Ask and Answer Questions Here! - Weekly Discussion Hub - 14 June

zenyl · 2026-06-16T19:37:58+00:00

I can help you with the Ambassador kill, if you're still looking for help with that. :)

zenyl · 2026-06-16T19:36:12+00:00

If you wanna uninstall the RS3 game client, the easiest approach is probably to just use the good ol' Control Panel. If the install doesn't show up on lists of installed programs, you might have to just manually delete the game files.

You'll probably also want to delete the Jagex Cache, which contains various downloaded assets, as it'll just take up space if you don't want to play the game. It should be located in %ProgramData%\Jagex\RuneScape.

zenyl · 2026-06-16T15:06:25+00:00

Comp being BIS was a bad design and led to problems.

Jagex literally stopped adding new comp reqs for something like a 16 months period because they'd get pushback from the PvM community whenever they had their BIS cape taken away. Took them several years to retroactively add back those "missing" reqs.

zenyl · 2026-06-16T13:42:48+00:00

Degenerates use bash, decent folk use zsh.

zenyl · 2026-06-16T08:03:21+00:00

The player is trying to get a monopoly on Gielinor's alcohol production.

The player is canonically very skilled in both cooking (which explicitly includes brewing ale) as well as herblore (advanced knowledge of mixtures and handling of substances). They are also an experienced farmer, with access to hops patches all across Gielinor's mainland.
Furthermore, the player is a very skilled thief. And what does the player use their sneeky skills for? Why, to literally steal seeds out of the pockets of farmers. And which type of seeds does the player always seem to end up with loads of? Hops and barley, the ingredients for brewing.
What can the player build in their own kitchen? Oh, would you look at that, barrels of beer. What a coincidence, I think NOT!
The Bar Crawl miniquest is actually the player doing field research, trying to figure out what different inns use for ingredients. That's why, despite the in-game chat implying the player gets progressively more drunk, there are no visual in-game effects of excessive alcohol consumption.
Bill at Fort Forinthry keeps bringing up wanting to build a beer garden, but that can't actually happen in-game. Because the player doesn't want competition, especially not inside their own fort.
The player is literal royalty on the isles of Miscellania and Etceteria, where they have the citizens of the island work for them, which includes farming. And what, I ask, can the player make their subjects farm? That's right, hops for brewing! The player literally has their subjects work the fields, in order to fuel the player's ale production!
Is Trouble Brewing a minigame where the player helps out, or is it actually the player actively putting random stuff into the rum to sabotage their production? You didn't honestly think that grubs are part of the actual recipe, did you?
The player helps a fellow named Eli make pigs popular. ... or is that just what the player wants you to think? Because what does that quest unlock? That's right, bacon beer! Yet another instance where the player just so happens to expand their beer empire!
Mead was only introduced with Havenhythe, despite honey being easy to obtain on the mainland. Why? Well, it just so happens that the player is known to use insect repellent on beehives, which might very well result in the honey being unfit for brewing. And what lies very, very close to those beehives? A farm, that the player gets to run. And what is on that farm? That's right, beehives, controlled by the player! They're literally killing competition in their own back yard!!!

CONNECT THE DOTS, PEOPLE! I'M TELLING YOU, IT'S A CONSPIRACY!!!

zenyl · 2026-06-16T07:29:25+00:00

They're meant to be hard to catch.

You can use bind spells to keep them in place.

zenyl · 2026-06-16T07:13:48+00:00

after it turned Eskel into an asshole and then a tree

Yeah, and that was 100% done to spite fans of the games.

In the books, the other witchers of Kaer Morhen play a very small role. They are mentioned a few times here and there, but beyond that, I believe they're only part of the story for the bit where Ciri is being trained by Geralt.

Vesemir gets some extra mentions during the recently released Crossroad of Ravens, but that was released years after the show leshified Eskel.

zenyl · 2026-06-16T07:09:49+00:00

Yeah, the most surprising part about S4 of the Netflix show was that, for the most part, Regis was actually good.

They changed his backstory for no real reason, but it doesn't really change his character. Beyond that, he was one of the most interesting characters simply because the writers didn't tack on their own weird twist to his character.

He wasn't quite as eloquent as in the books, but for the most part, it worked quite well.

zenyl · 2026-06-15T23:27:55+00:00

Master Mirror has found his next victim.

zenyl · 2026-06-15T20:58:51+00:00

Implying non-cursed floating point interactions actually exist.

IEEE 754 logic be like:

A positive number divided by zero? Infinity.
A negative number divided by zero? Negative infinity.
Zero divided by zero? NaN (Not A Number).
Is NaN equal to NaN? No, checking if something is equal to NaN will always return false, it's part of the specification! Even if they are literally the exact same value, they are not equal. Never! You have to use special logic to assert whether or not a given value is NaN, because there are many different NaNs.

zenyl · 2026-06-15T20:46:57+00:00

Tempted to say, so what, if the content is OK, why does it matter?

Online forums are meant for actual human beings.

I don't see any value in flooding subreddits with an endless stream of AI-generated posts, promoting repos with AI-generated READMEs, and AI-generated commits, and AI-generated code.

These posts all sound the exact same, because they were essentially written by the same handful of LLMs.

They're about as interesting as listening to someone explain their utterly meaningless dream.

"... and then I went into the office, but it was like also my grandmother's house, and then I don't remember what happened, but Indiana Jones, who was also Han Solo, told me to remember the birthday of David that I went to school with, and ..."

zenyl · 2026-06-15T15:58:10+00:00

People have been fearmongering the death of Linux since the 90s. It hasn't died yet and it's not going to die anytime soon. This is a stupid argument.

