Thread: Are Linux users getting dumber?

  1. #1
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    Are Linux users getting dumber?

    Are you finding that the IQ of the Average Linux user is dropping?

    Does this mean it is finally the year of the Linux desktop?

    Example of a ignorant Linux user that I tried my best to make him understand he was asking an off topic question on another forum.

    Best Choice for Connecting to PHP/MySQL from a .cpp?

    Should I have just clear out stated that this is an off topic question and told the poster he is likely to be banned?

    It would have saved a lot of effort on my part.

    Tim S.
    "...a computer is a stupid machine with the ability to do incredibly smart things, while computer programmers are smart people with the ability to do incredibly stupid things. They are,in short, a perfect match.." Bill Bryson

  2. #2
    Make Fortran great again
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    Should've not cared at all and said nothing.

    The average Linux user has been getting dumber since it was popularized by trendy distros.

  3. #3
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    honestly, I think were too harsh with that guy. you weren't helpful in any way, and you were very condescending and combative. you could try a softer approach, instead of basically calling the guy a moron because he posted a marginally relevant question in what you perceived to be the wrong forum.

  4. #4
    Unregistered User Yarin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by stahta01 View Post
    Are you finding that the IQ of the Average Linux user is dropping?
    This isn't a bad thing, as you seem to be implying.
    <nitpick>IQ and computer-using experience are hardly related, so this is a fragile statement.</nitpick>
    One isn't going to get smarter without leaving his comfort zone, and while you're not comfortable, you're perceived as dumb by those who are.

  5. #5
    [](){}(); manasij7479's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ????
    "Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot- proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning."
    Well,, the Universe is winning, who can blame it !
    (I really hope that the average Linux crowd never resembles what (most of) the Mac fanboys are now)

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    Quote Originally Posted by manasij7479 View Post

    Well,, the Universe is winning, who can blame it !
    (I really hope that the average Linux crowd never resembles what (most of) the Mac fanboys are now)
    There are and always have been both Mac fanboys and Linux zealots. They are quite comparable. Nothing to see here. Move along!
    Disclaimer: This post shows my ignorance at the time of its making. I claim ownership of but not responsibility for all errors in it. Reference at your own peril.

  7. #7
    The superhaterodyne twomers's Avatar
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    I think you should probably take some time trying to embrace the concept of appropriate responses. I for one think linux users are getting angrier.

    You should also realise that forum rules/guidelines are much the same as terms of use for applications we install--nobody reads them.

    Also! Never mind!

  8. #8
    Just a pushpin. bernt's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by msh
    There are and always have been both Mac fanboys and Linux zealots.
    Don't forget about the Windows lackeys.
    Consider this post signed

  9. #9
    and the hat of copycat stevesmithx's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by manasij7479 View Post

    (I really hope that the average Linux crowd never resembles what (most of) the Mac fanboys are now)
    Quote Originally Posted by msh View Post
    Nothing to see here. Move along!
    Quote Originally Posted by twomers View Post
    I for one think <snip>
    Whoa! Since when did cboard morphed to Slashdot?
    Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted
    - Albert Einstein.


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  10. #10
    [](){}(); manasij7479's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bernt View Post
    Don't forget about the Windows lackeys.
    Here is one with a nice tie !
    9GAG - Still, he has a nice tie.

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    The average intelligence of users, whether on linux, mac, windows, or any other operating system has not changed.

    What has changed is their ignorance (they are encouraged more to focus on "using" the system rather than understanding how it works). Developers have facilitated that ignorance, by expending effort into user interface design, desktop distributions, etc.

    At the same time, the ignorance of the developers has also increased, because they have been catered to by tools (languages, IDEs, modelling tools/techniques, web page editors, etc) that also seek to shield them from the evils of the underlying machine. A increasing number of people who characterise themselves as developers are nothing more than users of their tools: substitute one development tool for another, to facilitate the same job but in a very different way, and a lot of developers are in trouble.

    This increasing ignorance has a number of implications. Developers perceive the increasing ignorance of users, which they have encouraged, as a reducing intelligence. This is recursive, as developers are often users of tools, and the developers of tools perceive their users as increasingly ignorant (and perceive this increasing ignorance as lowering of intelligence).

    Which basically means that, when developers bemoan the reducing intelligence of their users, they are simply exhibiting their own ignorance (at the least).
    Right 98% of the time, and don't care about the other 3%.

    If I seem grumpy or unhelpful in reply to you, or tell you you need to demonstrate more effort before you can expect help, it is likely you deserve it. Suck it up, Buttercup, and read this, this, and this before posting again.

  12. #12
    ATH0 quzah's Avatar
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    You can't continually strive for this to be "the year of the Linux desktop" (TM), and then get mad when your users become the average person. Well, I suppose you can, but it brings into question your IQ.


    Quzah.
    Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by quzah View Post
    but it brings into question your IQ.
    and/or your sanity.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by quzah View Post
    You can't continually strive for this to be "the year of the Linux desktop" (TM), and then get mad when your users become the average person. Well, I suppose you can, but it brings into question your IQ.


    Quzah.
    FYI: I am a Windows user who tries Linux from time to time; in the past I was able to consider most Linux users knowable enough to know what a Compiler was. Now, I can not consider that to be true for most Linux posters (with low post count) on Code::Blocks website.

    Tim S.
    "...a computer is a stupid machine with the ability to do incredibly smart things, while computer programmers are smart people with the ability to do incredibly stupid things. They are,in short, a perfect match.." Bill Bryson

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by quzah View Post
    You can't continually strive for this to be "the year of the Linux desktop" (TM), and then get mad when your users become the average person. Well, I suppose you can, but it brings into question your IQ.


    Quzah.
    I've got to agree. Linux has become more than the tool of hardcore hackers and free software evangelists. Now the software has risen to the level of usability that average people can and do enjoy it, so average people we get. If you want to hide away with your hardcore buddies, you can always recede further into the Linux "underground" and take up gentoo or one of the "hard" distros if you already haven't, I would say.
    I made a pair of "Braille Gloves" which have 6 vibration motors in six finger tips and vibrate in the relevant patterns. I have used this to read stuff while out walking. Given there is a fairly well defined programmer-oriented Braille encoding I should imagine it would work in this situation. Diagrams could be a pain still.

    Note: I am not blind but have learnt Braille fairly easily so for me it works quite well

    Disclaimer: I haven't tried this while driving yet...

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