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Comment by karim79 | Hacker News Reader

I can relate. I'm in the top percentile on stack overflow (now killed by AI). My only goal was to be "good" in the way you described.

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I was in the tens of thousands of points on Stack Overflow, over a hundred badges, into the millions of “people reached”, learning things just to be able to answer, things I have found now in search results and been surprised that it was my answer, and yet so far from being a top contributor it may as well be the Moon.

And haven’t been back there for years. Reinstate Monica. And shame on the licensing grab.

Thank you so much. Whatever the motivation, contributions like yours are what helped hobbyists like me decide that whatever ambition I had was in fact a possible outcome, when I otherwise was hitting infinite walls of my own. And I'm sure for those who turned that hobby into their career, you've helped advance countless improvements to everyone's standard of living.

Sure some advancements suck, but that's not on you. Answering the questions publicly for all to see enables everyone, and it's up to them to use it for better or worse.

Thank you; I hope it’s been mildly useful to some people. It sometimes feels like a volunteering effort that I can do, which is slightly unusual and most people can’t do.

Unlike HN and Reddit “discussions” which bring out the snark and ackchually in me far too often, and rarely seem a good way to “discuss” anything, focused questions and answers can potentially add a small value to the world.

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