Attention Please!! Where are the Experts?

[varunendra]

Hi guys & gals!

I was recently trying to help a guy (I guess) with fixing his broken kernel. It's now 5 days since he put his first post asking for help & his question was quite genuine & worth having attention of experts around here. It was quite above my head but seemed interesting to me so I didn't answer him first but kept watching his thread. After waiting a while, seeing no one is answering him, I tried to come up with some initial workarounds (like "First Aid", however, the guy did need "Hospitalization").
Today, I answered his last post & got back to review the whole thread & was surprised to see that despite his problem seemingly worth an expert's opinion, no one but me (another noob) was answering his questions in almost pointless manner. I really appreciate the guy's patience the way he's still trying to follow me despite having no fruitful results so far.

Now the reason why I'm posting here is that I really want to know that ARE WE GETTING SHORT OF EXPERTS, or, ARE THE EXPERTS AMONG US HAVE BECOME SO OVERLOADED WITH PROBLEMS that they can't give even a glance to threads even if they are related with contemporary problems, or, is there some system or policy I probably don't know about such that no thread will be picked up by admins/mods/experts unless they are left unanswered for a long time. Well the last reason doesn't seem to me existing as there are some of my own threads that haven't been answered for weeks/months and are still unsolved.
My concern here is: Even though if it is not a very frequent case, how cool is it when some passionate guy decides to stick with almighty Ubuntu, does things he is encouraged to do, and when something goes wrong & he comes to us seeking help, all he gets is half-cooked, fruitless support from another confused guy- advise, philosophy, lectures & everything but a real help!

OK, maybe I'm overreacting & ranting to myself. The whole point is, first- please someone tell me if I was doing something wrong trying to help him, second- please someone (admin/mod/expert) wake up and go see him. Here's the thread:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1500656

Wish to see him like this :- :D:D:D:D:D:D

[PsychoDevon]

You need to remember though-experts are still users, just like us. They may not answer ALL of people's problems on here, but then again, neither do we.

[sydbat]

Well...it happens.

Sometimes a person posts a "help me" thread and the people looking at it do not know how to help.

Sometimes the thread is overlooked because there are a gazillion "help me" threads (especially in ABT) and it moves quickly off the first page.

Also, we are trying our best to help, but most of us have lives outside ubuntuforums.org. We all volunteer our "expertise" to make the community better/stronger when we have the time to do so. EXPECTING immediate answers, as though this is paid support, takes away from the community.

And I looked over the thread you linked - you did fine. I have no idea what their problem is, so I am one of those who did not answer. I hope that does not make me the bad guy.

[98cwitr]

This isn't paid support forum from Canonical, it's an open forum provided (thank God) from them.

btw, posted my comments in the thread.

[cariboo]

With two pages of replies it looks like the op is getting help, many members that can help will pass a thread by if there looks to be a lot of activity.

[varunendra]

This primarily being a volunteered support forum, I can't dare to tag someone as a 'bad guy'. I didn't mean to complain either. But I think no one can deny that this is perhaps the best community support forum on the net & is widely known for this quality. In my knowledge (please correct me if I'm wrong) there's no 'paid support' forum on the net as much active, capable & friendly as this one is. And that's why I sometimes feel proud to be part of it.

Actually those 15 (now 17) posts in a row & no one but me answering each time got me really confused as if I was doing something wrong by picking up his questions. It momentarily seemed to be somewhat like a task "assigned" to me even though I was not able to do justice to it.
Besides, I thought posting here may get him some positive attention from right guys.

EDIT:
With two pages of replies it looks like the op is getting help, many members that can help will pass a thread by if there looks to be a lot of activity. -that's exactly the thought that made me feel guilty about it. But now I feel happy :)

[varunendra]

btw, posted my comments in the thread.
Am I expected to thank you ?8-[

[98cwitr]

Am I expected to thank you ?8-[

if you feel compelled to do so.....

[varunendra]

if you feel compelled to do so.....
Here we go.............
T:DH:DA:DN:DK :twisted::twisted: Y:biggrin:O:mrgreen:U - Really!


EDIT: OK, seriously - it's really nice to see people respond. I've got no much work these days so have a lot of time to make lengthy posts. But I do understand the value of others' time.

[98cwitr]

EDIT: OK, seriously - it's really nice to see people respond. I've got no much work these days so have a lot of time to make lengthy posts. But I do understand the value of others' time.

Im at work at the moment ;)

[sydbat]

Im at work at the moment ;)Me too.

[varunendra]

Im at work at the moment ;)

Me too.

I've definitely got something more important to do than you two have: getting some sleep.
It's 12:28 am in my timezone.
Goodnight to me):P

[handy]

Hi guys & gals!

