Inside the psyche of the computer smart -arse.

NIHILHATE

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Hello people. I haven't posted here for a fair ol' while, partially because of a somewhat turbulent relationship with the various internet companies, that and the last time I really posted I ended up in a massive argument with most of the Escapist population... Anyhoo, I'm back to talk about a particular group of people. I don't have a problem with Geeky types as a whole (I'm not a racist, but, etc), but I fucking hate people who think that just because they can use a computer, it somehow makes them better than everyone else. Whenever I have some kind of technical problem, I Google it and check out the forum posts, and I see so much elitism it makes me wanna puke (or reach through the screen and slap the offender into a fine paste, though unfortunately, that ain't an option).
Example-
- Dude with problem: "I'm having trouble with (some mind-bending technical bollocks), can anyone help?"
- Smart-Arse Fuck Nugget: "Just (ridiculously complex theoretical solution). Duh, everyone knows that."
- Dude with problem: "I did exactly what you said, and it didn't help."
_ Smart-Arse Fuck Nugget: "Well fag, you obviously did it wrong. Get a better PC you fucking n00b."
I'm sure everybody's seen it at some point or other, and I know for a fact there's a lot of them exist right here, though maybe a bit less abusive as to not piss off the Mods. There's a lot of obvious reasons as to why these people exist, but I won't mention any at the moment for fear of the aforementioned Mods.
Your thoughts? Why can't they accept that there's a slight possibility they don't know everything? And why is everyone with a different opinion either a fag or a n00b?
 

MrMrAwesom

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Mar 19, 2011
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I have never once seen anything like what you described.
Maybe if you get a better pc you won't see forums like that anymore lol J to the K.

JK again in case you didn't see it the first time because everyone takes me way too seriously.
 

NIHILHATE

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arragonder said:
oh yeah I've seen that happen, 99% of the time it's because OP's a retard. If you have a problem the first thing you do is read the god damned help file, if you don't, I get to yell at you for being lazy/incompetent, seems fair to me.
Some people would rather get advice from another human being than read a help file that probably won't have the answer they need anyway. Some people also like to devote their lives to things other than computers. If your time is too important to help the likes of a luddite, why bother wasting your time telling him so?
 

Mr.Numbers

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Jan 15, 2011
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It's because every idiot comes to us for their problem that is usually a ridiculously easy fix by google search, and it gets on our nerves where it's: I have a problem, lets ask "" rather than figure it out ourselves.

This I have this printed next to my computer:

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tech_support_cheat_sheet.png
 

RhombusHatesYou

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Between There and There.
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The Wide, Brown One.
I've had people ask why 'RTFM' and 'google it' are the standard answers for most common tech related problems. The answer is pretty simple, it's what most techheads do when confronted with a problem for the first (dozen) time(s).

The other thing is the ability to diagnose the problem is quite limited when you're relying of a few lines of text by someone who may or may not have the slightest fucking clue what they talking about.
 

Lyri

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NIHILHATE said:
If somebody posts such a question, they're not specifically asking you and your infinite wisdom, if you see it as a waste of time, just don't waste your time on it. it really is that simple. Or do these people get off on the thought that they've made themselves feel superior to someone else? Anyway, that was only an example. Also, you people have to learn to listen. Maybe none of you are used to communicating with people, but you have to take some notice of what people say before you answer them, and I've already said I got the info from Google in the first place, and forums are the best place to find stuff out. I never post, I just find people who have had the same problem as me. If I were to post something asking for advice, I don't give a fuck what some unhelpful dick with a superiority/inferiority complex has to say, I'd be looking for an answer off someone who'd had the same problem and was willing to help. You can't ask a help file a followup question, and like I said, it's so rare the help file actually has the info I need, I just go lurk in the forums. My main point is, what makes these interweb nobodies think that their word is law, without any kind of explanation?
Are you intending to insult everyone who answers in a fashion you don't like? Just because you find it rude that people do it doesn't mean there isn't a legit reason for doing so.
If you were to ask me anything I don't think I'd help you, you're clearly intent on trying to point out our failings without addressing your own.
Help files and manuals will likely have the information you need, if you find yourself getting frustrated with them for whatever reason then you're likely looking in the wrong place anyway.

