this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2025
219 points (85.2% liked)
Linux Gaming
20625 readers
200 users here now
Discussions and news about gaming on the GNU/Linux family of operating systems (including the Steam Deck). Potentially a $HOME away from home for disgruntled /r/linux_gaming denizens of the redditarian demesne.
This page can be subscribed to via RSS.
Original /r/linux_gaming pengwing by uoou.
No memes/shitposts/low-effort posts, please.
Resources
WWW:
Discord:
IRC:
Matrix:
Telegram:
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
average tech youtuber not knowing anything about tech
Hey, at least he's up-front about it and didn't type in
yes, do as I say!like Other Linus did.Complaining about Linus doing things like an inexperienced user when that is the whole point of the test is pretty stupid, honestly.
I would expect someone who knows just enough to follow troubleshooting using the command line but not knowing how powerful it can be would do the exact same thing in his position.
No. Doing things because you're inexperienced is one thing, but reading a very strongly-worded and scary message that explicitly told him that it was about to break his system and then doing it anyway is on another level entirely.
As much as I fucking cant stand him, I have to say.. in that case, Most new users would do exactly what he did.
Computer users always get hit with big ominous warning messages that amount to nothing 99.9% of the time. IIRC the reason something happened that time wasnt because Linus ignored the warning message, but because of a known bug in that version of the distro that was known about and wasnt fixed in the installer for months, until the video came out, that caused the DE to be removed when uninstalling something else.. Which is just pants on head and should have been fixed long before the video came out.
Besides, and I say this as a non-technical non-sysadmin linux user.. the overwhelming amount of tech support for linux doesnt encourage knowing what commands do, it encourages copy and pasting.. because almost all the tech support solutions I've ever found basically amount to "if you have X problem, copy Y command into terminal to fix it" with no explanation on why it works, just that it (hopefully) does.
This is yet another instance of blaming Linux for Windows' bad behavior.
He said, on a topic, about a big ominous message on linux, that would have done nothing at all.. if it wasnt for the bug known for months in the distro, that they refused to fix until it got bad press from a popular youtube video.
But yes, its windows fault. /s
Right, that's my point: when Linux gives a big ominous message, it's because it's actually important. If the distro hadn't had that bug, it wouldn't have given the big ominous message.
Remember, the bug wasn't the warning message itself. The bug was removing the DE when installing Steam, which the message correctly warned about. The warning message was appropriate and warranted.
It is Windows, and only Windows, that mis-trains users to ignore warnings because it issues so many spurious ones for benign situations.
imo the linus disaster was an unfortunate combination of
in the end i still think it was kinda irresponsible for linus to publish that, but the whole premise of the video was them going blindly into linux (which i also disagree but whatever)
Again, when you have no idea how much the command line can do, and the instructions is literally for something as basic as installing Steam, nobody would expect to nuke their DE.
You're also expecting that people should be able to parse an long ass message full of technical terms that they are unfamiliar with the first time they see it.
You guys really overestimate how competent the average person is. Linus was playing the perfect role of a "knows just enough to be dangerous" noob.
As I recall, the prompt was particularly clear about what was about to happen, hence the extra
yes, do as I say!response. Linus was either too stupid or too arrogant to realize that he was out of his depth and should consult someone with more experience.Ignorance and stupidity are very different things. This wasn't a Chernobyl situation where the emergency scram button triggered a hidden flaw. This was a "PRESSING THIS BUTTON WILL IMMEDIATELY AND DEFINITIVELY NUKE, RUIN, DESTROY YOUR SYSTEM" situation.
Most people who has never dealt with Linux will ever understand that having to type a sentence signifies that it is an important message that needs to be read thoroughly. Its more likely for them to think its just a quirk of using Linux distros, such as using sudo.
Honestly, the average person would never figured that out unless they've had experience with it before. Most people can't even read short error messages after something has gone wrong, let alone lines of text full of technical terms they have never seen before in the process of figuring out something as mundane as installing Steam.
I seriously think you guys are a bit out of touch with how non-technical people deals with their OS. The fact that you think its arrogance that made him not consult people instead of him playing the role of a non-technical person really says a lot about your own comprehension skills.
Do not pretend like Linus Sebastian is your tech illiterate grandmother. He's a clown today, but he has had experience with computers in the past. Of all people, he should have known better.
Man, you're really missing the point of that video. I guess when you want to hate on something, most people turn off the logical part of their brain.
Unfamiliarity with the system should make people more inclined to read shit carefully, not less!
That's just fucking common sense, not elitism, and I make absolutely zero apologies for it.
That's not the reality and you know it. If the fact that humans are generally stupid is news to you, you are just being ignorant. And thinking that your common sense applies to everyone is what makes you elitist.