Ubuntu's success

[Jenda Vancura]

Rocco Stanzione wrote:

>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
>
>  
>
Oh no!!! Close Bug #1? That would be the death of the Marketing Team!
(point noted though - personally, this is what made Ubuntu my distro of
choice)

Jenda Vančura