Without hyperbole, what was the last problem you had where your intelligence was attacked?

Just on a point about "They have a superiority complex" by asking them for help you've already admitted to them that they are better than you in the area.
 

TheComedown

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NIHILHATE said:
Mr.Numbers said:
It's because every idiot comes to us for their problem that is usually a ridiculously easy fix by google search, and it gets on our nerves where it's: I have a problem, lets ask "" rather than figure it out ourselves.
If somebody posts such a question, they're not specifically asking you and your infinite wisdom, if you see it as a waste of time, just don't waste your time on it. it really is that simple. Or do these people get off on the thought that they've made themselves feel superior to someone else? Anyway, that was only an example. Also, you people have to learn to listen. Maybe none of you are used to communicating with people, but you have to take some notice of what people say before you answer them, and I've already said I got the info from Google in the first place, and forums are the best place to find stuff out. I never post, I just find people who have had the same problem as me. If I were to post something asking for advice, I don't give a fuck what some unhelpful dick with a superiority/inferiority complex has to say, I'd be looking for an answer off someone who'd had the same problem and was willing to help. You can't ask a help file a followup question, and like I said, it's so rare the help file actually has the info I need, I just go lurk in the forums. My main point is, what makes these interweb nobodies think that their word is law, without any kind of explanation?
Firstly let me say I have never seen anything like what the situation described in the OP.

There are a few problems here. You repeatedly use massive generalizations about said tech heads and this community in generally accusing us of having superiority complexes or some shit, and belittling us for it, all the while your sitting up there on your high horse having a cry cause someone wont google something for you.

I feel this needs to be posted again.

RhombusHatesYou said:
I've had people ask why 'RTFM' and 'google it' are the standard answers for most common tech related problems. The answer is pretty simple, it's what most techheads do when confronted with a problem for the first (dozen) time(s).

The other thing is the ability to diagnose the problem is quite limited when you're relying of a few lines of text by someone who may or may not have the slightest fucking clue what they talking about.
Sums it up quite nicely.
 

Mr.Numbers

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Jan 15, 2011
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NIHILHATE said:
Mr.Numbers said:
It's because every idiot comes to us for their problem that is usually a ridiculously easy fix by google search, and it gets on our nerves where it's: I have a problem, lets ask "" rather than figure it out ourselves.
If somebody posts such a question, they're not specifically asking you and your infinite wisdom, if you see it as a waste of time, just don't waste your time on it. it really is that simple. Or do these people get off on the thought that they've made themselves feel superior to someone else? Anyway, that was only an example. Also, you people have to learn to listen. Maybe none of you are used to communicating with people, but you have to take some notice of what people say before you answer them, and I've already said I got the info from Google in the first place, and forums are the best place to find stuff out. I never post, I just find people who have had the same problem as me. If I were to post something asking for advice, I don't give a fuck what some unhelpful dick with a superiority/inferiority complex has to say, I'd be looking for an answer off someone who'd had the same problem and was willing to help. You can't ask a help file a followup question, and like I said, it's so rare the help file actually has the info I need, I just go lurk in the forums. My main point is, what makes these interweb nobodies think that their word is law, without any kind of explanation?
I work in a creative industries job that requires a lot of computer useage, and my school introduced a laptop program where the laptops are cheap government issue. Combine this with the fact that I am rather open about my knowledge on computers and every problem ever is run through me.
(My school IT guys are incompetent, literally get better help from a phone centre in India....They've hired me to clear out a virus that's managed to get onto the FTV server, cause I'm the only person qualified to know what the hell a "Worm" is, and their solution to broken hardware is...wait for it...formatting the hard drive, nuke and pave.)

