I see a lot of Arch user bashing and I disregard it most of the time. Mint/Zorin/Bazzite/Cachy evangelists are more insufferable. Arch users flex, Mint users prescribe. Arch toxicity is performative elitism (really an inferiority complex symptom). Mint toxicity is paternalistic condescension.
Arch-user insufferability is self‑directed. If you ignore them, they keep monologuing to the void.
Mint advocates are insufferable in a different way:
- "Just use Mint."
- "You don't need to understand that."
- "Arch is too hard for you."
- "Mint is what normal people use."
- "You don't want to configure anything."
This is projection, or the same thing Linux advocates are doing to non-Linux users when they act like everyone should spend a whole weekend setting up and learning Linux, as well as wasting time fixing things (just because they don't mind it and have the time). They assume way too much like your skill level (many people start with Arch actually), your goals, preferences, tolerance for learning, desired workflow, and willingness to tinker. The distro is totally prescribed for you based on what THEY want.
To me it's saying, "You’re incapable." (I ran Arch for over a year, encountered all 4 breakages for that time period and fixed them within ~10 minutes). I also hand edited or configured DWM and adding 12 patches manually. I found Cinnamon desktop to be absurdly unintuitive. Changing the time from 24 hour to 12 for example was enough to get me to rage quit it and uninstall it. So, for those of us that know Arch, it's more annoying.
Mint/Zorin advocates often behave like tech support agents who didn't ask for your requirements, or parents deciding what’s "appropriate" for you. Arch users insult your competence indirectly (I see it as goading). Mint users insult your competence directly.
Arch users may overestimate you. Mint users underestimate you (and that to me is insultive).
