[Giles]

So, imagine this situation: You're reading the forums and you notice a post that no-one's replied to yet. You know part of the answer, but not enough to solve the whole problem. Should you post to the thread or not?

At first it seems like an easy answer: you should post, because that has the advantage of a) showing the original poster (especially if they're new to the forums) that people are looking at their problem (we all know how disheartening it can be to find that no-one's answered your post) and b) that bit of knowledge you provide might be the bit that's missing from someone else's explanation - between you and the next person to post, you might create a full answer, but neither of you would be able to do it alone.

However, I suspect that the gurus on the forums are more likely to look at threads with no replies, on the basis that they don't have time to solve every problem, and if there've been replies already then there's probably someone else already dealing with the problem. Thus it would be a waste of the guru's valuable time to work out what the thread is all about, and whether they need to add anything. I'm already finding myself doing that, and I'm miles away from being able to solve any problem, or even a quarter of the things that come up*...

So, back on the original problem: If you post to the thread, you add that bit of knowledge, and reassure the poster that people care, but you make it less likely that someone who can solve the whole problem will look at the thread. So what're people's thoughts on this - should you post or not?

Toodle-oo
Giles

*If I'm honest, I suspect that for me it's more a matter of wanting to make myself feel good by being the "knight in shining armour" for the poster If I get in first, it makes me look good...

[fingal]

I think it's okay to post even if you don't know the whole answer for the reasons you mentioned. I suppose this is an imperfect medium for sorting things out. It works, but what about when you post an answer and the other person effectively vanishes! Did they sort it out, or did they just decide you were full of hot air and go back to using Win XP?

Must admit - I sometimes post when I don't know the answer (following a Google search) because I think that you can begin to arrive at a solution that way ... or prompt the person who posted the question towards the answer. After all ... if you're solving a problem at home you would work that way ...

Sometimes it helps to clarify what something points to in an error message ... I think beginning to answer a question is important. That way I've noticed that a thread can develop towards a conclusion.

And yes ... I'm just as guilty of 'getting in first' as you say you are. :-/

[bigtomrodney]

Yeah I know that worry. Sometimes passing on the one bit of information you have becomes a contract to finish the job. Worst case is getting a bunch of follow up PMs. But I like to help when I can, even if it's not a complete answer. I learn from it too.

[Roxoff]

I must admit to looking into the problems with '0' replies first (and I'm not even a guru) - particularly if they've had a lot of views. It means they're probably much more interesting and difficult problems to solve...

But even if I dont know the whole answer, I'll try to chip in with what I do know, it might contribute towards a solution. It might even be that I've learned half of something, and when the original poster get to the final solution, I'll have learned the other half too!

The earlier on you are in the linux learning curve, the more helpful it is to you personally to have a stab at a solution, or a partial one. There are several reasons for this:

- it re-affirms the knowledge that you already have (i.e. thinking about it refreshes it in your mind).
- it exposes your knowledge to experts who can help you if you've got it almost right (or, dare I say it, somewhat less than "almost right").
- it makes you take an interest in issues and areas other than the ones you're currently going though with your own linux installation/configuration. Not only do you take an interest, but you can find yourself actively searching for a fix or attempting to implement your own fix by testing on your own systems.
- sometimes you dont even realise how much you do know about a subject until you pop an answer down on someone elses thread; I've surprised myself several times with finding a complete solution with no reference to anything other than my own config files to refresh my memory when I'd initially thought I could only help part of the way.
- it might encourage you to try new features or different configurations on your own systems because they're better than what you currently use.

I must say that since I've been posting on here my Linux knowledge has broadened immeasurably. I still dont know everything about Linux (an impossible goal). And I'm not a guru. Not yet

[techieMoe]

I often don't know the whole solution to a problem, for whatever reason (not enough information, not my area of expertise, cerebral flatulence). I think personally it's best to offer what you do know and let someone else pick up the torch where you left off. Helping someone with SOME of their problem is certainly better than not helping at all.

[sdousley]

I agree that ANY bits of information no matter how small they are are important to solving, post whatever you can on the subject. It might not be the whole solution, but it might be the 1% of the solution that the original poster was missing, in which case, would be (in their situation) the whole solution.

I agree with roxoff, i do tend to look at posts with no replies, but that's cos i never realised there was a "Posts since last visit" now i have found that, i will make that my first port of call rather than the unanswered posts part. This way, it's better, cos there's no point in me looking at unanswered posts i have previously written off as not knowing the answer to! Well, not unless i have learnt that since my last visit

[Zelmo]

I've gotten into the habit of what sdousley just mentioned, looking at new posts straight away. But in my case, I'm as likely to look into a topic with 8 replies as one with 0, as long as the subject line and/or tool tip suggests it's something I might know about (or want to know more about, if I'm just looking).