Being a git

Message

northern · Post by **northern** » Sun Nov 16, 2003 12:08 am

I've been a member of this forum for about a week or so, and I've only made about 20 posts. Most of the posts I've made have been to try to help people, and if anyone asked I'd be the first to say I am not a Gentoo/Linux guru.
Trouble is, the more I try and help people the more I feel that I am in fact just being a bighead, posting cos I think I know something that someone else doesn't, or to be precise I sometimes feel that other people on this board may think I'm just posting cos I think I'm clever.
I have a vicious circle thing going on, I really do want to help people if I can, but I don't want to come over as a t*sser! .
I'm certainly not offended if someone corrects a post I make, but the whole "I wish that northern guy would shut the bleep up! thing is going round in my head.
I post cos I like to help people and the whole linux thing is one big knowledge share thing, and I know how good it is to receive help when your struggling with something. There's a lot of info on the internet but it can be incredibly difficult to actually get to the bit of it that you need, and these forums obviously help in overcoming this.

Any of you feel like that, or do I have an inferiority complex ...

Thanks for listening...

relyt · Post by **relyt** » Sun Nov 16, 2003 1:51 am

Just keep on helping where you think you can. That's all you can do.

Brandy · Post by **Brandy** » Sun Nov 16, 2003 2:08 am

Moved from Other Things Gentoo to Gentoo Chat.

northern, people struggling with Gentoo problems usually will welcome any input you may offer them. As long as your posts are informative and disarming then you should be proud of the fact that you are helping others out.

Ciao, Brandy.

chrispy · Post by **chrispy** » Sun Nov 16, 2003 5:42 am

northern, even if the info you give is not entirely accurate, it will help circling the problem or shed a new light on it. So, no matter how you look at it, any input is valuable as long as it stays on the subject !

btw, welcome to our realm of crazyness

[herb] · Post by **[herb]** » Sun Nov 16, 2003 7:41 am

I'd say you have an inferiority complex buddy

Ive only been a Linux user for a couple of months now, but I try to help out here as much as I can too. What I do, is I just answer alot of the elementary questions, such as, for example, how to configure your menu in fluxbox... or how to install and set up KDE/KDM etc. Saves some of the actual "guru's" alot of time answering easy questions, and allows me to contribute.

Vive le Gentoo!

HolyCoitus · Post by **HolyCoitus** » Sun Nov 16, 2003 8:21 am

I know the feeling Northern, I generally abstain from posting unless I am very sure I know exactly what I am talking about. I must say though, when I have a problem I don't care if many people answer, even if a few are WAY off. I've found answers to other problems for future reference or just plain interesting things because of things that are off base, and even have used that info to come back around on a solution. I'd say to keep posting, adding to your own knowledge as you go.

ZuBsPaCe · Post by **ZuBsPaCe** » Sun Nov 16, 2003 10:31 am

lol, I'm a swiss guy (yeah switzerland, the place at the edge of the world), and i dont even know english pretty well. When I'm posting something, i already hear u guys giggling over me, because of my crappy english... moreover i'm just a gentoo-noob and the content of my posts are usually so obvious to everyone, that I start to think, that I'm completely useless here

and u think, you have an inferiority complex ??? Geee, look at my mental state...

(the point is, keep on posting, although nobody listens to u

)

fca · Post by **fca** » Sun Nov 16, 2003 10:42 am

northern wrote:I've been a member of this forum for about a week or so, and I've only made about 20 posts. Most of the posts I've made have been to try to help people, and if anyone asked I'd be the first to say I am not a Gentoo/Linux guru.
Trouble is, the more I try and help people the more I feel that I am in fact just being a bighead, posting cos I think I know something that someone else doesn't, or to be precise I sometimes feel that other people on this board may think I'm just posting cos I think I'm clever.
I have a vicious circle thing going on, I really do want to help people if I can, but I don't want to come over as a t*sser! .
I'm certainly not offended if someone corrects a post I make, but the whole "I wish that northern guy would shut the bleep up! thing is going round in my head.
I post cos I like to help people and the whole linux thing is one big knowledge share thing, and I know how good it is to receive help when your struggling with something. There's a lot of info on the internet but it can be incredibly difficult to actually get to the bit of it that you need, and these forums obviously help in overcoming this.

