On Toxicity in Developer Communities

The Replies to a Single Question

This was two years ago. I posted a question in a developer community. I was stuck on a TypeScript generics issue, so I included my code and wrote "I don't understand this part."

First reply: "Have you read the official docs?" Second reply: "You can Google this." Third reply: "This is pretty basic stuff..."

The actual answer came in the fourth reply. The first three weren't answers — they were put-downs aimed at the person asking.

It's not that I hadn't read the docs. I read them and didn't understand, which is why I asked. I Googled it too. The results didn't match my situation, so I asked.

RTFM Culture

"Read The F**king Manual." An old developer community meme. It means search before you ask, but somewhere along the way it mutated into "not knowing is your own fault."

Sure, you should search before asking. Getting a question that takes five seconds to Google can be frustrating. But the problem is: a beginner can't tell whether something is a five-second Google away or not. To know "is this an easy question or a hard question," you already need to know a fair amount.

So when a beginner asks, they get "you don't know that?" The beginner becomes afraid to ask. The community ends up populated only by experienced devs. A vicious cycle.

(Honestly, I've caught myself thinking "come on..." when reading someone else's question. I'm reflecting on that.)

When Technical Debates Become Personal Fights

React vs Vue. Tabs vs spaces. Semicolons or no semicolons. When these topics come up, the comment section becomes a warzone.

Technology choices depend on context. There's often no "right answer." But in communities, it devolves into my-tech-is-superior and your-tech-is-inferior.

"You still use that?" "That's a dead technology." "Real developers use this."

Behind these statements, there's more ego than technical reasoning. A reluctance to have the time you invested be invalidated.

How Did It Get This Way?

Developer communities weren't always this harsh. I have a few theories.

First, anonymity. Behind a username, words get rougher. People who would never say "you don't know that?" face-to-face write it online without hesitation.

Second, a culture where skill equals identity. Developers are evaluated by technical ability. So tearing down someone else's skill feels like elevating your own. Subconsciously.

Third, burnout. When you're exhausted, being kind is harder. After wrestling with code all day, seeing a beginner's basic question can trigger irritation. Understandable, but not justifiable.

Good Communities Do Exist

Not all of them are like this.

In some Discord servers, questions get answered starting with "Great question!" There are beginner-only channels, mentor systems, and toxic comments get removed by mods immediately.

I wish there were more communities like that. Places where asking questions is natural, not embarrassing. Where the default response is "let's look at this together" instead of "you don't know that?"

Even now, my hands tremble a little when I post a question. Since that experience two years ago. The worry that a "you don't know that?" comment will appear.

A community that makes you feel this way has something fundamentally wrong with it.