I also feel like a lot of those people are there just to be pricks. I don't think they really know much at all so their input was unwarranted in the first place.

The arch wiki is a very good resource and I use it for all Linux distros. But like most repositories of its kind, it gives you the how and not the why.

That's what most people want from another person, they ask "how" but I think they mean "why".

I think the most annoying people in Forums:

"Well I use Debian, and I use only native packages! I update manually because I need to resolve those dependency problems! Go to hell with your Flatpaks and telemitry, I want freedom! Also I will never use Wayland because Mate doesn't support it"

People thinking they can give advice, while they are clearly using outdated software, not scaleable maintenance effords, etc.

I had this in the KDE forum. Literally 2 dudes telling me no system could auto update, while my system does, today.

If you truly understand a subject you like helping newbs, not insulting them. It is people who know just enough to sound like they do but are desperate to look like experts who are the biggest pricks.

The contrast is very strong with the Arch Wiki, which does a genuinely good job - for a set of short articles - at explaining how that whole machinery works. Yet, if you don't understand something from there - good luck finding a person to explain what to do.

Interestingly enough the Arch Linux subreddit is or was way more tame in comparison to its forum
at least I always quoted the relevant paragraph in the wiki alongside a link since I believe it did a better job at explaining it than I could
and if it wasn't in the wiki I added it into it beforehand

I have had a mostly positive experience with the Arch Linux forums, though admittedly, I have never asked anything myself over there. I just turn out to find useful answers to rare problems that are hard to find in other platforms.
Maybe the real problem is the difference in expectations.

It's the same on Lemmy. Linux people live in a fantasy world..it's like ya I've done some things on Linux but is it the best OS for most people? Nah. Not even close.