Hari's Corner

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Championing a Cause at LinuxQuestions.org

Filed under: Internet and Blogging by Hari
Posted on Fri, Jun 3, 2005 at 17:03 IST (last updated: Wed, Jul 16, 2008 @ 21:08 IST)

For quite a while now I've been championing a cause at LinuxQuestions.org where I'm proud to say I've been a fairly active member, helping out wherever I can (to the best of my feeble, limited knowledge and experience). And I'm proud to say that I am 100% on the side of Linux. Over a period of time, I've shed my ambivalence and these days I rarely use Windows.

There was recently a debate going on about forum rules and regulations regarding members who use abusive language and otherwise disrupt the harmony of the forum and this led to a more involved debate about whether more or less moderation is required to deal with all the problems. Needless to say, I championed more moderation which was an idea unpopular with the current administration team at LQ.org and quite a few members as well.

This signature which I now use at LQ sums up my recent stand on this issue:
Appeal To All Members: Please do not post Linux vs. Windows threads or tell us why Linux sucks so much. We have heard all these arguments a thousand times and we couldn't care less whether you use Linux or not. This is primarily a Linux help site. If it's help you want, then more likely you'll find the place useful. If you want to rant, you could create your own blog for free!

I am proud to be in the minority, championing a zero-tolerance policy towards spammers and trolls. To my mind, there is nothing worse than abusing a website that promotes an Operating System that is not only Free (as in Freedom) but also has such a number of friendly and knowledgeable users willing to spare their time to promote a cause that is close to their hearts. But let's not take that help for granted. Let's not forget that of the 170,000+ odd members there are hardly a thousand members who actually use the site regularly solely to help others rather than seek help themselves. The site runs smoothly and successfully simply because a small minority of users (compared to the total size of membership) take it upon themselves to contribute.

And yet, there are so many ungrateful wretches who will ruin all this by abusing the help, denigrating Linux and its community or flaming fellow members. The current moderators feel that it's all under control, but I say why should it be under control? Why not stamp out this abuse of LQ.org completely?

Because it is nothing more than abuse, unless somebody seeks help genuinely. While there is a slight leeway to allow debate and discussion on general issues, I believe LQ.org is primarily a technical help site which should focus exclusively on Linux and those who use Linux. It is not there to provide free publicity to all those trolls and half-trolls who relish not only in attacking an Operating System that is based on the concepts of Freedom, but also the community that goes to great lengths to preserve and promote it.

It's like somebody walking into your house and then deliberately and provocatively insulting you. I don't know how many people would tolerate this, but I sure will not tolerate it.

Let's not put up with this continual abuse by adopting half-measures. A zero-tolerance policy will not only establish clear guidelines on what is acceptable and what is not, but also clear the air and make the forum more focussed. It will also be fair on all members and everybody will surely know where they stand with regard to the rules. That ambivalence that is prevalent now will be forever buried and a clear policy will be established thus making it easier for the moderators to make decisions. Debates are fine, but there is a limit beyond which they cease to become meaningful and only promote disharmony and disruption. By weeding out such provocative and repeated topics and preventing their recurrence by closing new ones which spring up from time to time, the forum will become much more focussed and friendly. 60 percent of flaming can be stopped by prevention rather than cure.

And if implementing these policies require more moderators then so be it.

7 comment(s)

  1. [...] Championing a Cause at LinuxQuestions.org - Yes. It was around the time when I was getting incredibly frustrated with trolls and spammers. Too much respect was given to people who were blatantly trolling and a lot of good members were spending more of their energy in responding to trolls than in helping out with genuine problems. In some ways, you can see where I am now and understand my present attitude to online forums - particularly tech forums. I reached a point when I decided that the best way to keep out trolls is to stay away from communities. [...]

    Comment by Hari’s Corner » A look back at June 2005 (visitor) on Fri, May 18, 2007 @ 17:22 IST #
  2. You seem to forget that the number one reason promoted by the linux community of why computer users should switch to linux is because "windows sucks". If windows users were always writing articles on why Windows is superior to linux I guarantee you would see the linux community reacting the same way. If someone is trying linux for the first time there is a good chance it is because they've heard so many good things about it, if they were severly disappointed and frustrated then they should have every right to say so. The linux community doesn't want to face the facts, so go ahead and promote the good, cover up the bad.

    Comment by Zach (visitor) on Sun, Nov 11, 2007 @ 08:05 IST #
  3. Do you notice the date of that article? Hmm... funnily I'm in no mood to discuss Linux vs. Windows these days.

    Comment by hari (blog owner) on Sun, Nov 11, 2007 @ 13:19 IST #
  4. *blows dust off post*
    Wow! An oldie. hari, it appears that your dear reader did not actually read what you wrote, because the comment seems to be addressing something entirely different from what you posted. ;) That's one of the drawbacks of using Opera or Firefox - you have several tabs open and end up commenting on the wrong article! ;)

    Comment by MrCorey (visitor) on Sun, Nov 11, 2007 @ 21:11 IST #
  5. Hehe... could be, MrCorey, ;-)

    Comment by hari (blog owner) on Sun, Nov 11, 2007 @ 21:37 IST #
  6. I knew the post was old, but people still read them, and if you changed your view then great, if not then my comment is still relevant. I was only pointing out that if your going the linux community is going to promote linux as being superior to windows they better be able to back it up or put of with the complaints.

    Comment by zach (visitor) on Mon, Nov 12, 2007 @ 07:56 IST #
  7. No I've not changed my mind. Linux is superior to Windows in certain aspects. But I don't want to argue about it since I also don't believe in denigrating Windows. The main point of this particular post was addressed to deliberate trolls who indulge in denigrating Linux in a Linux community in order to get a cheap thrill out of annoying Linux users.

    On the other hand, I've stopped getting involved in "Linux vs. Windows" flame wars as it's an endless debate. I'm more interested in using the OS for getting the job done and whether it's Windows or Linux I don't care so much as I used to back then.

    Comment by hari (blog owner) on Mon, Nov 12, 2007 @ 08:20 IST #

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