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Comment by grafelic | Hacker News Reader

My laptop hasn't had stickers since a CTO asked why mine didn't have any stickers like the ones on the laptops of his cool cloud team. Personally I've found laptop stickers bad taste since then.

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It has become less fun since it has become common. My most recent laptop doesn't have stickers but I might apply some from my sizable collection before it becomes secondary laptop in 1-2 years.

You can still "hipster it" and only use actually cool stickers. Community open source projects, hackerspaces, good conferences, EFF and similar organizations, weird funny stuff.

Good:

https://stickertop.art/content/images/2025/11/1762135251053-...

https://stickertop.art/content/images/2025/11/IMG_9222-1.jpe...

"Employee of the month":

https://stickertop.art/content/images/2025/11/IMG_20200717_2...

The problem is that a lot of that has been ruined by corporate cringe and "weird funny stuff" is no longer weird and funny, especially when you have a bunch of influencers trying to either monetise it, sanitise it and/or attach their personal brand to it.

e.g. One of the biggest people that does Debian content, does a bunch of absolute cringe behaviour associated with them where I almost want to die of second hand embarrassment.

From my POV (old?, never on social mass media), you live in a strange world if some influencer has any... influence on your opinion of Debian. I see little to no monetization of "the good stuff".

They don't have any influence about what I think of Debian. What happens though is people outside will associate their (unbearably cringe in this case) behaviour with you, whether you like it or not.

I'm a long-time Debian user and I have no idea who you're talking about. How much weight do they actually carry? Who is this influencer you're talking about?

Go on YouTube, Mastodon or any sort of social media that is bit techy orientated and you will find it easily.

Stop being a clown and just write down the fucking name if you want to complain that badly.

I gave an example of something I remembered from last month. I can't remember the exact name of the account, and I normally block them afterwards or mute them from the feed.

The reason I am complaining about this is I was trying to find some good info to send to a friend. I ended up making my own videos to send to them as I had 3 or 4 different people asking me to show them how to do things on Debian. So I ended up recording how to do it myself.

I will also complain about it in the manner I wish. Since you have no called me a clown, I will now complain about it more vaguely.

I legitimately do not understand this kind of behavior. A: "I have an excellent example that clearly illustrates my point." B: "Great, what is it?" A: "Uhm, if you don't already know, then you're stupid. You can easily find it anywhere."

We're gatekeeping evidence that supports our claims now?

No. I just can't remember who these accounts are because I pretty much insta-block the them from my feed.

The reason I am complaining about this is I was trying to find some good info to send to a friend.

I ended up making my own no-BS videos to send to my friends instead and putting them up on YouTube.

What? I’ve been active frequently on Mastodon since 2018 and I have no idea who or what you’re talking about. A link would be helpful rather than playing the “oh you know who…” game.

There are loads of tech influencers in the Linux space on Youtube and loads of techie platforms. There is various levels of cringe in the Linux space, some of it is honestly embarrassing. If you don't see it already, you are going to tell me it isn't a problem. There isn't one person doing this. There are plenty.

If you won't say who is the person you're talking about, can you at least tell an example of that cringe behavior?

It isn't I won't say. It is I can't remember because I pretty much insta-block it when I see it.

Some notable examples of stuff I've seen in Linux / Tech land the last few months:

- One person was dressed in a furry lizard suit, while compiling gentoo.

- Another person made a song about Debian packages. I thought it was a gag at first.

- Another woman was dressed in a school girl outfit, cat ears and a push up bra (not sure she was Linux stuff, but it was tech).

I am not expecting everyone to be some greybeard in his office but some of it is a bit much and sometimes they have really good info in the video, but the initial impression is so jarring that it will put people off (I had people tell me this).

I actually made my own YouTube channel because I was trying to find decent information to send to someone who was a new Linux user without this BS. I ended up making videos myself detailing how to setup a bunch of stuff up.

> It isn't I won't say. It is I can't remember because I pretty much insta-block it when I see it.

