My complaint about Gentoo Linux

[AgenT]

Another reason that everyone above seems to have missed is that there are just so many redundant questions. There is a lot to sift through. People just do not search very often, not to mention that the search itself is crap. And all the horrible thread topics. I for one ignore any thread that is not specific (e.g. "Alsa problem, need help!" is a poor topic while "Problem with y using x soundcard within ALSA" is a good topic).

But I do think that the poster(s) above have hit the nail on the head. The major reason for people not answering right away is due to the specific nature of your post. Not to sound rude, but why are you whining if your posts have only been up for under 24hours? This is a message board, not an instant reply technical support. Gentoo has by far the best community of *ANY* distro. Not to mention that everyone does this for free.

I hope you just got a wake up call from this thread, because you really needed one. The Gentoo community is at least on par with the technical powess of Gentoo.

[philosopher_sam]

I respect the author's experience, but I must disagree. Most of the users here are great!!!! That is what attracted me to Gentoo. I do not believe I could find a more active board of Linux users so committed to a Linux distro.

That is one of the positives of Gentoo...the users are very committed to it. Sometimes that turns into elitism...which is sad. I even don't like Linux vs Microsoft Windows elitism, let alone elitism between differing flavors of Linux.

I very much intend, once I move past being a newbie myself, giving back to the Gentoo Linux community with help.
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The greatest strength of Gentoo is not our technology; it is our community! May we never forget that.

[einstein1981]

Well, again, "I have to disagree with author"....

I'm a noob, but a real idiotic one, but I decided to try linux out, and I searched and documented on every linux distro that I had heard of, and in one post in mandrake, I read try gentoo. so I read the gentoo doc, and decided to go with it....

During the install, I tried running fdisk, and got a 83 mb disk, got scared, and decided to post, 5minutes later, a reply, saying that is the cd rom that you are trying to fdisk.

Now if this isn't the most idiotic problem, then I dunno what is, and I still got a reply. And after got a LOT of help to get a kernel running.

Gentoo linux rules, and it's forum is one of the main reasons.

Thanks
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thesis.

[yemu]

[Pseud]

I've never been to other support forums before, but IM.verbose.O, the Gentoo forums totally, absolutely, unquestionably rock and are unparalleled, inimitable, and unmatched! Ok, now I'll actually read the thread
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eschew obfuscation

[Senso]

[tomk]

[quote="Senso"]

[KingPunk]

ok, just thought i'd add my two cents on the subject:

i love gentoo linux, and i couldn't agree more with the creator of this post,
about how many assholes there actually are both on the forums and on
irc, it couldn't be any more blatant. but then again, with every social gathering,
you'll get the occasional jackass that thinks he is king oh mighty. and it usually
couldn't be any further from the truth.
However, in turn, i must also comment on how many nice and friendly people
have been to me also, because there have been many sleepless nights
that i've used, to get on irc or on the forums, and just search,
ask, beg, and plead to get some help, and resolve the many issues
i've had, usually laying right under my nose.

needless to say i've had some very unfriendly people with sarchastic
comments, like "search the forums, RTFM, etc.."
when i couldn't find the solution to the problems i've had in the manual
or in the forums, etc. if i came on irc to ask for help, its because
i've either: 1) looked in the forums, and didn't find a solution,
2) read the manual, and didn't see the fix to my problem and
3) need help from a person who can explain the issue that i'm
having, a lot more throughly to me, than an forum, or manual could.
Considering many many many posts on this forum, do go unanswered.
So the rudeness should be dulled down slightly, but i believe there is a
fair balance in the system, when it comes to fairness vs. being an asshole.

I appreciate the chance to voice my opinion, i love gentoo linux,
I like how i am able to get into the heart of anything i want, and if
I desire it to be changed, it is usually quite simple.
I love gentoo's versitality, and ease of use, and its user/support-base
does have many great things to be said about it!

Kudos to Gentoo GNU/Linux!!

~KingPunk
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[d0nju4n]

I have to disagree with the original post that started off this thread.

being new to gentoo, I've had my fair share of (minor) problems as far as installation, emerging certain packages, and hardware compatibility. Every one of those issues was solved through these forums. In fact, for somewhere along the lines of 80-90% of the problems I was having (rough estimate of course), I didn't even have to post--the question had already been asked (and answered) several times. On the few instances where I actually did have to post because I couldnt find my exact question answered somewhere, I've always received a reply, most of the time within a few hours of my post.

I personally think that this community is awesome. Gentoo definately doesn't have a "point-and-click" installation, and can be hard for someone not only new to gentoo, but also new to linux itself. This forum is the reason that I have a gentoo install running stable. When you said that this community is not helpful, I personally dont think that you could be farther from the truth.

Have you actually spent time on some _other_ forums, and seen how bad their users are?
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Linux User 355087

[Mnemia]

I agree with the person who said to be patient about having questions answered. This is especially true of very complicated or obscure problems that not many people run into. I've asked questions before that no one knew the answer to for 6+ months and then suddenly one person on the forums happened to read my post and know the answer. Don't give up on your posts just because you don't get a reply immediately.

Also, you might want to try IRC if you want a more immediate answer. The forums are more suited to things that aren't so time urgent.

[andrewy]

I've only been using Gentoo for a few months, and I can say that my experience was the opposite of yours, regarding your opinion of the community.
Not only have I been promptly helped when I ask a stupid question (anywhere else I would just get a "RTFM"), but the IRC channel and docs are the best I've seen.

[pc]

tmoneyksu:
i absolutely can't agree with you.

i'm using gentoo since nearly 1.5 year and this is just my 13.th post, while i installed gentoo on over 5 different cpu-types WITHOUT asking stupid questions or complaining that the community is not willing to help... (i found an answer to all!!! my problems just using the forum-search or google.com)

while thinking about it, i "really" can't understand why i answer this stupid post of yours, but i can't resist to tell you, that youre absolutely wrong with your opinion.

sorry for sounding harsh, but thats one of the worst threads i ever read in this forum...

go buy an xbox or use windooze again...


edit: just forgot to say: gentoo-community rocks, best i saw,
thx for this! and keep going on in this direction

[Stormy Eyes]

[einstein1981]

jajaja, we should share the homer j simpson d'oh award!!!!
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thesis.