I often ask questions on these here boards about PHP and ASP and other stuff. I probably don’t make it clear how much I appreciate that help (I try to)
I would love to be able to give help or advice but I just never get the chance to. Nobody asks questions on something about which I am an expert. As is the nature of the Dope anything I could be an ‘expert’ on is likely to have a better expert on these boards.
I hope that the people who give me help and advice do so because they like to give help and advice. I hope they don’t mind when I get pedantic about the answers they give. I don’t mean to.
Anyway -to the dope in general - do you like to give advice when people ask for it? or do you consider it a chore or an obligation?
When I get asked for computer help from relatives I tend to consider it a burden because more often than not there’s something unusual about the way they do things that makes explaining the problem or even working out a solution more difficult. And more often than not it’s over the phone. I often say “I could probably figure it out if I was there at your computer”
But If there was a question on the dope I could answer but didn’t want to I’d just ignore it. Nobody would know. It’s not like people here know me for being an expert on “X” or “Y” and they can say “Well soon Lobsang will come along to provide the answer, but until then here’s my WAG”. There are people here who are that person for me.
So what are your feelings on the whole help/advice giving aspect of the dope or the internet?
Actually, I look out for you. Not because I expect you to answer but just because I find your replies interesting and helpful.
I LOVE giving advice…though more so in real life than on the internet. Advice over the internet is hard because neither side can give enough information for the other to understand the situation enough. I think, and hope, my friends see me as someone to come to when they are feeling down or have a problem, and thats probably because of having a psychology degree and working in mental health.
Here on the Dope I guess I am drawn more towards health/psychological related topics or questions and like giving advice towards them.
I like to be helpful, but I hate it when people ask for a specific piece of advice, I give them a thought out and fabulous bit of insight, and they totally ignore it.
Online, yes. Because I can choose when to give out advice. Offline, no so much. I used to, but now it’s like people don’t even research the most basic questions they have.
One thing about the Web that shocks me is how WILLINGLY people are to help stranger.
I took on a project for a hotel with some issues with Adobe and long story short, I came out such a hero, because there were people on web boards that went way out of their way to give me answers. (That, of course, I took credit for).
Coders especially. I love to help people with computer problems and I do volunteer work, my short coming is, I am one of these people who has to actually LOOK at the computer to visualize and correct the problem.
I agree with this, but I will do this too. Even though I could get the answer I think it’s always interesting to see what others think about a question I have.