I am not being a smug arrogant jerk as you assume I am, what I am saying is that if 3 people ask for my help, for free, in a standard day (Which will happen) so that they don't get their hard drive formatted as a solution and If helping each person takes an average of 10-15 minutes, it's 30-45 minutes of my 90 minutes total of break time daily.

If your problem can be found on the front page of google, I will tell you so. Most people accept that and move on, great.

The issue, however, is when people wall off. "These are computers, I cannot understand this, he is speaking in another language to me". When they refuse to let me help them, insisting I do it for them, (Which I will because I am a nice person, damn-it) for an incredibly simple problem (And when I say simple, it can be as easy as waiting for 5 minutes, doing a quick run with an anti virus program or even, I kid you not, saving your work rather than not turning your laptop off for 8 months straight, leaving everything open, I will be annoyed. You're willful ignorance is taking up my time because I have chosen to help you.

9/10 times, I love helping people. The situation you described above will be the top 10 percent of people who are not only havingn an incredibly easy problem, but managing to insult me for being able to understand how to help them ("You're the nerd here, I mean I actually have a life").

Let me state that again. I love helping people.

You are having huge anger issues against my entire profession for a simple explanation to your question, and that shows me the nature of your problem.

You need to take a deep breath and count to ten whenever dealing with tech support professionals. You need to understand that we are human beings.

And you also need to understand that being stand-offish when we are trying to explain to you what the problem is only gives us the impression that you are filled with willful ignorance to our help, and in fact believe that our ability to help you is only so that we can hold it against you.

Please, respect us as human beings who are only trying our best to help you, and that problems you may have are almost certainly because of the way you are handling the situation.

http://techcomedy.com/
 

frizzlebyte

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Oct 20, 2008
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I'm sorry you have had trouble with this, but you really shouldn't take it out on everyone. We aren't all like that.

The only places I've really seen this are on programming-related message boards. While they are generally helpful, it usually seems that they feel they are doing you this grand favor by helping you with your little dinky coding problem. However, this is not constant, and most people are nice about it.

But really, most "computer people" are happy to help you if you are willing to put in the effort yourself, and meet us halfway. If all you want is a quick, automagic fix for something that would take all of two minutes to figure out if you just took your time with it, that will get on our nerves. Usually I find the issue related to: either fear that you will screw something up, or just plain don't give a crap about figuring it out yourself.

Not that it is entirely the non-techie's fault. I mean, user interface design often leaves a lot to be desired. Meaning, I understand why it makes people scared, but that doesn't mean you can't figure it out yourself if you tried a little bit. And it seems people don't even try.

Please don't take any of this wrong. I'm not trying to be rude, or saying that you aren't trying. Just 'splainin' where we often are coming from.
 

Erana

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I've seen this kind of thing before, though its mostly in dealing with trying to make Wine work.

Of course, you forget to mention the assholes who blather on about how PCs are infinitely better than Macs, and insist that anyone who doesn't do things as they do is somehow a lesser being.
Even when the person acknowledges the many weaknesses of Macs, agrees that they are not for everyone, and they simply choose them because of a personal preference.

But this isn't about computers, really. Its about how people socialize. Some people see someone vulnerable or in need, and choose to help them or leave them be. Other people, born of insecure and aggressive environments, see those in such situations as prey to be attacked and put in their place for their shortcoming.

That being said, people putting no effort into something and simply expecting others to solve their problems for them is terribly aggravating, and I can understand someone being a bit smart to someone asking a question like that.

If one is really that lost with something, being gracious really helps.
 

Gasaraki

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NIHILHATE said:
arragonder said:
oh yeah I've seen that happen, 99% of the time it's because OP's a retard. If you have a problem the first thing you do is read the god damned help file, if you don't, I get to yell at you for being lazy/incompetent, seems fair to me.
Some people would rather get advice from another human being than read a help file that probably won't have the answer they need anyway. Some people also like to devote their lives to things other than computers. If your time is too important to help the likes of a luddite, why bother wasting your time telling him so?
Oh god, what?
'Trying to solve a problem by yourself means that you have no life lolol'

I don't give a fuck what some unhelpful dick with a superiority/inferiority complex has to say
Right, because you don't seem to have any sort of superiority complex whatsoever, right?
 

