Think of Doctors. Sometimes when you feel sick, you go online and you try to do your due diligence. Trying to find out what is wrong with you (Diagnosing yourself), even though you aren't a doctor. But you try to do it anyways because searching for information, and finding a solution tends to be something that us hackers have haha (How can we be using a distro as great as Arch, and not be used to searching for information and solutions? :] ). Once you find the information, you feel pretty good about it. Of course since you know you aren't a doctor, you clearly know that you might be wrong, and keep an open mind about your current solution, until you go see the doctor. Once you go see the doctor and try to explain to them your research and theories, some of the doctors respond very negative towards you, basically down playing your intelligence because you didn't go to eight years of medical school. Just because a person didn't go to medical school, doesn't mean that they can research and learn anything in the field of medicine. That logic is ridiculous, and as we have and will experience in our lives, applies towards other areas of life.
Those are my worthless cents as well I suppose :).
-- Jonathan Vasquez
+1 I can somewhat relate to this situation since I am a med student and I use linux (currently arch and gentoo). When first installed linux I was an absolute computer/internet illiterate; today my knowledge is better, though obviously limited. I admit that in the past I may have asked really dumb question, but from my point of view, experienced linux users often forget how difficult is to enter into a field about which you know absolutely nothing. Yes, there are howtos, documentation, man pages... but at the very beginning, it's not that easy. Ignorance should never be an excuse for a rude response, at least when ignorance isn't accompanied by the obvious willingness to remain ignorant. Knowledge doesn't imply nor require arrogance or rudeness. If not, every person that is knowledgeable in a field could mistreat everyone else who is not as equally competent in that particular area. I wonder what these unpolite linux gurus would think if one day I'd answered them something like "Are you kidding me? Seriously, you are asking me if your contact lenses can *get lost behind your eyeball*? If you had RTMF you'd know this is impossible. Now GTFO, and next time *google it*, for the love of God... noob." Just the thoughts of a computer ignorant. Lorenzo -- Nothing is interesting if you're not interested.