I get these are jokes but I really don’t find anything funny about it, it becomes a meme and then people start getting more creative and pushing it more and being more covert and people come up with other little japes then new Linux users get their shit destroyed and maybe important info gets lost or precious memories so they say Linux is a piece of shit and go back to windows.
It’s not even funny to start with so when it inevitably inspires people to be assholes and bullies that’s all we’ve achieved.
copied from the original post but was exactly what was going through my mind
Yeah it’s a joke that’s at least a decade old, probably over two decades old.
And one of the most important aspects of comedy is knowing your audience. If this was said to a group of linux sysadmins I guess it’s not dangerous, but it’s still an old joke so not going to get much of a laugh. But if it’s said to people new to linux, then it can cause damage. So it’s either not funny (we all heard that one before) or an asshole prank, so not funny and malicious.
Absolutely agreed. I caught major flak the last time that I saw this. Not a fan of setting up ignorant newbs to be laughed at and potentially need to write fresh resumes. Yeah, you shouldn’t take a meme at face value for advice on your professional life but, it just comes across as a bit mean-spirited.
copied from the original post but was exactly what was going through my mind
This is not malicious because it will not work. You’d need
--no-preserve-rootto actually do anything.Edit seems I was wrong
The use of /* might get around that, because the shell expands it to /usr /var /lib /home etc.
Yeah it’s a joke that’s at least a decade old, probably over two decades old.
And one of the most important aspects of comedy is knowing your audience. If this was said to a group of linux sysadmins I guess it’s not dangerous, but it’s still an old joke so not going to get much of a laugh. But if it’s said to people new to linux, then it can cause damage. So it’s either not funny (we all heard that one before) or an asshole prank, so not funny and malicious.
Absolutely agreed. I caught major flak the last time that I saw this. Not a fan of setting up ignorant newbs to be laughed at and potentially need to write fresh resumes. Yeah, you shouldn’t take a meme at face value for advice on your professional life but, it just comes across as a bit mean-spirited.