what are the most over asked questions?

[CaptainPinko]

from the regular day-to-day posts, what do you think are the most over asked questions? I think those questions are perfect candidates to authoritative guides. Then, from then on we could just point newbies to those guides. Even if the question is subjective well thought out reasoned opinions can be presented. These guides could be quick couple hours work and an easy way to give back to the community. Anyone want to volunteer any candidates?

Personally, I am starting on "Which programming language should I learn?" When I finish a draft I'll post it for feedback to try to give it more balance and perhaps set an example for others.

---
Edit:
If you start working on one let me know and I'll mark it as started in this post and that why we can minimize overlap.

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Suggestions and Status

Which language? - CaptainPinko (started)
Which distro for a newb? - [unclaimed]
Which distro should I try? - [unclaimed]
NVidia drivers - [unclaimed]
IPTables and masquerading - [unclaimed]
Wireless setup - [unclaimed]

[twilli227]

What distro should I use? What is the best distro? I am a newb, and I need help picking a distro.
Or one of the newer ones:
I know this question has been asked before, but I will ask it in a different way - I have tried RH, Slack, Debian, Fedora, Mandrake, Suse, Gentoo, etc., etc., what should I try now?

[squeegy]

People all too often ask What Distro? questions especially when there is DistroWatch for their diposal... The worst part is there is a forum dedicated entirely to it, so these questions pop up a lot. The same responses are always given too. :rolleyes: I think it is good to have the information available here, but far too few people search before they ask something. </rant>

[canon006]

Nvidia drivers seem to be another big one and lately questions about installing Firefox have been relatively popular.

[psi42]

heeeeelp i dont know wut i did but somheow i went in to the thingy and i dont know wut i did but i presed a button & now teh program dont work how r u sopposed to use this thing if u r wut should i do????? HEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLPPPPPPP!!!!








Yes, I know that's an over-the-top exaggeration, but seriously, I've been seeing too many pleas for help that look like that.

We need a link to http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html on the front page. No, you can't expect everyone to follow that to the letter (I certainly can not boast I have), but maybe a few of the fundamentals could be communicated. Namely:

-Readability
-Exact error messages
-The "Forum Search" button
-The "man" command
-The "google.com" thing
-well-placed line breaks :)


:D

~psi42

[myshkin]

whats with the microsoft ads on jl?

[CaptainPinko]

Originally posted by squeegy
I think it is good to have the information available here, but far too few people search before they ask something. </rant>

Doesn't mater if they search... the only replies that anyone should give them would be to the specific guide.

[spurious]

heeeeelp i dont know wut i did but somheow i went in to the thingy and i dont know wut i did but i presed a button & now teh program dont work how r u sopposed to use this thing if u r wut should i do????? HEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLPPPPPPP!!!!

You forgot: URGENT!!!!

Some frequent topics:

iptables and masquerading
wireless setup

[BaVinic]

I think one of the most asked question is "why are Linux users so arrogant?" that is a question I ask myself all the time.

people seem to forget that they were new at this at one point, and take great pleasure in putting someone else down because they ask a question that has been asked 1000 times before.

Well, that is information that you and I know, but it is not to a person who is jumping into Linux for the first time and has no idea how to proceed.

in most cases, they do search or else they would never have found this forum, which presents itself as a Linux help forum. the first instinct would be to ask for help. DUH.

I like CaptainPinko's idea, I think it is a great move!!

i just wish some people would just play nice, and remember that they too were newbies as I was as well.

/rant

BaVinic

[soda_popstar]

The most asked questions are the ones for which there are already sticky threads.

[je_fro]

I just installed Linux and all I get is this DOS thingy! What should I do?

[mrBen]

Which distro should I use on this old machine (usually a laptop)?

When I type ./configure it says it can't find X, but I have X installed (no headers)

[dboyer]

Although not particulrarly constructive as an answer for the topic, one annoying one i see all the time is:

I tried linux... It doesn't do "X". I need "X". Convince me to use Linux.

[automatic]

- which desktop
- which one better Kde or Gnome
- which browser
- which email client
and the latest ...
- why linux :D

[bs_texas]

Even though there are redundant/repeated questions, we should all try to help out without abusing new people (and mostly we do!). When people first come here, they have a question, and they aren't educated yet on searching. And, of course, they aren't educated yet on the nuances of linux.

I know when I first came here, and probably when you first came here, the main thing in mind was... I need an answer to my question. Sure, the question may have been asked a million times, but when you first get here, you don't know that. But, you soon find out.

:twocents:

[bs_texas]

Originally posted by psi42
heeeeelp i dont know wut i did but somheow i went in to the thingy and i dont know wut i did but i presed a button & now teh program dont work how r u sopposed to use this thing if u r wut should i do????? HEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLPPPPPPP!!!!


Actually, that's not too over the top. It is often that perplexing to newbies? It just takes time to become question literate.

Man.. I'm quite the compassionate goof tonight, eh?
Tonight?!??! Dang!! it's 5 in the morning.... Time for sleep.

[tuxnewb]

QUOTE]people seem to forget that they were new at this at one point, and take great pleasure in putting someone else down because they ask a question that has been asked 1000 times before. [/QUOTE]

I agree with BaVinci here. I am a complete newb in ALOT of areas of Linux and the RTFM concept. So I do look on here to find a solution to my problems or I google my problems. The problem most times is that you don’t know what your problem is so defining a search is difficult.

Then you have the people that don’t know how to google. Want to write a good tutorial...that is the tutorial to write. Matter of fact I think I will write one on how to google. Gives me something to finally give back to the community.

And lastly some of the problems people have come up with about Linux get flamed because they were already answered before...like 2 years ago and stuff. So that means that a user has to wade through 10 - 15 post (exaggerating) at times to find an answer. Also you don’t get the interaction that is nice to have at times. That’s my two cents thanks all and goodnight :)

[mdwatts]

SOUND does not work has to be the most asked (last 6-12 months) - am I ever sick of those. ;)

Ethernet/networking not working would be second and 'mount permissions' perhaps third.

[rbrimhall]

Well, not exactly a question but I have seen quite a few posts where someone is having trouble with a certain distro and the answers are to switch to another distro...

[roamingnomad]

*gasp*

Am I the only one who reads/looks at the screenshots thread?

"How do you get those see-through command-line thingys?"

[bsh152s]

How can I access my windows hard drive from linux?

[je_fro]

Originally posted by roamingnomad
*gasp*

Am I the only one who reads/looks at the screenshots thread?

"How do you get those see-through command-line thingys?"

Yeah! And what's that system monitor thingy?!?
That's Cool!

[Icarus]

What is this Linux thing you are all talking about??

I thought this was a book club!?!!

[hard candy]

1. Sound
2. wifi cards
3. mouse
4. ATI cards
5. network cards
6. TV tuner cards
7. p2p programs
8. IM programs
9. lilo, grub
10. Samba

Top Ten list from my memory, er, I think.

[Loki3]

What! Did someone forget the ever present, "How do I install software? There's no .exe?".

:D

Humor aside that is quite a huge question for a newbie and quite perplexing if you consider the amount of variation in package management systems and the incredible difference between installing software on Linux and installing software on Windows.