Go to your masto instance and navigate to /blocks to see these users. Or on BlueSky, use clearsky.app.

It's possible to find a breadcrumb for what you're "remembering".

I am mainly talking about YouTube. I mainly lurk on other platforms, but the same people are there.

OK, so check your YouTube watch history?

The point we're making in this thread is that we aren't seeing the same things you are, and it's highly likely that whatever comments you're thinking about are not representative of the kinds of opinions people in tech hold.

I am not going back through months worth of YouTube history to satisfy people have insinuated that I have been lying on a claim that isn't even that controversial. I mainly watch car and canal boats videos these days and don't bother with tech stuff outside of security and home lab bits and pieces.

I was trying to find videos palatable to someone that is interested and just wants to run something reliable instead of Windows. I didn't find any.

> The point we're making in this thread is that we aren't seeing the same things you are, and it's highly likely that whatever comments you're thinking about are not representative of the kinds of opinions people in tech hold.

Linux cringe is a thing that been a complaint for a while. That why people do copy-pasta of the GNU\Linux stuff, the "programmer socks" meme, "I run arch BTW" and there is the infamous dropbox post made on here back in 2008.

Most people that don't exist in online world, find all of this very weird and off putting.

Yet you still show no receipts. So, until you do, I shall remain skeptical.

You are asking for something unreasonable i.e. I go through possibly several months of YouTube history in a comment section argument to "prove" that there people in the Linux community that do weird and cringey things, which is something that they are known for.

This is after you insinuated that I lied less than two comments ago. You put remembering in scare quotes and some other dude told me I was a "clown" because I can't remember username I saw months ago.

So no. I won't be doing that for you or anyone else now.

Then your claim won't be believed. Simple as that.

Tbh, from your nickname you wouldn't agree with this person's claims either way.

(I agree with your point, tho)

You'd think that, but I'm as much a critic of the worst parts of the furry community as any outsider.

And, to practice what I preach, here's some evidence:

https://soatok.blog/2025/06/12/furries-need-to-learn-that-su...

https://soatok.blog/2022/06/21/a-greymuzzles-lament/ +

What you asked me to do was overly onerous for a discussion. Even if I found the links and gave you them, I will be told there isn't a problem (especially judging by the username) and I am "taking things too seriously".

There is huge amount of cringe and embarrassing behaviour in the Linux community and Tech community in general. It is well known and denying it is utterly disingenuous.

I try to avoid stickers from tech products which seem to be the common thing to do. Instead almost all of my stickers are from my friend's art projects.

I've gone with a few branded ones (e.g. "Lock your fcking computer!" from Zorus), but more from conferences I've gone to, notably bsides conferences.

Place of honor goes to a gift from my wife, a black cat staring at you with "Judging you. Quietly." It seems appropriate.

Right, which tells us that what was fun about it was feeling cool for doing something unusual.

Cue the scene from Office Space where Jennifer Anniston's waitress character is required to have a minimum of 7 pieces of flair on her uniform, per corporate franchise policy. And that movie is from the 90s!

15. But more is encouraged; they want their people to express themselves, after all. Do you just want to do the bare minimum?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ChQK8j6so8

My work laptop has a company sticker on it. If I'm at a customer's office I'd like everyone to know I don't work for them. TSA also has this really neat trick where my laptop has gotten "lost" several times going through security. I have to describe the laptop in order to get it back. If I don't have an identifying sticker it's basically impossbile to uniquely identify it

Our CTO: If you add stickers to your laptop you need to keep it for four years, rather than two.

We sell back our laptop to the company we get them from, they refurb them and give us a nice discount on the new model. Most vinyl stickers leave a mark on MacBooks that can't come off, hurting the resell value a lot. Some have protecting covers on their laptop and the stickers go on that instead.

Jeeze man… you get a new laptop after two years? I’ve had mine 5 and they ain’t looking to replace it any time soon…

> Most vinyl stickers leave a mark on MacBooks that can't come off

Doesn't sound like a problem acetone/isoprop can't solve, especially on anodized aluminium.