I was recently trying to help a guy (I guess) with fixing his broken kernel. It's now 5 days since he put his first post asking for help & his question was quite genuine & worth having attention of experts around here. It was quite above my head but seemed interesting to me so I didn't answer him first but kept watching his thread. After waiting a while, seeing no one is answering him, I tried to come up with some initial workarounds (like "First Aid", however, the guy did need "Hospitalization").
Today, I answered his last post & got back to review the whole thread & was surprised to see that despite his problem seemingly worth an expert's opinion, no one but me (another noob) was answering his questions in almost pointless manner. I really appreciate the guy's patience the way he's still trying to follow me despite having no fruitful results so far.

Now the reason why I'm posting here is that I really want to know that ARE WE GETTING SHORT OF EXPERTS, or, ARE THE EXPERTS AMONG US HAVE BECOME SO OVERLOADED WITH PROBLEMS that they can't give even a glance to threads even if they are related with contemporary problems, or, is there some system or policy I probably don't know about such that no thread will be picked up by admins/mods/experts unless they are left unanswered for a long time. Well the last reason doesn't seem to me existing as there are some of my own threads that haven't been answered for weeks/months and are still unsolved.
My concern here is: Even though if it is not a very frequent case, how cool is it when some passionate guy decides to stick with almighty Ubuntu, does things he is encouraged to do, and when something goes wrong & he comes to us seeking help, all he gets is half-cooked, fruitless support from another confused guy- advise, philosophy, lectures & everything but a real help!

OK, maybe I'm overreacting & ranting to myself. The whole point is, first- please someone tell me if I was doing something wrong trying to help him, second- please someone (admin/mod/expert) wake up and go see him. Here's the thread:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1500656

Wish to see him like this :- :D:D:D:D:D:D

Post on the Gentoo forum, they have a great deal more knowledge than the average Ubuntu user.

When you install Gentoo you compile your kernel, it is part of the game. Or at least it was when I was there a couple of years ago.

So kernel stuff should be in their vocabulary.

I'm not fobbing you off, it is just where I would go if I had serious kernel trouble.

[wilee-nilee]

I think besides as what cariboo907 mentioned, many experienced users, may just not want to go through a training process for a new user along with helping to fix the problem. Trying to help somebody who just hasn't had the chance to understand some things can be a trying experience, and end up having them disregard your help, if they think you can't help them but in actuality it is their misunderstanding of the OS that is the root of the problem and what got them there in the first place.

If you take the feelings of giving the help you did then were just cut off from anymore help I think you will see what I mean with this. Also some users think that if you respond that you may have the answer and can get quite snippy when you don't fix their problem. Your interaction with this other was appreciated and you gave no advice that was wrong, so it is easier to have a personal attachment to helping this person get a complete follow through.

[varunendra]

When you install Gentoo you compile your kernel, it is part of the game.....So kernel stuff should be in their vocabulary.Didn't know that about Gentoo. I've been hearing a lot about Gentoo, PuppyLinux & Mint and have been planning for long to try these on VMware. But never got time to implement those plans.
The only flavours other than Ubuntu that I've tried (not extensively) are Slax, DSL, INSERT(was included in UBCD), Mandriva and Fedora. Of these, only Slax & DSL are the ones that I've really 'tried' & liked. Others- I just came across while working on friends' laptops so can't say I disliked them! It's just that I never got enough time to check them out properly.

I first touched (or even saw closely) a computer almost five years ago & ever since then I've been a Window user (ME, then XP). Ubuntu (Karmik) is the first Linux flavour that I've given serious consideration & am currently completely switched to it. Maybe because whatever I read (& felt) about it gave me an impression that it is perhaps the most suitable OS for those who are new to Linux but want to have it as a regular OS.
Although now I feel like quite accustomed to it, I still don't know much about commandline options. It's been 3 months now since I'm regularly using it & still feel like a clueless baby when it comes about commandline options.
However, I,ve lately been downloading Debian, CentOS, OpenSuse, Ubuntu Server & installing them on VMware, but only installed, had a look, then closed. It's just a matter of time when I start implementing a network completely based upon Linux server & clients. [see my grand idea here:roll: (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1473806)](I've CentOS/Debian + Ubuntu/Kubuntu in my mind)
And now, Gentoo is definitely gonna be in my trial list (along with Xubuntu, Kubuntu, Mint - yes I haven't even seen them so far, I'm so lazy :))


If you take the feelings of giving the help you did then were just cut off from anymore help I think you will see what I mean with this.Sorry I 'm not getting what you mean by this. English is not my mother-tongue & am not good at it. Can you deliberate it. But don't bother if it is not worth it. At least I do understand it must be something in good spirits.

[wilee-nilee]

What I was trying to say is that helping others can have a downside, with people who are stressed due to a system not working.

[varunendra]

What I was trying to say is that helping others can have a downside, with people who are stressed due to a system not working.

Yeah, I see it a lot (fortunately- not happened with me so far) around here.
But I don't think much about it. Whenever I try to suggest a systematic solution, the main objective in my mind is to make it useful in such a way that it can benefit anyone who is suffering with same problem & wants to take the plunge.
This helps me to come up with a more optimistic approach.
However, I'm in a learning phase. Besides the OS itself, I'm also learning how to approach the problems of others.