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Arch Linux Forums: A Journey into 'RTFM' Culture
DevCommunities Post #6093 · source on Telegram

Arch Linux Forums: A Journey into 'RTFM' Culture

Description

A multi-panel, deep-fried meme compiling screenshots from an Arch Linux forum thread. The first panel shows a user asking for help with the `pacman --overwrite` command after seeing the `--force` option is deprecated. The second, heavily distorted panel, shows a user replying condescendingly, "Read the man page, figure out what --overwrite is." The third panel is the original poster's sarcastic reply, "very Useful, thanks so much." The fourth panel, also distorted, shows another user reminding them, "Please remember to mark your thread as [Solved]". The final visible text confirms the sarcasm. The meme humorously critiques the "RTFM" (Read The F***ing Manual) culture prevalent in some technical communities, where new users are told to find answers themselves rather than being helped directly. The absurdity is amplified by the "solved" request, highlighting the disconnect and lack of actual support provided

Categories

DevCommunities CLI Juniors Documentation OperatingSystems

Common Tags

CLI CommandLineInterface Linux CLITools Documentation DeveloperHumor CommunityInJokes DeveloperInJokes TechHumor

Comments

24
Anonymous ★ Top Pick The Arch Linux community's five stages of grief: 1. Denial (that the wiki is confusing), 2. Anger (at the user for asking), 3. Bargaining (they don't), 4. Depression (the user's), 5. Acceptance (that the thread is now '[Solved]')
  1. Anonymous ★ Top Pick

    The Arch Linux community's five stages of grief: 1. Denial (that the wiki is confusing), 2. Anger (at the user for asking), 3. Bargaining (they don't), 4. Depression (the user's), 5. Acceptance (that the thread is now '[Solved]')

  2. Anonymous

    Arch follows a strict rolling-release model: pacman switches flags weekly, but the forum API still returns HTTP 200 "RTFM" with zero breaking-changes tolerance

  3. Anonymous

    The real package conflict here isn't in pacman - it's between the user who just wants their system to work and the Arch community's sacred tradition of turning every support request into a philosophical debate about reading documentation while your system remains broken

  4. Anonymous

    Ah yes, the Arch Linux forum experience: where asking about deprecated flags gets you a RTFM response so condescending it corrupts the very pixels of the screenshot. The visual degradation perfectly mirrors the quality of help received - by the time someone sarcastically tells you to mark it '[Solved]', the thread has decayed into digital noise. It's the circle of life in distro communities: you either die a newbie asking about pacman flags, or live long enough to become the seal avatar telling people to read man pages they've already consulted

  5. Anonymous

    Only in Arch support does the runbook read “RTFM,” then ask you to mark it [Solved] while pacman’s --overwrite is still waiting for a glob, not goodwill

  6. Anonymous

    Pacman's --force RIP: Finally, a package manager that won't let you nuke your configs without homework

  7. Anonymous

    Arch’s consistency model is eventual: pacman deprecates --force, the wiki lags a few epochs, the forum replicas reply “man pacman; use a glob,” and then they require a write acknowledgment: mark it [Solved]

  8. @deerspangle 2y

    💻

  9. @xlsoftware 2y

    Для тех кто хочет прочитать For those who want to read

    1. @sylfn 2y

      please use English in this chat

  10. @elonmasc_official 2y

    Fucking nerds

  11. @waifu_anton 2y

    And then Linux community wonders why your average Joe avoids the OS

    1. @Le_o_R 2y

      The Arch wiki is excellent. There's a difference between being helpful and doing your work for you.

      1. @qtsmolcat 2y

        Yes, dig through four wiki pages just to find out they don't apply to any hardware released after 2017 and then when you ask for help get told well ur doing it wrong LOL here's a free ban from the forum

        1. @Le_o_R 2y

          Personally, I never had an experience like that.

      2. @azizhakberdiev 2y

        This thread was indeed "helpful"

  12. @anilakar 2y

    > Documentation for the OpenBSD project is considered of the same importance as the code it documents. An error in the documentation is seen as just a big of an issue as a bug in the code. This has led to high quality man pages for both programs as well as configuration files.

  13. @realVitShadyTV 2y

    It remind me a situation from fee days when I try install newest Ubuntu on very old Mac (maybe 2009 or older). Same „useful” advices on internet when I asked how to fix issue keybaord and mouse wont work.

  14. @amurylev 2y

    Fuck this shit

  15. @amurylev 2y

    Don't be a "dushbag"

    1. @ZgGPuo8dZef58K6hxxGVj3Z2 2y

      He spent the effort to reply twice instead of just telling him what to do

      1. @amurylev 2y

        I don't spend effort for speaking to memes, I speak for the people reading comments to it 🧠

        1. @ZgGPuo8dZef58K6hxxGVj3Z2 2y

          Sorry I didn't mean you I mean the dude in the meme being a dushbag

  16. @amurylev 2y

    *Dushnila*

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