Owyn_Merrilin

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May 22, 2010
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NIHILHATE said:
arragonder said:
oh yeah I've seen that happen, 99% of the time it's because OP's a retard. If you have a problem the first thing you do is read the god damned help file, if you don't, I get to yell at you for being lazy/incompetent, seems fair to me.
Some people would rather get advice from another human being than read a help file that probably won't have the answer they need anyway. Some people also like to devote their lives to things other than computers. If your time is too important to help the likes of a luddite, why bother wasting your time telling him so?
So basically, it's a problem that their time is too valuable to help a self professed luddite, but it's not a problem that your time is too valuable to take five minutes to read the help file? Assuming you're asking a question from a general tech support forum and not, say, calling your ISP about a problem with their proprietary software, the people who you're asking questions of probably aren't experts in the specific program you're having problems with, which means they're going to have to take the time to check the help file if they want to help you out. Heck, even if they are experts at whatever program you're having problems with, if you use it on a regular basis, it pays to have a basic knowledge of how to use it. If you don't use it on a regular basis, and you don't intend to use it beyond this one use that's giving you trouble, I have to question why you're using it at all, and not just hiring someone to do the work for you. In other words, pay attention to what you're saying, man. You aren't making yourself look very good in this topic.
 

Smooth Operator

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Were you looking for technical support on xbox live?
Because I haven't seen that sort of behavior on technical issues anywhere, ofcourse it helps if you don't come in with that kind of attitude when you ask for assistance.

I guess you need to use better forums, the Escapist perhaps?
 

Android2137

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Feb 2, 2010
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Never encountered that myself and I had plenty of problems before, especially with my wacom tablet. Which one day just miraculously fixed itself... still trying to figure out how it happened... Then there was that time my printer stopped working. Looked into all sorts of advice, panicked for a few weeks, then decided that maybe the cord was broken somewhere and I might need to get a new one. I had checked if the printer was connected to the computer days earlier, but I had only checked the computer side plug and not the printer side. Needless to say, I felt very very stupid that day...
 

Nyaliva

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Sep 9, 2010
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Wow, there is a lot of hate on this forum. I do exactly what the OP does and yet I've never happened upon what he describes, though it doesn't surpirse me that it happens. Maybe some clarification of what the OP is trying to say eh? Then maybe everyone can stop yelling aat him for being such an idiot (the irony is sweet in my mouth...).

What the OP is wondering is why people should get off on telling people how to fix something in a smug, "I-know-everything-and-your-question-is-below-me" tone and then when the person who asked the question still can't fix the problem, these people either yell at them or brush them off as simpletons who probably shouldn't even have a computer. This is a common issue on the interwebs, people who possess a superiority complex can finally show off to people they don't know (because the people they know are either smarter than them or are sick of hearing them). That's how I can sum up the situation though I've never encountered it myself. While people may seem like noobs when asking these types of questions, it's sometimes not because they can't come up with the answer themselves, but because they've tried all the ways they know and it still isn't fixed, or in fact they do a google search and nothing comes up, so they have to ask someone themselves. All I'm saying is, get a bit of perspective before you rip into someone in this type of situation, not that I'm saying anyone here does that sort of thing.

Oh and that's the other thing, the OP wasn't attacking anyone here directly, simply pointing out that even though the people on the Escapist are generally better than other forums, people here aren't immune to this kind of noob-bullying. If you don't like how he says that, don't do it and he won't be talking to you. If you think he's too soft on these noob-types, do as before and get some perspective before you start yelling. :)
 

Doomtrack

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May 3, 2011
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Honestly id say its because of what has already been said here, the fact that a lot of people seem to think that they are not asking for help, they are demanding help and expect it to come and when it does not come they blow up like a spoiled child.