You're actually more savvy and skilled than most sysadmins I've met irl.
this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2025
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
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- The entire showerthought must be in the title
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- If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
- A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
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If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.
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I have yet to degoogle myself. As a teen I was a google fanboy. Now my stuff is still on there.
It's a funny joke, but
I'd type a crying Emoji, but my Foss degoogled keyboard doesn't have Emojis)
HeliBoard? Or, literally any of the dozen other FOSS keyboards in FDroid?
It's my turn to post this.
Listen mate, the fact that you're even reading instructions at all instead of chucking the technical stuff aside, or trying to force some unlucky family member to be tech support, puts you miles above most of the people I've dealt with.
I had one guy demand I physically come down to his desk for an issue that was "blocking an important report". It was literally just Windows asking if he wanted to overwrite an old file.
I'm not in IT, but I was trying to get a coworker to send me a file they were supposed to have generated. I sent them a PDF and I wanted them to update it with current procedures (they were the area supervisor) and type it out in a word doc so it could be edited and rev controlled.
They never got back to me, 2 weeks passed. It was a 2 page document, so I emailed them to ask if they had finished. They responded that oh yeah they had finished a while ago, and I could find the completed document attached.
They sent me back the original PDF I sent them. After a confused follow up email, they again sent me back the original PDF.
I went over to their desk, which I had never been to before, usually I interface with them out on the assembly line. I was like "Hey what's up, could you send me the .Doc file you created?"
Their response? "I forget what I named it so I can't find it."
I am even more confused. After some general troubleshooting I ask them to open their documents folder, which they did not know how to do. It didn't matter because it was empty. They then close out of Outlook, which had been fullscreened the whole interaction.
Their desktop was the most densely packed jumble of hundreds of files I have ever seen. Not snapped to grid.
Turns out every document they ever interact with gets saved to their desktop permanently, and to find things they use Windows search. This explains why I kept getting back the original PDF, they searched for the name of what the file was supposed to be, and they just grabbed the first result without looking and slapped it in the email.
I ended up finding the document by showing them how to open a finder window, navigate to their desktop, and sorting by "last modified", then asking them what day they remember finishing the document. It was named New Document.doc.
It ended up being so bad I had to completely re-do it myself anyway.
I've read that a lot of users, including youth, don't really understand file systems because modern computers don't make you.
Personally I think just letting people live in ignorance is a mistake. Some people can't be helped but I think many could, if presented with learning opportunities, if the default wasn't bad.
I've been using linux for over a decade and still constantly search for and copy/paste stuff. There are almost no issues that I solve without searching for something first. The skill is not memorization of commands or being able to solve everything off the top of your head, the skill is being able to troubleshoot.
If you can understand the problems enough to search for and apply solutions, then you're as good as any of us and belong.
I also leave broken things broken until I need to fix them or work up the motivation. Priorities.
Same, but for a quarter of a century
You have demonstrated more competency than the average IT Auditor.
That's because the average IT auditor is a bunch of if then statements wrapped in human skin.
This is comment is so on point I actually LOLed. I am an IT Auditor and I hate 99% of the people I work with. I had to explain the difference between UDP and TCP and why that was relevant to my boss with 10 years experience.
This is Dunning Kruger in effect. You actually know way more than you think because you're more aware of what you don't know than a total beginner.
Also, as far as wanting to switch back goes, That's a path of least resistance. For a multitude of reasons, stock Windows is simply easier to use than Linux for most people. Especially if you're already used to Windows' workflows and its particular quirks. And somewhat ironically, Linux is harder to adapt to if you're a power user. Power users tend to use their PC for more things than a basic user does, and therefore need to configure more things to work properly.
I think this is the first time I've seen someone bring up Dunning-Kruger to comfort someone rather than insult them
This made me feel better about myself, actually. Thanks!
