For quite some time now Linux and FOSS vlogger Nixie Pixel, has been bringing videos about Linux, FOSS, and more to many a thirsty geek. Finally, after a mysterious absence of one year, the vlog darling returns to YouTube.
If you're not familiar with her, she has two channels on YouTube:
NixieDoesLinux, and "OS.ALT. The second of which covers the indie/hacking/geek community, including open source alternatives to operating systems and gaming."
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 22 2017, @12:43AM (5 children)
Denigrating Nixie seems to be everyone's goal here.
I've watched a number of her videos. The woman has a good channel. She does explain a lot of things, in a manner that non-techies might pick up on. The fact that she's not hard to look at helps a little bit. FFS, what is wrong with you people? She is a good source of information for people moving from Windows to Ubuntu and Ubuntu clones.
Is this just one of those stupid male chauvinist things? A pretty chick can't be a real nerd? If that's the score, then fuck all of you.
Careful now, before you jump to stupid conclusions. I'm not holding Nixie out as an authoritative source of information. The woman can point you in the right direction if you have questions. And, if you watch her channel, she can give you ideas about things you might want to do. But, she's not the ultimate authority on anything.
Give her some slack though. She does make Linux interesting for the less informed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 22 2017, @01:19AM
A lot of Nixie tubes are Russian, so be careful.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Arik on Saturday July 22 2017, @02:49AM (2 children)
Yet I doubt it is. I know it's not mine, I never heard of her before, and have no motivation to denigrate.
"She is a good source of information for people moving from Windows to Ubuntu and Ubuntu clones."
I've been staring at this for a ridiculous period of time and failed completely to find any sensible way to parse it. For comparison "She's a good source of information for people moving from one filthy disease-ridden garbage heap to the next."
:/
"Is this just one of those stupid male chauvinist things? A pretty chick can't be a real nerd? If that's the score, then fuck all of you."
I very much doubt that is true of any significant number of readers. The problem is, what you've described isn't a pretty chick that's a nerd. Let's take the chick out of it completely, in fact, and just pretend she's a guy. I assumed that from the blurb, actually, and haven't seen any reason to doubt it. That wouldn't make him any more of a "real nerd." A guy that runs Ubuntu isn't a "real nerd" either, assuming you're using nerd as a positive term as I gather from context. Running Ubuntu in 2017 is about as nerdy as running Windows XP was 15 years ago.
In other words, not at all.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 22 2017, @01:19PM
Actually, I don't think she runs Ubuntu as her primary OS. Not sure, but I don't think so. She does run several different Linux distros, and she gets into both GUI and CLI stuff. I threw Ubuntu in there, because, as I say, she's not a real authority on anything. She "fits" best, IMO, in that interface between the Windows world, and the Linux world. Windows users who are trying to upgrade to Linux are most likely to get a lot of good out of her videos. But, some of the rest of us might actually find some useful information on her channel. If you're looking for information on setting up a server, or setting up a data crunching machine, you won't want to bother with her channel.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Saturday July 22 2017, @04:53PM
Honestly, I think a lot of her popularity comes from being a female (and an attractive one at that). So she's probably got nerdy guys lusting after her, but also (and far more importantly) she could very well have other young girls/women watching her videos, which is a good thing. There is a distinct lack of women in tech (both professions and hobbies), and having someone like this as a virtual "mentor" can be helpful to young girls who might have some interests in this direction. They're a lot more likely to pursue those interests if they see another woman encouraging her, rather than a bunch of guys.
(Score: 1) by i286NiNJA on Monday July 24 2017, @06:19PM
What you're witnessing here is two things
1) Frustrated virgins who call people normies and hate women. (Yes I can't deny that it happens)
2) People who are frustrated by women who enter neckbeard communities. Sleep and flirt with all the leadership and seem to get unwarranted power and visibility in said communities very easily. This wouldn't even be so bad but often times personality and maturity issues that would rightfully prevent men from doing the same are ignored in said women. This frustration seemed to boil over after gamergate.
I have known about nixie pixel back since she was on hak5 at least a decade ago and didn't mind her I don't know if any of this hate is deserved or not. As near as I can tell people are mostly upset that she stopped producing content but still managed to collect 50k in donations last year.
I can tell you that when Adafruit, Bird Sister, or SexyCyborg are the topic of internet discussion things rarely devolve into circlejerks to denigrate their character. Even though in the case of SexyCyborg she openly admits to using her tits to garner some technically unwarranted attention to her projects. It seems that the community is still ok with her because she would still be considered legitimately talented if she was a fat neckbeard and she doesn't cause drama.