>I don't believe that any of us is only doing all this helping just out of altruism.
>
>Sure, some (no, most!) are, in our case, really enthousiastic about VFP, and they feel an irrational urge to share what they discovered with those others who share their enthousiasm for the product. For some of us the enthousiasm started in 1985 or so when they saw Foxbase do what dBase did a hundred times slower (yes, I'm one of them). "Hey man, guess what I discovered last night!!"
>
>But we're professional enough these days to realize that it's not that smart if you're giving away precious 'discoveries' just like that to 'colleagues', when you just spent hours and hours trying to figure out those things. There must be more selfish reasons for 'helping' others also.
>
>Reasons might be esteem, recognition and becoming well-known, and those might give a head start in the economical sense.

As one who has been helping people online and in person since grade school, I can tell you that my primary reasons for doing it have always been a) it's the right thing to do; and b) I learn by helping others.

When I answer any but the simplest question, I have to organize my thoughts, and usually end up understanding whatever it is better than I did beforehand.

Tamar