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Recent discussions talk about the phenomenon. My this question tries to make clear its reason.

Thus, this question isn't about, what we have to do with the Kali questions. This question is about what social/psychological/cultural/... phenomenon creates them.

Where are they from? Why they've chosen Kali?

What drives so many "young titans" to start to use such a not-for-beginners distribution? I think, likely something misleaded them, and if they've known, what is waiting them, they'd likely remained by some more common, more desktop-tuned, Ubuntu/Suse/anything line.

I am curious also to the answers from the "other side", i.e. people whose Kali questions were closed, probably too quickly on his opinion.

Extension: @muru refers a comment about a phenomenon, there a search engine effect was suggested. However, the posters have very similar characteristic (for example: bad English, newbie questions, trying to use Kali as a beginner desktop variant and so on). A search engine effect would result much more diverse OPs.

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  • unix.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4640/…
    – muru
    Commented Dec 15, 2017 at 8:33
  • @FaheemMitha Knowing them better would help a lot to effectively deal with them. For example, the post linked by Muru suggests that it is a simple search engine effect. I don't think that it would be so, because the posters have very similar characteristic (for example: bad English, nickname sounding like Indian, newbie questions, trying to use Kali as a beginner desktop variant and so on). A search engine effect would result much more diverse OPs.
    – peterh
    Commented Dec 15, 2017 at 9:00
  • 3
    @peterh I'm a little sceptical about their being a strong Indian connection. Yes, Kali sounds Indian, and is the name of an Indian goddess. But I am not convinced that leads to large numbers of Indians using it. And let's suppose they do. So what? There is already a recent question (created by Gilles) which we can point people to when they come here asking clueless Kali questions. Though I realise it isn't intended as a catch-all.
    – Faheem Mitha
    Commented Dec 15, 2017 at 9:29
  • @FaheemMitha Ok, but the question is, what is the reason then?
    – peterh
    Commented Dec 15, 2017 at 17:06
  • @peterh What's the reason for what?
    – Faheem Mitha
    Commented Dec 15, 2017 at 17:50
  • @FaheemMitha The cause of the Kali problem. The essence of the question.
    – peterh
    Commented Dec 15, 2017 at 17:52
  • 1
    @peterh If by problem you mean the large number of clueless people who are attempting to use Kali, it's been discussed in various places already, and I have no more idea than anyone else. And I doubt there is a solution to this "problem", either. Short of shutting down Kali.
    – Faheem Mitha
    Commented Dec 15, 2017 at 17:59
  • @FaheemMitha I removed that part of the post, although I don't think there had been any bad in it.
    – peterh
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 3:13

1 Answer 1

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Kali is specifically targetted at hcrackers as the title of their web page states:

Kali Linux: Penetration testing and ethical hacking Linux Distribution

Kali attracts wannabe crackers. Adolescent boys, generally, enthralled by the idea of penetration (paging Dr Freud). Not only are they clueless about Linux, they have little awareness about anything beyond the realms of their fetid bedrooms and the online communities where they congregate to boast about their leet skillz.

So, not only are you wrong; you are very wrong. This has nothing to do with ethnicity; the common denominator here is idiocy, an attribute that is evenly distributed amongst all populations. Sadly for us, it just has a vector for expression here.

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    @peterh Yeah, except your entire third and fourth paragraphs...
    – jasonwryan
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 0:25
  • 1
    I belong to the ones wanting to save the Kali questions, and opposing the whole anti-kali policy. My opinion was always that if a question is bad, then it should be closed because it is bad, but no question should be ever closed because it is about Kali. My review history is public and it shows that probably very clearly. But this post is not about that, here I only wanted to understand the background.
    – peterh
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 3:03
  • I removed that part of the post, although I don't think there had been any bad in it.
    – peterh
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 3:12
  • 4
    @peterh There is no "anti-kali policy". There is a bad question policy and there is a high correlation (for reasons outlined multiple times here and on the main site) between bad questions and kali-linux. For the reasons I touched on in my answer, that is unlikely to change.
    – jasonwryan
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 3:32
  • Many Kali questions were closed, and now deleted, "because of Kali". There were strong suggestions to expel Kali from the site, and the de facto behavior of the reviewers was that Kali questions got a quick end.
    – peterh
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 3:50
  • But: yes, the ratio of the bad questions in the case of the Kali are significantly higher, but it doesn't reason any different treatment. It reasons to think about its probable cause.
    – peterh
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 4:12
  • @peterh The probable cause is no mystery. Read my answer. Muppets are attracted to Kali like morons to reality TV...
    – jasonwryan
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 4:19
  • @peterh I have done it.
    – jasonwryan
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 4:35
  • Thank you very much!
    – peterh
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 4:37
  • I also believe there are a common thread between some ethnicities and bad questions. Not all cultures have the same work ethic, or worries about writing perfect things. However, without the OP country not being displayed in posts, this belongs to the realm of speculation.
    – Rui F Ribeiro
    Commented Dec 20, 2017 at 20:58
  • 1
    My guess - Mr.Robot made this distro so popular. :)
    – fugitive
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 21:28

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