This is not a troll

Really, it's not

What I would like to understand is where asking for computer help for free on a forum like this is different from situations that you see with wedding togs complaining about people with cheap DSLR's muscling in on their business.

When is it acceptable to ask for something from a skilled individual for free?

Jonathan wrote in post #10409672
When is it acceptable to ask for something from a skilled individual for free?

Up until the point when they look irritated, the questions do not compromise them (business or personally) are ghost talking/listening or they look in a hurry

This forum is filled with knowledgeable people though. There are national/international photographers, event (sports/wedding), still (food/art), newspaper, technical (manuals) and even videographers. I'm an IT professional for instance that does photography for a large school district (yearbooks and such), teach photography/videograph​y to kids (some of them have won awards even) and on my off time work freelance for two local news papers. Sure, there are a lot of amateurs here, heck, 90% of PotN members are probably weekend warriors. However, there's still a lot of knowledge here. Don't shrug it off to quickly.

I don't think I've ever meet an IT person who wasn't prepared to answer my questions because they thought that by sharing their knowledge I would somehow be able to muscle in on their business.
Generally they are working at a service level, so they want to help you understand because it helps them help you.
Or, they are coming from a sales/development level so they to help you understand so they better sell you the idea/software.

Generally you will find that most also understand there is a lot more to working in IT than just knowing some basic things about computers.
I know considerably more than the average person, but it is a fraction of what I would need to know to actually work in IT.


I frequently ask friends in IT all sorts of questions, on the odd occasion were there has been an exchange of information, or the supply of a knowledge that had the potential to add real value to my photography (i.e. make more money from it) then I've returned the favour with my photography.

I'm not an IT professional, but I do basic website, camera, and software tech support for a real estate company with nearly a thousand agents and employees. If I can contribute something from my 3 decades of experience I'm happy to try and help. If I'm out of my league with any computer help topic, I remain silent.

The only thing that bugs me as an IT professional is having people come up to you at work and ask questions about how to fix their computer at home.

I mean, I just spent almost a whole week after work screwing with a PC to get OS X on it and now I have to explain that the reason I can't wave my magic wand and make their home PC work is because it's 20 years old and Windows 3.1 doesn't support any modern software?

Spend some money and buy a new one!

What new computer?

I don't know? Any one you see at Best Buy or Dell or HP. Anything is better than the dinosaur you're attempting to use now.

Asking me for help here on a forum versus asking me for help while I'm in the middle of my daytime IT job are two totally different things. Here I'll offer advice willingly. But I'm not going to ignore my paying customers to help you with a problem. You have to consider the context of your request.

Jonathan wrote in post #10409672
What I would like to understand is where asking for computer help for free on a forum like this is different from situations that you see with wedding togs complaining about people with cheap DSLR's muscling in on their business.

And yet there are probably a million posts on this forum from skilled photographers trying to help the newer guys.

The difference is fairly obvious - here on the forum, you ask the question, and people may answer, or not answer as they see fit, and in their own time and when it suits them.

Asking a pro while on a job is interrupting him while he's clearly busy, and not really giving him the option to (politely) ignore you or refuse to answer.