#archlinux-newbie freenode channel
#archlinux-newbie is a technical support channel for the Arch Linux distribution. This channel was founded as a space to learn and try new things and have a polite and kind atmosphere where people are treated with respect and maturity. Our goal is to encourage and train the development of people’s Arch Linux knowledge and get them to a level where they’re comfortable giving back to the community themselves. The guiding maxim is be polite and be helpful.
The channel is governed by the Arch Linux Code of Conduct with the following supplementation.
- Respect other users. There is zero tolerance for any bigotry, misogyny, antisemitism, racism, ableism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, acephobia, cissexism, fatphobia, sizeism, etc. Be considerate with your word choice. Some words that may seem neutral to you can be offensive to others. We are building a supportive and inclusive community and words like “gay”, “retard”, and “gyp” do not help to accomplish this.
- No religious wars. They’re a distraction from conversation and are actively detrimental to helping new people understand how to accomplish what they want.
- Do not expect to be given “easy” answers one can blindly copy and paste without understanding. Arch Linux targets competent users and our goal is to help one become a competent user. Instead of giving a fish, we teach how to fish.
- Before asking for help in the channel, check the front page news, read the man pages and upstream documentation, search upstream’s and Arch’s bug tracker, search the ArchWiki, search the BBS, search the web, etc. If there is something which is unclear to you, we can help you understand. If documentation is obscure, we can help you find it. But we cannot replace the many existing sources of information.
- Keep questions and answers in-channel so that other askers and answerers can benefit. There is no need to private message people for help, you will be helped faster in channel.
- IRC is an asynchronous medium. What this means is that people might not respond immediately to your questions. This doesn’t mean that we don’t care about helping, just that we’re off doing other things. You may need to wait half an hour or more for someone to respond. So please be patient.
Be open minded, patient, and respectful, whether you are asking a question or giving help. If there is an issue which requires the immediate attention of a channel op, use the bot command !ops which can take an optional message for describing the issue. The bot will ping all the ops and include any message given.
This extract from the freenode’s Channel Guidelines reflects the intent behind this channel perfectly:
Don’t be elitist. Today’s newbies are tomorrow’s experts. A support channel is a place where people with knowledge lead by example. Is the example you want to set that technical knowledge is a hierarchy of control, or that people with knowledge have an inherent social advantage over people who don’t? Please think before referring people to links such as this one, which combine suggestions for making support requests with a casual attitude of superiority over the newbie. Helping other people takes patience. It’s better not to answer a question than to use the opportunity to emphasize the limitations of the person you’re trying to help.
Thank you.