Why there have so much passionate people answer qustion?

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I really don’t understand.
I did do some, but I want you guys, talk about this.

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You’re not making any sense.

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I think the user is asking why are so many passionate people are here answering questions.

I like helping people, at the end of the day I know that I made a difference in someone’s day :slight_smile:

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I like helping people too, but that was awfully written in so many ways.
I wasn’t trying to be mean or sarcastic - I was hoping the poster would clarify. If english is not his/her primary language, Google translate does a wonderful job of it.
In any case, even your interpretation of the question is kinda vague.

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I don’t know how to make the description any more clear based off what the author of the thread said, he asked why are there so many people answering questions.

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I’m not judging your interpretation - it sounds feasible and you’re probably accurate.
I was referencing the question itself if that’s what it is.
You’re a good person. I’m not patient with vagueness hence my initial response to the poster.

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Well now, this could get quite philosophical. Answers can fall into two categories -“humans are basically good” and “humans are basically selfish”. I think there’s some truth in both. Let’s start with the latter:

Selfish reasons:

  • People like to show off how smart they are (cf. mansplaining, techsplaining, etc.)
  • People like to show off how morally good they are (cf. virtue signaling)
  • People want other people to like them (cf. people pleasing)

Good reasons:

  • Desire to help others
  • Love of teaching
  • Enjoy the community and want to contribute to it
  • Love the subject matter and want to share it with everyone

As you can see, most of the “good reasons” actually correspond pretty closely with the “selfish” ones and vice-versa. IMO that’s because fundamentally selfish (or at best tribalist) motivations can give rise to genuinely good actions under the right circumstances (and culture has a lot to do with this). And I don’t think that’s a cynical point of view -
in fact, at its best, it’s quite beautiful to see it in action (though there’s always that slippery slope into mansplaining/virtue signaling/people pleasing territory). But this is maybe already getting a little off topic.

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I contribute because I like helping people and being able to make a difference in people’s days, I also want to give back to the community as it’s helped me a lot.

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Don’t forget sheer boredom.

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Could you clarify what you mean by that?

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@lionel-rowe @anon52159105 You guys have a good spirit - sounds like you fall into the good reasons category.
I generally answer questions in this forum for these reasons:

  1. the subject is interesting to me and I want to be part of the conversation (selfish)
  2. I have the ability to help and that makes me feel good considering my limited knowledge (selfish/good)
  3. I feel like the person needs encouragement (good)
  4. I want to clarify or correct a mistake in the post so there is no misinformation (selfish/good)
  5. I want to make a silly comment (selfish)
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The good/selfish thing is really a false dichotomy. Being interested in the subject leads to better/more helpful contributions, thus having a “good” outcome.

Actually, there’s another good (yet selfish) reason - one of the best ways to reinforce something you’ve recently learned is by teaching it to someone else.

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Fair enough however I don’t think anyone who answers questions knowingly answers for selfish reasons, almost all people answering legitimately want to help. I’ve noticed a lot of people answer a ton of questions on Stackoverflow in hopes of getting a recruiter interested in them (selfish? maybe but even then they’re making a difference in someone’s day and making the world a better place :slight_smile:)

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@anon52159105 he meant that some percentage of questions are likely answered out of boredom.

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Those are good points!

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I guess that’s a good way to pass the time, a lot of the time I answer questions when I need a break from projects/challenges it allows me to keep working but redirects my focus so when I get back to my project I have a new perspective.

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  • If you ask people about a subject they are knowledgeable in and care about deeply, they’ll talk about it at exhaustive length.
  • If you want to get good at programming, learning how to explain concepts to someone who doesn’t understand them is important, it makes you a better developer.
  • It feels good to help people.
  • If you can aid those people in getting up a level, there’s shared bonds and knowledge and in-jokes: it’s nice having people who you can talk to.
  • It feels good to feel smart.
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This is one of the best reasons I’ve seen in the thread, the more you help people with the concepts the better understanding and memorization you get regarding it.

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We help people cuz one day we asked for help

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Giving back is important - someone helped us - make sure to pay it forward :slight_smile:

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