Luke's Help Forum Beefs

I have been using Ubuntu Linux as my favorite, and only, Operating System (OS) for more than eight years now, and I will never go back to Windows. I don't dual-boot to Windows, and I don't subscribe to Office365, which has not been a problem for me, even when I worked for organizations that were Windows-centric. 

Having said as much, I must say that I have never used the "forums" argument when singing the praises of Ubuntu and Linux or trying to convince others to go all-in on Linux as an everyday and ONLY Operating System.

Why? Precisely because I have been using Ubuntu Linux for eight years and have learned that for the average computer user, especially for Windows converts (and aren't we all?), Help Forums suck. 

I will elaborate:

• Dumb questions. Yes, Virginia, there are such things as "dumb questions." For the most part, those who ask dumb questions are not dumb, but many of them are ignorant, in the sense that they are neither programmers or experienced Linux users. Far too often, those replying either provide an answer that obviously goes over the questioner's head, or the replier makes no attempt to re-frame the question on the questioner's level (or perhaps is incapable of doing so). Forums are full of gibberish replies to gibberish questions.
• Dumber answers. Developers and others who make their living in the tech industry are awful at providing answers and explanations for questions submitted by those of us who aren't like them. And too often end users are wildly speculative, not to mention that many of them are functionally illiterate when it comes to providing instructions on how to do something.  'Nuff said on this point.
• Answers that aren't answers, and solutions that are not solutions. My guess, based on vast experience, is that upwards of 90 percent of the "answers" provided on forums are worthless. I am glad that it is not a physical forum in which I am participating, with people within striking distance. I would be in jail for the rest of my life for committing multiple assaults (though the insanity of those whom I attacked should provide some sort of defense). It doesn't take long to get fed up with guesses, conjectures, "my friend said," "I have not experienced this personally," "you might try..." and such. Here's an idea: If you have not tried the solution successfully yourself, shut the hell up!
• Too many forums. Every Linux flavor has its own forum (Ubuntu, Mint, Gentoo, etc.), and then there are forums owned and operated by Linux service providers and other peripheral organizations and groups. Too often, the answer to a question in a forum was copied and pasted from, or linked to, another forum. And it is possible to go to multiple forums searching for the answer to a particular problem, only to find yourself scrolling through screen after screen trying to find any kind of a relevant or helpful reply. Sometimes you read through two or three screens, only to discover that there is not a single reply that is helpful; but you could not have known that without actually scanning ALL the replies. Big waste of time and effort.
• Sticks-up-their-butts forum administrators. For lack of a better word or phrase, and maybe it's just me, but I have found a large portion of forum administrators to be "woke, self-righteous little snots." I don't need smug answers, shaming or virtue-signalling when I am trying to figure out how to open a particular file in the Linux environment. I don't need a moderator to take the stick out of his or her butt and shake it at me for questioning the relevance or utility of someone's reply. 
• No free speech. I understand the need for moderators...I truly do. But one thing I have discovered is that moderators bring their personal viewpoints and worldviews to the task, which does not bode well for the freedom to express one's self in a forum that is moderated by progressive liberal techies with a "fun, free, positive soccer" mentality. They have no tolerance for any kind of input that might hurt someone's feelings, either the questioner or those who reply. I'm not talking about obviously abusive speech, I'm talking about honest disagreement and calling things as you see them, no matter how you try to tip-toe around somebody's feelings. I have been kicked out of forums for merely suggesting that a reply indicated a fundamental misunderstanding of the question by the person who replied, or for suggesting that the person who posed a question obviously could have simply gone to the software's help files, but was too lazy to do so, or maybe they just needed a social media fix, which brings us to...
• Social media fix. There are too many people asking too many questions that don't need to be asked in a forum. It is safe to assume that in many cases the person asking the question could have gotten a quick and correct answer by pressing the F1 key or clicking on a Help button, but did not do so because they were craving social media contact and/or some kind of emotional empathy or confirmation. Whatever their need, it was not for actual technical help, and that is a waste of my time.
• Command-line fixes. I confess that I sometimes fix things on the command line, but usually only as a last resort. Too many forum participants want to go to the command line first, even if there is a non-CLU fix that would work just as well. Most forum administrators and many forum members are techies . . . I get that. But many of those asking questions are not; and the techies don't seem to get that. I don't need or want to be impressed by your CL expertise. If you cannot respond to me as a non-IT, non-techie person, I don't need your pseudo-help.

Which brings us to. . .ta dah!. . .the reason I created this blog. I have spent a lot of time in the past eight years trying to find simple, straightforward answers to my Ubuntu / Linux questions. And it has been the rare question that was answered simply and plainly in an online forum. But whether it was through a forum or by figuring out the problem myself, I thought that there must be a substantial number of others like me who just want to know how to fix something, without wading through all the guesswork and overkill that is representative of virtually all online Help Forums. 

My Pledge: If I have not successfully tried a fix myself, I won't post it. If it is not within the capability of the average home or work user (like me), I won't post it. If I have not followed each line of instruction myself, exactly as written, and succeeded , I will not post it. 

I hope you enjoy this  blog and will participate in a way that is productive and helpful to others; after all, that is our purpose here.