The secret is nobody knows. Computers are magic and we are merely pretending to be sorcerers when we just do a web search for the problem and pray that some random forum post from 2006 has the solution and not just "Edit: Nevermind, I figured it out."
my foss degoogled keyboard doesn't have emojis
My man, have you tried FUTO? 😌
You're doing a great job and you shouldn't feel bad for being ignorant when you're literally getting results and learning new questions to ask. Of course it's not working perfectly! Of course you're looking for help as you discover more options! You have the desire to learn something new to you, and you've made so many steps beyond the first already.
Here's some emojis to copy and paste until you smash through that problem too. https://emojis.wiki/all-emojis/
Here's some more emojis if you like ascii: https://emoticonhub.com/emoticon-generator/
✺◟[⚗︎▾⚗︎]◞✺* ੈ✩‧₊˚˚˚ ੈ✩‧₊
DONT LOOK AT ME!
Ok, ok, sheesh. Go to that corner to cry... This corner is mine.
Oh man... "I'm in this picture and I don't like it" 🙁 at least I got emojis with florisboard for graphene... 🎉
I'm using helioboard?
Heliboard does have emojis. 🦄
Im exactly the same way. Im mad at people using Ai to code because all my life wanted to code but can't get it down (ADHD).
I wish I was someone who could go huh, this 1998 ms flight Sim stick doesn't work on linux. I'll write a program to make it work! But there's no way that will happen now
But I can run linux and at least im not on windows so that makes me feel better.
We all start somewhere!
Don't feel bad.
I was the computer kid when I was young but I've fallen all the way off and am fine with it.
Tbf, computers are so boring now. To have been around when it was really booming, and you were coding machine language and talking to the actual hardware in a pc, now THAT would be cool and motivating. Now its just stealing code or using Ai code to make a bloated java website. Like all things, it just got boring.
Trying to get myst running on a p3 with 256m ram was actually fun and interesting. Now you just install steam, ha
It's not boring though. You just have to find things. I see so many interesting projects, and so many interesting ideas that I want to implement but run into time/skill issues. Summer is when I can just forget about other things and develop what I want, but I think after university I won't have much time at all.
😭😥😢 Here's a few to choose from, I assume you can still copy and paste.
Lol apparently my Foss keyboard does have them 🦍
No one in tech knows everything. Everyone just knows an amorphous blob within the greater sphere of tech knowledge.
Perhaps, but you can express yourself so beautifully and passionately!
Yeah I get paid to program with Google and some AI hand holding sprinkled in. I feel like most of us are frauds
Exactly the same. I've been a "developer" for decades, often using a new language for a single project, then never touching it again for years, until I've forgotten the basic syntax. I'm an expert in nothing.
Stack Overflow, random Indian YouTubers, Google and now AI have been essential throughout my career.
You only need to know enough. Know what you want to achieve and the rough steps for how to get there, and somebody or something can fill in the blanks.
Is this a humble brag?
It sure as hell isn't a Shower Thought
Hmmm... Sounds like you forgot to set up a local LLM
Wow! So this is what happens when you install Linux and graphene? I want to do this too. But I have other hobbies and a family. Does it make sense for someone like me?
Its 45 minutes of work to install both Grapheme and Linux, this stuff is just not complicated
😀 yes. I don't think the install is an issue. The usage, my comment was aimed at the usage. Sorry I wasn't more explicit.
I have installed Linux before, I even have a Linux that I use for a Plex server. But that's nothing compared to using it as a daily driver.
I was ne'er married to Google software so Grapheme is like running a custom ROM 10 years ago but a bit more flexible because the Aurora store exists now.
I don't game so I have no real experience there but I've been successfully using Linux on and of since around '05
Ok (forgive my paraphrasing but)
Listen modern computers are running on billions of lines of code. No one knows what the fuck it is doing.
Modern CPUs, GPUs and other specialized processors have billions of transistors. No one knows what the fuck it is doing ( read the errata if you don’t believe me)
So given that you are working on a steaming pile of crap running on a steaming pile of crap. Why the fuck do you think anyone knows what the fuck it is doing?
If you want to know what a computer is doing get a 6502 or 6809 and flash an eeprom. Otherwise accept things you don’t know about will show up while working on the fuck pile.