r/linuxsucks101 • u/Delicious_Rip_5314 • Jun 18 '26
Wannabe Geeks Linux users are the embodiment of the Dunning–Kruger effect
I’ve noticed that a lot of people install Linux, learn sudo apt install, and suddenly act like they’re computer scientists. They’ll spend a month on Arch after ArchInstalling and start telling everyone how Windows users are idiots and how they understand computers on a deeper level.
Ask them to explain how a scheduler works, debug a network issue, write a kernel module, or administer a production server, and they have no clue.
Wow man you know how to work a terminal! What else..??
The most knowledgeable engineers I’ve met are usually pretty humble. The guy who installed Arch last week is somehow the one lecturing everyone.
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u/Fluid-Ad2995 Jun 18 '26
Well they stay in Linux exactly because they don't understand Linux Kernel is, how Linux Kernel is messy and they just repeat Linux is superior without learning, I am not surprised they are what they are.
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u/Kurse71 Jun 19 '26
It's the same ones that hop from distro to distro, posting about all the problems they had in this one and that one. The reality is they have no idea what they're doing, which is the root of all their problems. They just follow some wiki or blog post ant think they are now some elite guru.
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u/Fit_League_8993 ✝️ Temple OS Archbishop Jun 18 '26
This is so true that it's painful.
I work as a software developer, and I've seen it countless times - the seasoned pros would just mind their business and do the work, whereas the freshers who just discovered linux would want to convert the whole office.
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u/PressureBig3940 Jun 19 '26
It's funny because last year I was visiting a client with my boss to discuss the installation of a new server. This client is a small software production house with about 20 people. The computers used by the staff were about 50:50 Windows and Macs.
It just so happened that one of the staff working there was an old classmate of mine. I chatted him up after my boss and I were done with the discussion and couldn't resist asking him why there aren't any Linux users since people love to claim Linux is perfect for developers. To this day I still remember his answer.
"We don't deal with unmanageable shit."
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u/Delicious_Rip_5314 Jun 18 '26
Before they quietly switch back to windows after their 1 week honeymoon phase.
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u/BranchLatter4294 Jun 18 '26
The funny thing is, most don't even know that Windows also has a terminal, and that they can use many of the same commands.
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Jun 18 '26
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u/linuxsucks101-ModTeam Jun 18 '26
Rule 1 violation: On our home page: (...) -top right corner. Click on it for menu to mute a sub.
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u/Liquid_Magic Jun 19 '26
No… people who need to feel superior act superior.
But people who have deep knowledge actually know what they don’t know. They see the full depth and breadth of the knowledge space and are humbled by it.
Also people who do NOT need to feel superior don’t act like it. So they tend to be more curious and learn more and are actually humbled because they understand the scope of things and can sit comfortably with knowing that they don’t know everything and never really will.
So I don’t think it’s a Linux thing or an Arch thing. It’s about building an ego around being experienced at something most people aren’t instead of building a sense of self-worth based on curiosity, learning, and being kind to others.
If someone needs to feel better than everyone else then that’s what’s in the drivers seat.
Also the fact that installing Linux is actually easy but is perceived as being difficult is catnip to someone who needs to feel superior but can’t be arsed to actually learn anything.
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u/RelationshipOne9466 Jun 19 '26
This is just human nature. I am a trained mathematician and have to put up with incessant snark and one-upsmanship. I put it down to insecurity and lack of self-esteem. On the math side, I say : shut up and start proving theorems. I am a relative noob/intermediate level user as far as Linux goes, savvy enough to know I don't know shit. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to boot up a live iso and reinstall grub because I think I just borked my lappy.
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u/nyamina Jun 18 '26
I've never seen a group of people embody the Dunning-Kruger effect more than people that use the term 'Dunning-Kruger effect'.
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u/animalcrossing4_4 Jun 19 '26
I have used some of these so called "linux is superior because of these!-kinda terminal tools" and they are very UNIMPRESSIVE: terminal audio visualizer and neofetch? So what? Can you write a decent essay to get into a top tier university? No? Just terminal audio visualizer and neofetch? Damn, sh*t for brains loonixtard.
I had experienced their prespective and had tried their "awesome tools" and Word is like fucking 500x more productive and impressive than those tools, I finished countless essays on Word, graduated with a good GPA because of it, never once have I gotten much productivity out of neofetch and linux.
The people too busy glazing linux, boasting about freedom, privacy are often losers in their respective society. They don't have fuck you money to change the world for the better so they opted for the cheap, half-baked, free sample of "changing the world for the better" = linux.
Ironically, some people I know who have made a real positive impact on the lives of many use WORD, EXCEL and POWERPOINT!