"We all are teachers, we all are students"
No matter how accomplished we are in a specific field, we are beginners in others. We are masters in our area of specialty, and duffers elsewhere. So a sense of humility is appropriate, even in situations where we think we know a lot (because we may actually know very little).
@ Overread: Asking the right question is part of the learning process. Yes, it takes time and effort to get the question right, but that effort shows that the questioner is genuine and is prepared to commit. My own reaction to people who ask overly broad questions with no evidence of having worked a bit at thinking about it, is to skip those threads. OK, so I have not "wasted" my time there, but does that really help the community grow? If we as a community are to tap into the rather large amount of knowledge and wisdom that exists here, we need to spend a bit of time figuring things out on our own, and then coming to the forum when we are stuck. Even better, is someone who shows what they are working on and how they are overcoming the issues they are coming across.
@BJ: I will say that the forum is not a library, but more like one of those old-world bazaars - noise, and bustle, lots of crap, some treasures, everyone trying to get your attention, and a few are trying to pick your pockets. You also get the drunks, the idiots, the loudmouths, the idle, and even the hard-working operators and stall owners. So, you try to stay out of the way of the loose cannons and be on the outlook for the stuff that interests you.
@ Orionbytes: I agree with your post, and I think you've got a good handle on the situation.
@Kundalini: I feel your frustration, but I don't know what I can offer as advice. Perhaps, part of the solution could be to patiently just reference the appropriate thread where the question was discussed and answered, but then again, it depends on whether the person asking the question was asking the question out of ignorance (ok, we all were there at one point or another) or laziness (less excusable), or just for the sake of getting a rise out of people (classic troll behaviour).
I've doing photography for over 40 years, mostly as a snapshooting amateur. I have enough skill and talent to occasionally produce pretty good images. My wife suggested that I join a community photo class a number of years back, and I had the arrogance and lack of awareness to actually think that I knew photography. That class, taught by a working professional, helped me see just how little I actually knew, and revealed the chasms of ignorance that I had (off-camera flash, manual flash, portraiture, use of light modifiers, all manner of composition ideas, post-processing... the list goes on). You don't know what you don't know. Following that humbling experience, I joined a local photo club (about 150 members) and then I really began to see how little I actually knew. Fortunately, many of the old-timers have seen this lots of time before, and were willing to generously share their time and knowledge, and to mentor me, both formally and informally. I've learned mentoring other people is a very satisfying activity, and in the process, allows one to test just how well we think we know something. And that's partly why I am here - to pass on what I've learned, and to learn more from those who are much better at it than I am.
"We all are teachers, we all are students"
. Then we can just reply to common question and paste that thread link.
