This web site is wonderful for sharing knowledge and benefiting from the knowledge of others.
In the past, I have spent a substantial amount of time attempting to help others in the CodeGuru and the MSDN forums also.
Sometimes people comment about the amount of knowledge that is shared. Sometimes simple things such as a link to something can save a person a lot of time. Sometimes I don't knoiw where the material is and I assume it will be as easy for the person requesting assistance to find the material as it is for me to find it. I certainly agree that if I can find it faster than the otehr person could then it would help if I find it for them, but it is also true that it is often easier to find something if we just have a hint of what to look for.
Sometimes I however don't spend time figuring something out. I share the knowledge I have, hoping that is enough for the person requesting assistance. In the past, I did spend a lot of time figuring something out. Many members such as Vulpes and Frogleg put a lot of time into their assistance and that is certainly very good. Sometimes my responses are called suggestions, and Mahesh also calls his responses suggestions.
I think however there is a difference between knowledge and time. I try to share the nowledge I have but I often don't spend much time doing additional research. Some people consider that to be inadequate, so I just wanted to point out that time is not the same thing as knowledge. I will certainly try to optimize my knowledge and time, when I am able to, so that if my knowledge can lead to an answer substantially faster than the person requesting assistance can, then I will certainly try to do that. There are other times when I am tempted to help someone but I tell myself I should not spend a lot of time trying to help.
So the point I am making is that investing time is not the same as sharing knowledge.
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Sam HobbsPosted May 1, 2011, 10:33 PM
These are thoughts I have develpped from many years of participation in forums. I think it is the type of thing I wanted to say but could not think of how.
It is wonderful when someone volunteers their own time to help others and that needs to be recognized, supported, encouraged, apprecited and rewarded but for the future I will be prepared to explain that sometimes I only have knowledge and experience to share.
I think there was a similar thread a couple of months ago when someone gaved an answer and someone else was unhappy that it was not enough. I hope that for the future we will be better to support someone that tries to help but might be unable to help if it takes too much tme.
Mahesh ChandPosted May 1, 2011, 5:56 PM
My theory is, I am not going to cook Kheer (rice pudding, yummy) for you. I will tell you where the rice, milk, and oven is. I may also tell you how long to cook and how much sugar to put it in.
The reason is simple. I just don't have that much time. I used to write code but today, I have very limited time but have lot of knowledge. And I do get paid for this knowledge just going to companies and tell them how to do things right or point them into the right direction then doing stuff for them.