What incentive is the for people to answer questions on Yedda? Why would someone keep coming back to answer ?

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That's a very interesting question, many have tried to answer before. Not just regarding Yedda, but regarding the whole internet community.  Suppose, someone had brought up a call for help with some computer problem. Why should someone else devote much of his time to write a long text answer, just like I am doing right now?. Well, Since I've found this subject interesting too, I had talked and questioned others about it before. One of the my buddies, I've talked to, is studying psychology. He said, according to a paper he read, that helping others is stamped on the human nature. Everyone wants to help and contribute, but for some, it's much easier through the keyboard. Another reason we came up with, was self satisfaction which especially result from gratitude. Anyway, that's why the Internet is so successful. Other thoughts??

 

On the level of conscious and rational thought I find incentive in that the more questions I answer the greater probability somebody to look at my profile and then take a look at the questions I asked and possibly give a reply to some of them.



On the level of unconscious thought I would speculate it's a mix of the human need to communicate with other humans, the possibility to express one's own opinion on an issue and the associated illusion of exerting some influence on other people's thoughts and feelings on that issue; the possibility to fulfil one's need of emotions - reading opinions opposing your own or watching your "thumb rating" go up or down or the surprise at the discovery of new information on a topic you are interested in; the pleasant feeling of being useful, of receiving recognition through those thumbs up or a thankful note.

You can try posting an additional question "Why do people enjoy giving advice so much that they are always ready to give plenty of it for free?" and see if it brings good insights into this one.

Yedda was created so that people could share their own knowledge with others.  This means that just as you could come up with a really good question of something you really need to know right away, or something that you've always wanted to know.... there are many people who love to share their own knowledge with others and help them.  For example, if I work for Apple and I know a lot about how the computers work, I may need to ask a question about parties in the city that I just moved to.  But, I'm going to be just as happy to answer someone who can't figure out how to charge their new iPod.  It's a give and receive community.  People enjoy answering others.  Try it

Smile

It's not the mountain we conquer... but ourselves

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