[arch-general] What happened to the Beginner's Guide?

[Kyle Terrien]

On Thu, 22 Sep 2016 12:58:23 +1200
Jason Ryan via arch-general <arch-general at archlinux.org> wrote:
> On 21/09/16 at 08:36pm, Dave via arch-general wrote:
> >see below
> >
> >On Wed, Sep 21, 2016 at 8:12 PM, Francis Gerund via arch-general <
> >arch-general at archlinux.org> wrote:
> >  
> >> I believe this change will only serve to alienate potential new
> >> users,  
> >
> >I strongly agree.  
> 
> This will only alienate new users that are unwilling to read man
> pages and the community provided documentation, ie., people for whom
> Arch is the wrong choice anyway…
> 
> /J
> 

So, is making people hunt for information a ritualistic hazing?

As much as I love the Arch Wiki (and I really do because it is a great
source of information), I don't understand why basic things like this
change very often.  Removing the Beginner's Guide from the home page?
This is just another Big Change made with the best of intentions.

Moving stuff around like this is like that supermarket that keeps
reorganizing its shelves.  Everything is there, but it is in a
different place, and you need to waste time looking for what you want.

Anecdote: when I installed Arch a few years ago, I followed both the
Beginner's Guide and the Installation Guide simultaneously.  The duality
was a little confusing, and I agree that if these guides can be merged
in an elegant way, they should.

But I disagree with the "hazing" attitude.  The whole point of a wiki
is to make information accessible.  Yes, while installing Arch for the
first time you will definitely hunt for a lot of information.  It is a
lot of hard work.  However, purposefully making that information harder
to find is wrong; wikis are supposed make that job easier.

I also think that expecting a new Arch user to know *exactly* what
software configuration he wants is unreasonable.  I personally know
many experienced Linux users (whom I consider far more experienced than
myself) who can't tell you which desktop environment they prefer.
However, they can blow your mind with their C and shell knowledge.

If/when these advanced users decide to learn more about distro innards
and try Arch, we should welcome them, not haze them.

--Kyle Terrien

-- 
The computer can't tell you the emotional story.  It can give you the
exact mathematical design, but what's missing is the eyebrows.
- Frank Zappa
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