Any of you feel like that, or do I have an inferiority complex ...

Thanks for listening...

Hey, it's the way I started on another forum. It's the start of a road, which can take you all the way to Linux guruship, if you walk it that far. I still doubt if I know enough, on the subject of Linux, even when the local student system administrators which run the computer system of the local Computer Science student association come running to me for questions.
I guess you never know enough to be sure, maybe even Linus has occasional doubts

Doubting if you know enough is the perfect way of learning more.
Knowing you know everything is the perfect way of staying dumb.

shash · Post by **shash** » Sun Nov 16, 2003 3:20 pm

Don't worry, dude! everyone goes through that phase!

It'll pass!

northern · Post by **northern** » Sun Nov 16, 2003 4:21 pm

Thanks for the replies folks.

This is a great community ..

charlieg · Post by **charlieg** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 9:19 am

Don't listen to 'em Northern. Us northerners know that anybody who can answer a half-technical query is a smart-ass-clever-git. Sadly, that means I am guilty of being a git as are you. But that's us northerners... gits.

slarti` · Post by **slarti`** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 11:44 am

tomk · Post by **tomk** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 10:32 pm

The way I see it is that these comminuties are here to help people learn about using *NIX systems. We are part of these communities as want to help people because when we first joined we also needed help, and appreciated it when we found it. That's one of the best things about it, that millions of people around the world who are helping each other out in their spare time just to try and make things better.

If you do know the answer to a question (probably because you've had the same problem yourself and had to fix it) then there is absolutely nothing wrong with helping people out. If you're not quite sure but you've got an idea how to solve the problem, then just say so in your post. If you are wrong someone will correct you which means that you and lots of other people will learn a little bit more. Just remember there's always someone who knows more about *NIX than you, but as long as the the knowledge base increases it's all good.

Post away, point people in the right direction and have fun!

Yossarian · Post by **Yossarian** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 11:58 pm

I feel that way sometimes. I guess it's a problem of mine but I feel like someone's gonna say, "Shut up Yossarian. You don't know what you're talking about. You're such a loser.". A good bit of the time I feel like a drain on the community since I ask so many questions, but I have learned more because of the questions I ask. I also have a [great] working Gentoo Linux system because of my questions. I just sometimes feel like a leach because I don't help people as much as I wish I could, but when I do really help someone it makes me feel good. I'd say that the only people that don't help the community are people that are obvious trolls. And remember too, that there are a lot of people on here that have been in *nix for years, so of course they'll know more.

charlieg · Post by **charlieg** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 10:47 am

Shut up Yossarian.

You don't know what you're talking about.

You're such a loser.

Whaaa', why are you looking at me like that?

Yossarian · Post by **Yossarian** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 11:59 am

See! I knew it, sooner or later someone would say something like that!!! Don't make me bust out with my alter-ego!

. Sorry, I just got done watching Fight Club.

Neje · Post by **Neje** » Thu Nov 20, 2003 8:38 pm

Now I'm going to sound like a complete git, but I believe that if you're trying to help out by trying to provide an answer, and it's completely useless, it's usually due to the question.

For instance, if someone asks "hey, I'm trying to play dvd's and it totally doesn't work, what gives?" and you try to provide some pointers (do you have the dvd libs, do you have dvd in your USE flags?), and the person asking turns out to be a linux guru who knows more about dvd's than you, he should not have phrased his question like that. Of course, a person asking this sort of question won't be a guru, but someone who'd like any input at all.

If someone asks a very specific, detailed question, attaching logs, debug messages, information about trapping signals or whatever, and you haven't the foggiest what he's on about, you probably won't be able to help and you won't be really tempted to try.