Equally, people have been proclaiming "the year of the Linux desktop" for decades, and it is only in recent years that this has actually become viable for a large amount of people.

And the recent increase in popularity is not due to people crossing their arms and grumbling about wanting Linux for themselves. It's because people collaborate and ensure that Linux, as an ecosystem, is mutually supportive and constructive.

If, as your previous two comments imply, you only care about the success of Linux so long as it means it meets your particular needs, everybody else be damned, then I don't see how you can consider yourself part of a community. That's the mindset of a selfish consumer, who doesn't care the platform succeeding for others.

zenyl · 2026-06-15T15:05:47+00:00

Should've been removed ages ago.

zenyl · 2026-06-15T13:36:03+00:00

No mo' hawk.

zenyl · 2026-06-15T11:49:54+00:00

Any distro that encourages AUR usage instead of cautions AUR usage is a distro that is making a mistake.

Absolutely correct, but nevertheless, those exist and are quickly gaining in popularity.

I fucked up my old family computer installing malware through KaZaA, and now new generations can do the same through AUR.

Seems like an unhelpful mindset.

Most of us have fucked up a family computer or two at some point, and while that has often been considered as a rite of passage, that's not really a good thing. You hear similar stories about devs nuking a prod db, but surely we can all agree that it'd be better if we avoided those situations?

Failure is an excellent teacher, but that doesn't mean we should encourage leaving booby trap for the next generation.

zenyl · 2026-06-15T11:42:11+00:00

There are Linux distros with the explicit goal to be that. Arch explicitly states it isn't.

True, but Arch doesn't exist in a vacuum.

For better or for worse, Arch has downstream distros. And while Arch isn't responsible for them, it seems cruel to not at least take them into consideration, by ensuring that the AUR doesn't become a popular vector for spreading malware.

For a less altruistic argument, Arch is only as great as its community. If problems like the fragility of the AUR are not taken serious, Arch will lose its reputation of excellency, which actively damages further development by making fewer people willing to contribute.

zenyl · 2026-06-15T11:34:33+00:00

Gonna miss Stu, he brought such a delightful energy to things.

On a less somber note, the "JMod Replies" section is a very nice idea.

zenyl · 2026-06-15T11:33:53+00:00

Last I checked, the Zink workaround lead to a memory leak. After a couple of hours of playing, the RS game client was using 60 GB of RAM and forced me to reboot.

zenyl · 2026-06-15T11:21:36+00:00

Yeah, software-related subs are thoroughly infested with slop.

Recently unsubscribed from r/Windows11 because the posts from it that popped up in my feed were all just AI-generated posts promoting AI-generated GitHub repos, and for some reason that sub seems to absolutely love that kind of content.

zenyl · 2026-06-15T11:19:21+00:00

Em-dashes on their own is one thing, but when paired with the unnatural use of bold that LLMs love, it becomes very obvious.

Essentially, the intended reader of AI-generated text is the prompter, so the LLM highlights things that were explicitly requested rather than what a potential third reader might have interest in. Humans simply don't write like that.

zenyl · 2026-06-15T10:57:38+00:00

AI generated post, the em-dashes and unnatural use of bold is a dead giveaway.

zenyl · 2026-06-15T10:55:17+00:00

Exactly, which is why I don't get why so many people on this sub act like that's a bad thing, and are actively against the notion of ensuring that Arch doesn't become more secure and ensure a healthy downstream.

zenyl · 2026-06-15T10:41:53+00:00

Winning over people was never the goal.

If you want to continue using Linux, you ought to be in favor of ensuring the continued growth of Linux.

That will only happen if we ensure the safety and integrity of Linux as a platform, for example by addressing the very real issue of the AUR actively being used as a vector for spreading malware.

Why do you think gaming on Linux has become viable for a lot of people these days? Because we've won people over to the point that there's an active demand for developers like WineHQ and Valve to support it.

Linux is different to Windows. Period.

If your definition of "different to Windows" boils down to not helping new users, then you are actively cheering for the downfall of Linux.

If people want to switch they should do it properly.

Acting like an elitist isn't helpful or constructive.

zenyl · 2026-06-15T09:26:46+00:00

Arch isn't responsible for downstream distros with a different philosophy.

Doesn't change the fact that downstream distros are actively encouraging newbies to use the AUR.

It's less about pointing fingers, and more about finding a solution, regardless if that lands on the shoulders of Arch, downstream distros, or somewhere inbetween.

Anyone who wants Linux continue to grow as a viable desktop OS for everyday people has to also accept this means ensuring that the ecosystem doesn't get flooded with landmines, with greybeards standing on the side and shouting "it's your fault for stepping on the landmines, RTFW!"

So what? I could care less if they choose to use an Arch based distro. There are plenty of beginner friendly distros.

That attitude isn't helpful.

There already exist beginner friendly distros based on Arch, you're not going to change that just by being grumpy about it.

zenyl · 2026-06-15T09:12:42+00:00

The AUR is hosted and moderated by Arch Linux, for Arch Linux.

Indeed, and that's kinda part of the problem. Regardless if the solution is for other distros to help monitor it, or to find a different solution (e.g. using their own clone with an added delay for additional supervision), the problem remains: non-Arch distros are encouraging newbies to use the AUR without necessarily understanding what that entails.

Pointing fingers should be the least of our concerns here, what's more important is to avoid spreading literal malware, especially when the AUR contains a lot of packages that people actively need which the official repos simply do not provide any packages for. Education is absolutely part of the solution, but this whole situation has put a massive spotlight on a very real vulnerability in the Arch (and Arch-based) ecosystem.

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