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Black Mesa is officially coming to Linux, and the developer confirmed so in a rather delightful way of shooting down an anti-Linux troll in the Steam forums.

You may or may not heard of a user who goes by the username "meraco" on Steam. He seems to be popping up all over Linux support posts on the Steam forum to spread anti-Linux sentiments, this time it was different.

After his usual derailing of a Linux support topic, the Black Mesa developer commented:
QuoteWhat are we arguing about? We're making a Linux port. We think it's totally worth it.

We built Linux and got errors (as we expected). They're not especially complex errors, but there are a lot of them. As soon as we get a stable build we'll push it to Steam for people to test.


It's good to get confirmation (and fantastic to see a troll get slapped down), as previously they were only evaluating a port, but now it is happening.

Note: The best way to shut a troll down is to post like they aren't even there. Don't quote them or reply to them, just keep posting your support of Linux versions.

About the game
Black Mesa is the award winning fan-made re-imagining of Gordon Freeman's landmark journey through the Black Mesa Research Facility. Relive Half-Life, Valve Software's revolutionary debut, and experience the game that raised the bar for the entire game industry all over again! Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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About the author -
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. You can also follow my personal adventures on Bluesky.
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Segata Sanshiro 8 Jul 2016
Once Laptop65 gets put in his place as well, then we can all rejoice. In some senses he's worse considering he's on the payroll of a few devs.
m2mg2 8 Jul 2016
Why would someone that plays games in Linux go around game threads and try to convince game devs not to make Linux ports? That is what he does. Even games where developers have already stated they are making Linux ports. Is there any logical purpose to what he does if he/she isn't being paid to do it? He says people posting for games that they didn't buy when they were ported are spamming but he posts into game forums for games he doesn't own and doesn't appear to have any interest in, so by his own logic he is spamming. He doesn't even say he is considering buying the game, but those he calls spammers are saying they will "consider" buying the game and that makes them spammers. He goes into threads with the intent of causing problems and getting threads closed, tries to make Linux unappealing for developers. Is his behavior grounds for banning, I don't know if it is but it should be. Is he a Troll, most definitely. He is the equivalent of a Linux user who goes and posts into every Windows game thread and tries to convince game devs to stop making Windows games. Using the very real privacy issues, anti-competitive business practices and their desire to implement a store that take sales percentages as justification. Sure it is a legit viewpoint, but going into every Windows game forum and arguing that dev's should not make Windows games is not legit. I haven't seen a Linux user display this type of behavior and if they do I think they should banned also. Linux users don't constantly argue against making Windows games, we argue for multi platform games. We want games to have a larger audience, not to restrict the audience. I personally feel that when possible games should be available on every platform. As a gamer I shouldn't have to have Windows, a PS4, an XBox 1 and a WiiU to play all modern games. Meraco is like herpes or a warts. His mere existence on a thread turns it into something devs want to get rid of, and that is his goal. He has been somewhat successful at it.
m2mg2 8 Jul 2016
Yes you can say whatever you want on your own website. He is free to state whatever he wants on public websites. However I don't expect to see some articles that target 1 individual who has no influence on anything.

His behavior has contributed to getting pro Linux ports threads shut down. And probably put off some devs to things related to Linux.

Edit: Fixed your quote for you - liam


Last edited by Liam Dawe on 8 Jul 2016 at 5:18 pm UTC
meraco 8 Jul 2016
Hi Liam. ^_^
Liam Dawe 8 Jul 2016
  • Admin
Hi Liam. ^_^
Welcome, don't be a shit.
lagh 8 Jul 2016
Hi meraco,

welcome to the dragons den ;)
tuubi 8 Jul 2016
  • Supporter Plus
Welcome, don't be a shit.
Please make this message pop up every time a user logs in. In fact, make it the official GOL slogan.
ElectricPrism 8 Jul 2016
I would have ignored Meraco if he had made one anti-linux comment out of arrogance on that thread.

However, when a kid pisses on Linux parading around drawing the attention of onlookers I ain't tolerate that shit one bit.

Ignoring this youngling's retorts could have lead the developer and watchers to agreeing with their sentiments as being the "strongest" simply because no one has challenged their statements.

This youngling wanted only to fight and get a laugh while spreading misinformation and blatant lies,
what he helped do instead was create contrast why Linux is the future and how it's so awesome.

