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It can be generally observed that there is a difference in aptitude and attitude between Windows users, and Linux/BSD/OSX (*nix) users.

I would suggest it would be beneficial for questions tagged with *nix related tags, to be unavailable to anyone accessing SU from a Windows machine.

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    What if the Linux user is on a work PC and needs to SSH into a Linux box and do something? This is a silly idea.
    – Burgi
    Nov 24, 2016 at 21:23
  • @Burgi He's just upset about the comments on his 2 answers to the same question 1 and 2 ;p
    – DavidPostill Mod
    Nov 24, 2016 at 21:30
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    "It can be generally observed that there is a difference in aptitude and attitude between Windows users, and Linux/BSD/OSX (*nix) users." perhaps you can provide some evidence for this statement ...
    – DavidPostill Mod
    Nov 24, 2016 at 21:32
  • @DavidPostill If there is such evidence, will that change your opinion on this proposal? If not, then asking for it is a distraction.
    – user380375
    Nov 24, 2016 at 21:38
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    @zaq I'm giving him an opportunity to prove he is not just trolling ...
    – DavidPostill Mod
    Nov 24, 2016 at 21:40
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    Similarly we could block sanctimonious * nix users from answering Windows questions. And while we are at it we could give everyone a pair of glasses that turn completely opaque when they might be in danger of seeing things that don't agree with their own personal world view. Or maybe we could just try and get on with each other, take constructive criticism as it is given and try to grow as a species.
    – Mokubai Mod
    Nov 24, 2016 at 22:29
  • @Mokubai don't tell me you want to hand out special blankets to the special Linux snowflakes!l?
    – Ramhound
    Nov 25, 2016 at 1:25
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    @user657451 I have 25 years of experience working with Windows and a decade and half of working on a Linux platform but I never access Superuser from Linux so if you don't want my considerable amount of knowledge on Linux that's your decision but don't you dare make that decision for anyone else
    – Ramhound
    Nov 25, 2016 at 1:27
  • Good suggestion! +1
    – user1061912
    May 10, 2020 at 20:46

3 Answers 3

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There are a lot of people (myself included) who run both Windows and one or more flavors of "*nix". Frankly, the idea that I can't answer Linux-oriented questions from my Windows box because I'm using a Windows box is offensive to me.

I consider myself to be just as strong, if not stronger, in my knowledge of the plumbing of the operating system as well as many popular tools on GNU/Linux, both on the desktop and the server, as I am with Windows. That's because I've a wealth of experience and have worked on many, many different projects for many different people, who have different preferences when it comes to the choice of technologies (operating system being one of them).

Throughout the course of the day, I often sit at a computer running Mac OS X, Windows 10, and often even Ubuntu, for multiple hours each, per day. What influence does the system I'm currently using to answer questions have to do with the quality of my answers?

Lastly, you should know that it is laughably trivial to change the identity that the web browser presents to the web server. I could run Windows XP and make Super User's web server think I'm running Ubuntu 16.04. A website literally has no technical mechanism at all at its disposal to know that my web browser is lying about its identity or the operating system running it.

For more information about the mechanism by which web browsers "tell" a web server which web browser and OS they're running, read about the User-Agent HTTP header.

Here is a popular user agent switcher extension for Chrome, just as a proof of the concept. You can change the browser you expose, the OS, or both.

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It can be generally observed that there is a difference in aptitude and attitude between Windows users, and Linux/BSD/OSX (*nix) users.

That's massively elitist. Not to mention dosen't scale at all. What about hardware questions? What about people who have *nix style tools or VMs with linux since they actually have work or school that needs windows but the lack of basic unix utilities feels like working with a broken limb? How would one decide who should be able to comment on hardware questions or haiku questions? For that matter, who would go and set all the linux and unix distros as "nix users only"?

I would suggest it would be beneficial for questions tagged with *nix related tags, to be unavailable to anyone accessing SU from a Windows machine.

Lets say tomorrow, I decide I want to go down a branch of history that was never taken, and switch to haiku. Does that mean suddenly my... I donno, entire life's experience with PCs is gone? If I was a normal user (since as a moderator, hiding content from me would be downright stupid) would this mean that I ought to have all windows and linux questions hidden from me? For that matter, if I'm running windows, how do you know I didn't secretly run linux for a few years and have a linux box behind my windows box (oops, busted).

In addition, superuser tends to handle people of all skill levels. With appropriate context in hand, and as a person who has used unix before, I'd suggest that explaining what a command does is useful for the pedagogical side of Q&A since we handle users of all skill levels, and while most linux users would be handy with man and info, its still a good idea to talk about the process and what the steps do.

While RTFMing is a noble aim, and we do encourage reading of said fine manuals, at the end of the day, a good answer here must stand on its own merits.

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There are already moderation tools built into the site. Unhelpful results can be voted down. Useful responses are voted up. Questions getting too many low value answers can be protected from new users. In general, this will allow high value *nix answers to be noticed.

Writing a good question will also help with attracting good answers.

Beyond that, you just need to take any advice with gratitude that someone has responded and tried to help, and ignore their suggestion if it isn't great.

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