Big "needs more flair" vibes.

You are hanging out with the wrong crowd, if you can't get stickers the CTO would disapprove of. Visit a local squat, there are probably some which directly address the CTO job title. X-lube comes with collectible stickers too.

I usually just add a sticker to two so I can help make it easier to identify.

“We need to talk about your flair.”

Actual LOL for that comment. Thank you.

Yeah, that's the one problem I'd have with stickers.

I'm personally not interested, but I also would never make fun of people expressing themselves.

On the other hand... mandatory fun, mandatory self-expression, any anything that takes something very personal and turns it into official or unofficial company policy makes me sick. I'm glad it's not too common here in Germany.

It's like HR forcing you to listen to punk songs because the company wants to promote a rebellious spirit as long as it's compatible with "disruption". It's also a bit like being asked "why are you so quiet" by someone who said everything worthwhile 5 minutes after getting out of bed but never stopped yapping.

To me stickers on laptops are as tasteless and kitschy as tattoos. I would never get a tattoo for the same reason I would never put a sticker on my laptop.

Besides nobody gives a shit about your stupid political opinions or the software stack you use.

Personally I keep one Linux sticker on my laptop, less about expression and more a conversation starter. It's something that 99% of people won't notice but for the 1% that notices it's a nice conversation starter when everyone is bored (ie waiting at the airport)

When I next have a working laptop (I currently use a desktop and a phone), I'll probably stick on a Linux sticker and something from Discworld (probably the "Anthill Inside" sticker, intended for that purpose).

I got a System76 laptop instead.

Need them to tell apart my work laptop from my home laptop as they look identical

I had equipped the family with identical corporate-refurb laptops - when you have any of 4 laptops in a family room, it was a way of not getting my laptop taken by my kids to school one day...

Back in the office days, it was also a way to identify a corporate laptop among a sea of identical models.

Also, like I don't wear branded clothing, I like to cover the device brand.

Back when I worked at Apple no one had stickers on their laptops (gasp, who would dare!). But everyone had identical MacBook Pros, and when we had meetings, they would go in the center of the table and then everyone would have trouble telling them apart. So I got a couple of gold star stickers like you give to children for my laptop.

"Besides nobody gives a shit about your stupid political opinions or the software stack you use."

But sure, tell everyone about your feelings on tattoos and stickers

I've always tried to apply "The Internet gives a fuck about what you don't like" when it comes to commenting, but it's also helpful to remember it's not just the Internet.

Well, nobody cares about you're views about stickers and tattoos, but you still commented. Compared to you though, nobody here called you a retard; maybe that says something about how people are here or how you tend to use inflammatory language when it's not needed.

I care! I dunno if I agree with him about all tattoos (surely some are tasteful even if it's a minority), but stickers are definitely all tasteless and kitschy.

Hi! I find your opinion tasteless and kitschy.

They won't give a shit about your political opinions as long as it's one of those in the linked gallery of corporate-friendly pre-approved ones.

Anything right of center and suddenly people start caring very much.

Left of center types have worked for decades on being ignored while right of center types are going through something of a resurgance right now after being rightfully relegated to the thrash heap of history and tend to feel persecuted if someone disagrees with them. For those right of center types freedom of speech seems to cut only in one way and it, unsurprisingly, evokes more disagreement. It must suck to be right of center.

Of course, that's another thing. The site is full of "down with the system" types which are, for some reason, oblivious to the irony of their values being aligned with the corporate values of businesses that have a valuation of trillions.

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/we-should-improve-society-som...

that's fine, I like putting things on my laptop that I'm enthusiastic about like earth day or zig or whatever. People can like it or not. I suppose of my CEO told me to rip them off I would, otherwise it's harmless. I won't put political stickers on though. I keep religion and politics strictly away from my work life, and walk away if that's the direction a conversation turns. I'm sure there are people at the office who think I'm a die hard conservative, and other that are 100% sure I'm a far left commie, because I simply peace out on political discussions.

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