How to ask intelligent questions
Smart technical people (aka Hackers) have likely dedicated thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of hours of their lives learning, understanding, and generally figuring out how things work. If you find yourself asking for help, I'd suggest approaching it like you would approach asking advice from someone like Tony Hawk on how to do a kick-flip (I apologize for folks who don't know who Tony Hawk or Ryan Scheckler are and further apologize if you don't know what a kick-flip is... you really should get out more. I further apologize for suggesting that programming a computer is in any way as difficult as performing a kick-flip, I've skateboarded since I was...like 13 and still cannot pull one off without doing a no-comply, it's just a useful metaphor that non-technical folks might be able to understand. To illustrate some approaches: BAD "Tony, I've never even stood on a skateboard before, but I REALLY want to learn. I've got a spare