Anyone else wish they could be more helpful?

[kyalee]

I'm sooo appreciative of all the help I've gotten on these forums and I'm always trying to give back, but every time I skim the help forums, no one ever asks questions I can answer!

Anyone else know the feeling, or just me?

[LaRoza]

You learn :-)

You will be surprised how fast you will learn just by reading.

(As proof, look at my join date. I joined as soon as I started using Ubuntu (and Linux in general))

[FuturePilot]

It's true :)
Just keep reading through threads and see how they get solved. Eventually you'll pick up a whole bunch of stuff. That's how I learned most of the stuff I know. And I by no means am done learning ;)

[chucky chuckaluck]

i do. i practically wet myself when i finally find a question i can answer.

[Malac]

Checkout the "unanswered posts". People there have generally either just posted (so you can get in quick) or have a query that isn't obvious but you may know the answer to.

[ShodanjoDM]

Many times, doing simple forum or Google searches can also help to give answers. Just a slightly different keywords can reveals what other have missed.

[Herman]

:) There's always room for some-one who knows how to look things up.

I agree with ShodanjoDM and as well as google, here are a few good bookmarks to start off with too,
Official Documentation (https://help.ubuntu.com/)

Ubuntu Community Docs (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/)

UbuntuKnowledge.org (http://ubuntuknowledge.org/)

UbuntuGuide.org (http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Main_Page)

From those few starting points and of course Ubuntu Web Forums, (and google), there wouldn't be much you couldn't find out.
Knowing your way around even one of those links and it's sub-links would take a little while but it would be worth it.

If anyone picks a favourite subject and keeps learning it they would also be very useful around the forums.
Even if someone picked one command or program to specialize in, they could watch for posts pertaining to that command and help people with it.
Some commands are quite simple, but others could be studied and practiced for a long time and still not be fully explored. (The genisoimage command, for one example, has a lot of options).
It's a fun challenge to try to understand someone's description of their problem and to try to think of a good solution.
When you're successful it can be a great feeling of achievement, especially if you've had to expand your own learning to get the problem solved. :)

[Lord Illidan]

Sometimes a question can be answered by just searching and giving the OP some links.

However, please don't read 1/2 the post and then blurt out something random in order to get the beans, that's the wrong attitude. If you are not at least 90% certain, don't post.

[orange2k]

The best part about this forum is the community size that has grown in time by Ubuntu popularity. When I started using Ubuntu I couldnt solve many of my problems and searching available documentation is a little time consuming and often this documentation is outdated because of constant upgrades and improvements.

The fast answers that I got in these forums helped me improve my skills and knowledge so that by now I even managed to actually help a few people...\\:D/

In time of course I plan to become an elite hacker and increase my helpfull posts count way beyond one hundred...

[clanky]

I see my helpfulness as coming on here and posting really stupid questions so that people can answer them and feel better about themselves! :D

[Jareth]

There's always room for some-one who knows how to look things up.

That's my forte. I see a lot of questions that I've asked in the past and received answer too so I link to them or do some searching if its something that piques my interest.

My problem is a lot of posts are irrelevant to me because it's "how do I program this" or "how do I compile that program" and I haven't a clue.

I can still sit on this forum for hours though even if I can't contribute all the time. Sometimes I get a run of threads I can answer too, its so satisfying.

[Lord Illidan]

That's my forte. I see a lot of questions that I've asked in the past and received answer too so I link to them or do some searching if its something that piques my interest.

My problem is a lot of posts are irrelevant to me because it's "how do I program this" or "how do I compile that program" and I haven't a clue.

I can still sit on this forum for hours though even if I can't contribute all the time. Sometimes I get a run of threads I can answer too, its so satisfying.

Usually the compiling problems are because of build-essential not being installed or some library..It's one of my major beefs with Ubuntu that for every lib you install, you need to install the development library to compile a program you need.

[orange2k]

Hehe, today I found probably the most hilarious thank-you comment I got in this forum so far:


orange2k,

We had a couple of Dallas city and Texas state bonds to vote on today, in value of over $135 billion. I was so enthused after finally getting my usplash to work, I penciled in a new ballot (on your behalf) as Proposition 34 - "The Constiutional Amendment for issuance of $500 million in general obligation bonds payable to orange2k on behalf of his ubuntuforums.org usplash solution." Just in case, I also penciled in a more affordable alternative as Proposition 35 - "The construction of a 60 foot bronze edifice of orange2k's likeness in front of the new Dallas Cowboys football stadium."

Good luck. And Thanks.

\\//_

[drascus]

I know what you mean but you will learn things as you go along and fix your own little bugs. The when someone has a similar problem you will be able to answer it. I still have a lot to learn to but when I look through the forums I often see little things I can answer. I also sometimes read the ones that i can't answer and subscribe to them to see what the answer will be and in that way learn a little bit.

[kutjara]

I'm sooo appreciative of all the help I've gotten on these forums and I'm always trying to give back, but every time I skim the help forums, no one ever asks questions I can answer!

Anyone else know the feeling, or just me?

I know exactly what you mean. After months scouring the forums for info to help me with a wide range of things, I finally posted my first helpful tidbit today. It felt really good, like a small sign of passing from noobhood to an-almost-indefinable-shade-of-less-noobhood.

[kutjara]

Usually the compiling problems are because of build-essential not being installed or some library..It's one of my major beefs with Ubuntu that for every lib you install, you need to install the development library to compile a program you need.

Ah yes, build-essential, I know it well. I fondly remember the happy weeks of baffled incomprehension before I finally discovered I needed that little package.