being able to make things simple when possible is a worthy goal.
IMO much of the attitude of entitlement comes from two things: the fact that a modern Linux distro gets you there 98% of the way but the remaining 2% need the sort of research that would filter you much earlier back in the day (kind of like a boat ride that drops you in water 10 meters before your destination) and that some people seem to generally expect more free stuff once they got some. The latter is hardly specific to FOSS, by the way - I’m well aware of artists facing the same fundamental problem.
Sometimes I wonder if setting up some sort of a dedicated paid support or bounty system would help with this sort of attitude, even if just a bit - you get something to point people towards and at worst you’d still burn out but with some extra cash on hand. And, honestly - there are still quite a few ways to improve that remaining 2% of the way experience; e.g. one idea I’ve been contemplating is making an application that’s an interactive dictionary of sorts for environment variables (which tend to have quite poor discoverability compared to many other settings). Won’t help people who refuse to learn to fish, of course, but will nonetheless make fishing easier and less intimidating.
I know I kinda just posted this then disappeared, but I’m also here to bitch about something else super frustrating me lately.
Why is every fucking post about the AUR being “compromised”, being posted over and over and over. I swear to god, the internet “now days” are just a bunch of bots or people trolling. I feel like we’re all just being farmed for LLM’s.. and not even just like people not understanding how to read PKGBUILDS but then completely pipe a random script online into their terminals without knowing what its going to do, but simply can’t be bothered to read. I’m so beyond just, I’m tired boys.. I’m tired. 
Edit: I wasn’t affected by the AUR package h4x if anyone was curious. I can Linux or something…
Edit #2: Where the shit is my kernel 7.1 build update for the kernel manager?! I NEED TO RUN 7.1! Non-rc.
❯ kerver
Check kernel version:Linux version 7.0.12-1-bore-67 (linux-bore-67@cachyos) (clang version 22.1.6, LLD 22.1.6) #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Tue, 09 Jun 2026 17:42:30 +0000
Besides everything mentioned already here, I put a lot of blame squarely on the AI Cargo Cult of LLM outsourcing meatspace to hallucinating chatbots. If you told me that we’d be letting them run the global economy, I’d laugh in your face, but here we are, and the business idiots who drive these giga corps are doing exactly that and forcing them on everyone.
I refuse to budge. I like my technology to be efficient, quiet (no ads), reliable (no hallucinating, personality-glazing bots), and most importantly I like it to work for me and serve a purpose to solve problems. I have no interest in “solutions” in search of problems they themselves create in order to sell you a subscription. Widespread use of LLMs has diminished societal intelligence and problem-solving skillsets in measurable ways in just a short time span. Further, they are not profitable companies and their inevitable collapse may ruin not just the environment but also our financial futures with all the cash being shoveled into their fires.
I know that at the time of this posting I’ll be getting push-back from boosters for this staunch opposition, but history as it unfolds will prove me right, along with those who likewise see what’s going on and haven’t had their critical thinking skills snatched away by LLMs and social media addictions.
If you’d like to see the global IQ increase, I’d recommend unplugging from all of that, and gently telling others around you to experiment doing the same, even as a trial period. Not everyone will be able to quit cold-turkey. The “AI future” is not inevitable, in fact with token-based pricing models collapsing as enterprises balk at the cost with little to show for it, the unprofitable startups are making noises to slash prices on services they already can’t afford to provide. They can keep their LLMs, I’ll keep my library card and my wits, and when there’s a power outage, I’ll still know how to survive without asking Claude what to do next.
This is exactly how I feel where we’re at.
This is my main gripe. I know some mentioned open-book tests but I had a fair few of those and while it gave me the info, it was still pretty worthless if I didn’t understand what was going on. Having my old Calc 2 formulas was helpful, but many still failed because they had absolutely no clue what to do with said info.
The only time I’d ever want to see an LLM used is to maybe get some items to look further into and use it more as rough guidance than gospel truth. I’ve seen too many times they get some command that isn’t remotely relevant then wonder why other stuff broke.
Another issue with computers I’ve seen working technical support in some capacity for almost 20yrs is people quickly go “idk about computers at all” and just shut down. I don’t expect someone to be an expert in them, but the classic example is hearing that statement just to realize on the phone the issue was something was just unplugged. They resign themselves to thinking a computer is a magical black box so they wall themselves off from thinking about them beyond “it no worky”.
College days, yes - I remember an Irish guy who had a lot of trouble with logic, we had an end of week assessment and I came out with 99, he only 30%… so I spent some time 1. trying to tell him how simple it was and then 2. Working out with him how to do it.
Turns out you need understanding a few hundred percent higher to help someone else understand… and I learned probably more in that human interaction that any LLM could supply.
Needless to say, with a few creative tricks to help him think differently, he got past it.
Simple fact - when there’s no internet, no LLM, then you have to review what you did in class, make extra notes, do some practical examples, and review it again a day later and make sure you understand it… 'cos there’s no lifeline to save you otherwise.
Aye, and why “open book” is a pet peeve of mine lol. Sure, you have the info right there (akin to what an LLM spits out) but without knowing what to do with it (either through practice or reading) it is nothing more than ink on a page. Though an LLM is slightly more dangerous as I’ve seen people send completely irrelevant commands and make the situation worse.
Honestly from my experience teaching our newer techs, it shows you know what is happening and can give you insights into new lines of thinking. It is wonderful being able to re-frame a concept and having them see it from another perspective that makes you go “huh, I… never thought of that”. I often found teaching one of our rookies had the benefit of me walking away knowing a little more as well.