I’ve recently been thinking about life, and then these forums came to mind, and I started to think about the possible reasons that people spend so much time helping others and replying to threads, but why do you do it? Personally I love seeing my 1.1k post count, and think it is good to build an online reputation, + I learn quite a bit and it is fun, but what about you guys?
I’m doing it, because:
-everybody started with game dev at one point and when you have a place, where you get an answer to your question, it’s much easier to learn -> as the UDK forum was such a place for me, I’m doing the same thing in here
-you learn something
-I like helping people 
well I haven’t been helping as many people as I could have lately because of personal reasons(will be changing soon:)) but in general I started helping people in this forum for 2 reasons, 1: when I first started in the UE/game dev world I learnt and was taught most of what I know from people on the UDK forum so I am basically returning the favour, 2: I learnt quite a lot about UE4 from being in the beta and wanted to help new people by sharing info/experience.
fairly basic reasons really and now I am a moderator so I can help in other ways as well:D(like banning spammers;))
What said. Especially about getting help and wanting to help others as a result.
Most of the time it’s because it is a good way to learn new things. When I’m working on a specific project, there are obviously lots of potential problems that I’m never exposed to because the project at hand doesn’t need to solve them. That’s sort of a lot of missed opportunities. By figuring out how to fix someone else’s problem you’re forced to think about stuff that you usually don’t need, or maybe find a different way to solve something that you, technically speaking, already have a good pattern for.
In short, it’s a great way to expand your knowledge, and sometimes a reason to dive into parts of the documentation you haven’t read before. With development in general being a 50/50 split between problem solving and complexity management, you’ll want to practice the former as much as possible I guess.
Aaaand sometimes it’s just an easy thing with low-hanging fruit. Take a minute to post a quick comment, maybe help someone get on the right track.
But primarily, for selfish reasons, of course: to know all the things 
I agree that it is a great way to dive into things you’ve never done before, similarly I recently have started doing freelancing, and there are several concepts that are new to me simply because I have never needed to nor thought about doing certain things.
I help who I can with what I know because I was asking for a lot of help when I started with UDK 3yrs ago. And some people who just started with UE4 may not be able to find tutorials so I know how it is when you can’t find something out. And it can get irritating. And why shouldn’t we help each other out? We are all part of a community. And in a community everyone helps out one another. Epic wants everyone to help each other out. So let’s keep that up for all that they have done for us.
I help because we were all new at one stage and we also asked questions that had been asked 1000 times before. So this is my little way of trying to gain good karma … unfortunately some users do start thinking that you become their personal help desk after you have helped them a few times … but anyway. 8-{
I certainly know what that’s like, it can be tough to be answering questions left & right on Skype 
Like said, It is a great way to learn.
We all want to learn and develop, even those that are completely lost.
I just want to make sure everyone has a chance to get themselves to the place they want to be.
What they do with the chance is on them, but I’ll help get them there.
Never give up,
~
Meh … I don’t mind helping and enjoy mentoring people … but I need to balance that and my dad job as well and with my time difference people sometimes forget that I am at work when they are trying to ask me questions.
It takes a bit of a balancing act sometimes. 8-{
Try to keep the help you give happening in public, it aint wrong then to call others to join or solely go on helping. Nooen can know everything anyways.
I used to run a forum in association, and as soon as communication goes private (some, not all) people will start trying to use you as their private oracle as they see fit. Of course some things need to be discussed privatly, but everything that doesnt need to be can and should be directed to the public. Then solutions to problems have higher reach, among that you aren’t bound to solve it (alone).
And never forget you are not obligated to answer at once. You are at work? They surely will outlast the next 8 hours.
I usually answer questions when I’m stuck on a hard problem. For some reason it’s easier to solve other people’s problems than your own. I also like variety and when you’re heads down on a project for 6 months, you don’t really get all the variety you crave… the forums are another way to scratch that itch.
Because i did very bad things in the past and i hope that will fix my karma.
ok when i started doing modding back in '04 i got a lot of help from the 3dbuzz forums (i didn’t enjoy the ut04 forums) when UT3 was released the buzz forums sort of died but i had already decided that i would help others as others had helped me. so since i sort of knew how the unreal engine thinks i thought it would be great just to record videos to show others how to take it apart and put their stuff in, videos are great but many forget you need to support them even more so now even things change on a near monthly base.
but you asked “WHY” answer = it makes me feel really good when i get an answer or pm that says Thankyou , in a fast moving world like ours a heart felt thanks is worth a lot more than a few bucks 
Currently I have not been able to “transition” from being paid for web development to being paid to make games. I’ve also not managed to find good IRL game collaborators.
So I’m here for selfish reasons, to be honest.
However, I have spent some time in Unity 4/5, begun rendering stuff in UE4 from the Marketplace etc. and am a bit of an Nvidia fan so thought I could do some “good”.
Also I can’t deal with most social media nowadays, everyone has become incredibly cruel, snarky and abusive.
Perhaps these forums are a haven of sorts… for now.
I hope we can keep it as a haven and make sure that all users have a good experience here. I am involved with a few other forums but these are by far the most amicable and friendly around. 8-}
Unfortunately that’s true 
But not in here -> all members are friendly and you always get help
Will you be my mentor? I really love your tutorials!
Trully I’d like that. I have seen students in the “students section” getting mentors and I’m kind of jealous that I’m not a student again