"Any community tends to become an in-group. Consisting of
networks of association that have existed for years, and because
status in it tends to be based on contributions, FOSS is probably
more insular than most communities. A newcomer to FOSS has to
develop both a certain amount of technical expertise but also a
body of largely unwritten philosophy or knowledge before they can
hope to fit into the community.
"All that is understandable, but it is no excuse for the
undisguised impatience and scorn that many community members show
to newcomers. Too often, I've seen well-meaning, if uninformed
newbies lose interest in learning about FOSS because their basic
questions provoked rude replies in which "RTFM" featured as a
prominent comment."
