WEEK 7. Knowledge sharing

I think, one of the best things about the internet is a possibility to share and obtain knowledge. I, as a software developer, very often refer to Stackoverflow.com - a specialized forum for programmers. It helps me to find answers to the daily arising questions - starting from searching for exact syntax of a command (because it's sometimes quicker than browsing the documentation) to solving serious production bugs.

To be honest, this community astonishes me. I am astonished of how we managed to form such an active, defined and highly organized community. I would call this forum a perfect match for the "Rule 6: Share expert knowledge" from "Ten Commandments" by Virginia Shea. It is surprising to me, though, because usually we, human beings, by our nature do some work for one of the three reasons:

• It's entertaining: here goes gaming, fan fiction, hobby forums. etc.
• We are payed for what we do: no comments here
• We are forced to do that: university labs, research papers, essays, etc.

I don't think the motivation of the Stackoverflow's community lies in any of those reasons, instead being fully enthusiastic. And although the website culture has been criticised for harshness and unfriendliesness (example 1, example 2), I personally still find it great that people from all over the world gather on this platform not only to get skills, but also to share.