Thank you Marco.

Lets all see trolling as an opportunity to enlighten watchers about how Linux is the future.

View video on youtube.com


Last edited by ElectricPrism on 8 Jul 2016 at 6:28 pm UTC
t3g 8 Jul 2016
These anti-Linux and pro Windows trolls make no sense. They are defending a closed OS made by a mega corporation and that corporation doesn't care about you. What did Ubuntu or Debian or Arch do to offend this person so much? Shouldn't having your game on more platforms be the end goal?

The GNU/Linux distros offer software freedom and choice. You can use whatever desktop you want in addition to the distro. Heck, you can go 100% free software with something like [Trisquel](https://trisquel.info) if you choose. Having more control over your computing is a good thing!
Uncleivan 8 Jul 2016
Death to mocosoft!!!!!!
manus76 8 Jul 2016
Not much to add here, apart from one thing maybe: even as a hardcore Windows user you would really want linux and linux gaming to succeed as much as is humanly possible - imagine the pressure on Microsoft to innovate and make Windows a better OS if linux had a high double digit desktop market share. Does it really take an Einstein to get it?
Luke_Nukem 8 Jul 2016
Troll or not, this is a nice way to start a witch hunt...

I've read some of meraco's posts, and I don't see anything to suggest that he/she is a troll. It seems like nowadays people are classified as trolls just because they have a different opinion. And to those claiming this is some anti-linux, MS evangelist, this is one of his posts from that thread:

The problem is the amount of time and energy he puts in to doing this. Quite seriously,it's almost every Linux thread that he pops up in to in some way say "don't bother asking for a Linux port, just use Windows".

My problem with that is a multitude of "ifs".
If we don't ask, we don't show interest.
If we don't show interest, what's the likelihood of a port.
If we did just "shut up and use Windows" then what the hell is the point in Linux in the first place.

It's akin to "everybody drives a car, you should too. Don't bother with a train or bus".
Shaolu 8 Jul 2016
Apparently someone in this thread thinks this site is some kind of corporate PR outlet. "Professional?" WTF? LOL
pete910 8 Jul 2016
  • Supporter Plus
Hi Liam. ^_^

No PC info...

Wanted to know if you duel boot :P
tuna89 8 Jul 2016
Arugh, that "meraco" character is a right fool.. look at his posting history;

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198062440797/posthistory/

Troll indeed..


Last edited by tuna89 on 8 Jul 2016 at 11:18 pm UTC
Hi Liam. ^_^

"There aren't enough swear-words in the English language, so now I'll
have to call you perkeleen vittupää just to express my disgust and
frustration with this crap." ^_^
Stupendous Man 9 Jul 2016
You guys do know you can block people on Steam, right?

I blocked this fool a long time ago and since then I've lost weight, got a photo model girlfriend and won a sports car!


(The above message might contain hyperbole).
lidstah 9 Jul 2016
I must admit I quite never understood these kind of almost "religious wars", and I've seen a lot from the Amstrad vs C64 one, Amiga vs Atari ST one, Nintendo vs Sega one, BSD vs the rest of the world one, and even some survivors of the Vi vs Emacs wars (what a bloody mess), and I still don't get the point of posting in threads related to what you don't like to try to push your point of view (valid or not), point of view which will always been, at best, ridiculed by other posters.

Mind me, I'm an (old) UNIX (*BSD) and GNU/Linux user, an active member of my local LUG, and albeit I don't like Microsoft products (although I sometimes have to deal with them at work), I never went into Windows related forums/newsgroups/subreddits/irc channels/whatever to told them how bad it is and why they shouldn't use it… That's the best way to look like a moron, imho.


Last edited by lidstah on 9 Jul 2016 at 12:31 pm UTC
Overlord 9 Jul 2016
This meraco is nothing but a experimental troll comment bot from microsoft.No wonder its messed up.There is no point in giving any attention to it.
tuna89 9 Jul 2016
You guys do know you can block people on Steam, right?

I blocked this fool a long time ago and since then I've lost weight, got a photo model girlfriend and won a sports car!


(The above message might contain hyperbole).

In true Steam fashion the "Block" feature isn't exactly a block feature; sadly regardless of blocking someone or not you'll still see their posts on the forums / discussions etc
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