WordPress is a nonprofit open source blogging platform, which means that absolutely no one is paid to offer support (unless you actually hire a contractor, of course), so all help is offered through the Support Forums by volunteers and all documentation is provided through the Codex by volunteers.
If you know what you’re doing, why not stop by to help out a bit? In fact, even if you’re just starting with WordPress, I bet there are a few folks that you could help. After all, that’s how I got my start.
Helping out is easy to do, and there are some handy guides for new Support Forum volunteers and new Codex editors. Don’t worry about getting your answer wrong the first couple of times, someone will correct you and help you out, it’s all part of learning. In fact, helping someone else is often the best way to learn yourself.
When I saw this post, I thought I would do a good samaritan thing and go and checkout the WP Support forum and offer some assistance to some easy questions I know I could answer.
It was the worst experience of my life in terms of support. I could recommend the most appropriate page in the Codex, and still people would come back with questions. I don’t know if that means that the Codex page needs rewriting, but I partly suspect people are more interested in using the Support forum to get someone to do the work for them for free.
I don’t think I will return to the Support forum to help out any time soon after my hellish experience.
As often as I use WP forums, I should at least share some of what I know to help out a fellow WP user. I do feel a bit like Andrew. I have also probably been one of those who want the work done for me. There’s still so much I don’t know and at times, I feel like I’m in over my head.
I would disagree with Andrew as per my experience in WP Support forum. It has been very helpful for me and there are people out there who need or are ready to help without any profit in mind. So i feel more people must join WP Support forum.
I’m sure everyone’s experience with the WP Support forum is different. I have been on the receiving end of some great support, but when I have tried to help people, they appear helpless, choose not to read the Codex articles I point them to, and even when I have given step by step instructions, still can’t follow them.
I found it so frustrating, that I asked for their webhost/ftp details to do it for them, and they freely handed them over (privately via email).
Having more people join the support forum won’t necessarily help, plus I actually find that the best WP support actually comes from theme support websites.
@William I agree with you WP Support forum have been very helpful to me as well and it put together with stackoverflow.com is the best help you can get for WP.
Wow. At least there are still some people who care about contributing back to community 😛
Kinda like our own philosophy!
I have to disagree with Andrew’s first post, the WP support forums are a fantastic resource and people familiar with WP should contribute to keep it growing. The same can be said for Stack Overflow, a great place to find answers for WordPress and Magento.
Oh i did not know until now.. So there are volunteers in helping others, that is nice to know. I am new in WP so i often seek help. Thank you for this one it is additional information that will help me again more knowledge and experience.
User-support forums are one of the most advantageous aspects of open-source platforms. I also encourage proving support, but only if it’s part of a positive experience.