.: The Dark Side

My own very first experiences with Linux, quite some years ago, where totally ruined by what I've come to refer to as The Dark Side. The wider Linux community had developed a thin but nasty underbelly of bad attitudes that is, very unfortunately, the single biggest negative to the possibility of Linux becoming a main-stream desktop alternative IMHO.

The Dark Side consists of an online community of self-proclaimed Linux advocates who feel that it is their place in this world to inflict distress upon any person who does not conform unquestioningly to their own narrow and uncompromising views with regards to certain topics, such as operating system selection, open source and free software versus commercial software, copyleft versus copyright, intellectual property, and so on.

The reality probably is that the Dark Side-ites are teenaged, under-nourished and acne ridden puppy-kickers who choose to terrorize others online as revenge for the way they feel that the real world has terrorized them for their total and complete unwillingness to participate as healthy and balanced members of the human species. What better way to cowardly inflict discomfort to others than behind the wall of relative anonymity provided by the internet? What better platform for someone named "Erkyl" to don the self-appointed mantle "Morgax the Destroyer"?

These people deserve our contempt and our pity.

The really sad part is that these people choose to loiter online in communities that are most likely to be visited by novice Linux users and potential future users. While in these easily accessible public communities, they make it their mission to hassle, aggravate and otherwise abuse everyone they come across. They thrive in un-moderated forums and newsgroups, primarily because they know that "real" Linux communities would not tolerate their behavior. Most often, their behavior is enough to so badly irritate and disgust the normal everyday people who stumble in to this web of miscreants that migrating to Linux is no longer an option. Merely thinking of Linux will bring about a foul recall of exasperation, a bitter taste in the mouth, to coin a phrase.

In my opinion, this is one of the primary reasons that Linux is not already a mainstream desktop OS.

I would strongly encourage any new Linux user reading this to have the mental preparedness and maturity to recognize this phenomenon if and when they encounter it, and to have a plan in place to put it out of your mind. Ignore the experience, acknowledge the futility of trying to reason with these idiots, and spend your energy seeking out more friendly and constructive online Linux support communities. Any real Linux community worth it's salt will not only welcome non-Linux users, they will openly embrace them and their alternative view-points as valuable members of the larger community of the Human Race.