So, to make a long story short, I completely agree with [herb] when he says

Saves some of the actual "guru's" alot of time answering easy questions, and allows me to contribute.

Truth is, I also rarely post, most of the time someone beat me to it, or I would be in way over my head. But I'd like to think I helped a few people, if only a little.

Neje

RedBeard0531 · Post by **RedBeard0531** » Thu Nov 20, 2003 10:19 pm

I started out the same way, now look at my ranking

(I know their meaningless, but i thought it was funny) Sometimes I'd see a question that sounded interesting, and id look into it and try it out. I found I've learned quite a bit helping others.

davecs · Post by **davecs** » Thu Nov 20, 2003 11:51 pm

I look at it this way:

Linux is free. It is open source, and it costs you virtually nothing. You can make financial donations if you wish. Many of us don't. Now I cannot write programs at the level required to help in the programming effort, though when Lazarus (a multi-OS GPL Pascal system, like Delphi and Kylix) is ready for action I hope to share a few little things...

So how can I put something back? By passing on whatever I've found out on the way. So I don't know a huge amount. But I do know about setting Refresh/Sync rates in XF86Config because I had to find out! Also making the ieee1394 subsystem available to non-root users. And so on. I've been using Linux for about a year now, and I don't know much, but if I can help one or two people to avoid some of the struggles I had to go through to get things working properly, fine.

So, Northern, if you know the answer, or at least can offer something that someone who is stuck may wish to try, post away!

curtis119 · Post by **curtis119** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 2:17 am

A lot of times I look at the unanswered posts and pick one out that I know nothing about. I search around the net, this and other linux forums and I read the documentation. Then I post an answer. This way I learn something new and I get to help someone else out at the same time.

DarrenM · Post by **DarrenM** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 4:50 am

Nearly all my posts are answering questions too. I think the only way you will come across as a git/know-all is if you're one of those schmucks that feels the need to correct peoples spelling or grammar. That's really annoying

The only thing that gets my goat is when you post an answer and get no reply. It's always nice to know if people have solved their problem, otherwise it feels like a wasted effort. Especially if you have put in the effort of searching for the answer etc.

Mystilleef · Post by **Mystilleef** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 5:48 am

Hellllp?!!! Make 'em suffer. Mwuhahahahaha!!!

lurid · Post by **lurid** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 11:07 am

As long as you're not being an ass, post what you think. Whats the worst that can happen, you'd be wrong? C'mon. The most anyone can say is "Uh.. no, do it this way," and then guess what? You just learned something you didn't know. Its a win-win situation. Of course because I'm a fairly nasty person in real life (I try to keep myself in check on the boards) I do enjoy people like Lovechild, but he has style. I wouldn't suggest emulating him because most people just can't pull it off. Not to mention love-sources rocks.

In any case, if you have an opinion, an idea, or a suggestion, post it. The most noble thing anyone can do with knowledge is to share it with others. Besides, Red Hat charges tons of money for support that probably isn't even half as good as a quick search of these forums. Every post adds to the wealth of information stored here.

SmokinBudda · Post by **SmokinBudda** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 4:33 pm

I've always felt that I should always post any answer that may help someone. I feel that I had many many people help me out along the way and the least that I could do would be to help out people who have the same problems that I had. Hey I think once I actually helped someone!

My feeling is they wanted an answer so you should give it if you have it. Sure there were a number of times where I misdiagnosed it but the beauty of Gentoo to me is that it's just about impossible to totally screw your system so it's all good.

On a totally seperate note, all of these foreign (non-English) people who make comments about their poor english should come to an English speaking country for a couple of months. I know that all non-native writers I've come across here speak (or at least write) English MUCH better than 70% of the native speakers that I know. Heck, I don't even know what a git is. At the very least you should see how I speak your language

Mongrol · Post by **Mongrol** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 8:16 pm

What a tosser!

Being a git

Being a git

Re: Being a git