Ubuntu's success

[Rocco Stanzione]

I wanted to offer a personal observation on an often-overlooked reason for 
Ubuntu's success.  The contribution of the Code of Conduct, or the philosophy 
that created it, can't be overestimated.  Many of us once were, or still are, 
Debian users, and for us the difference between the communities is like night 
and day.  It's been a few years since I was a "newbie", but comparing their 
experiences from a third-person perspective in #debian vs. #ubuntu (for 
example) makes it easy for me to see why Ubuntu has come so far in such a 
short time.  Even as a veteran, the abrasive and often abusive attitudes too 
often found in Linux support forums are discouraging.

Quick anecdote.  Before I was an Ubuntu guy I was a Debian guy, and before 
that, a Mandrake guy.  Someone in #mandrake asserted that Debian users looked 
with disdain on Mandrake and its users, and I found it hard to believe, 
because I couldn't imagine why.  So, I /joined #debian and asked if anyone 
had opinions on what the worst distro was.  Mandrake, almost unanimously.  
I /msged one of the responders to ask why, and there ensued a lengthy and 
unbelievable discussion about how Mandrake was the worst Linux distro because 
it was too easy!  Because it had all these newfangled gui configurators and 
frontends that all these whippersnappers came to depend on, etc.  This from a 
user of apt.  So, in Debian's defense, they as a community seem to enjoy 
their barriers to entry, and I attribute their reputation to the bad apples 
who misinterpret the broader first-learn-Linux-then-use-Debian attitude as an 
excuse to deride the uninformed.

I just wanted to say that it makes my day to see new Linux users reliably 
treated with respect, and even more to see the CoC enforced when they are 
not.  And on that note, I think we could make great strides toward closing 
Malone bug #1 if we were to make it more of a selling point in our marketing 
efforts.  If a third of the new users who say "screw this, I'm going back to 
Windows" have legitimate technical frustrations, a third are just being jerks 
and a third are fed up with the treatment they get when they seek help, I 
think we can win a lot more users by wooing them with respect and letting 
them know in advance that we intend to.

Rocco Stanzione