Questions concerning technology, that aren't really "practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face" (Source: https://meta.stackexchange.com/help/dont-ask) but at the same time are still way to technical or "goal oriented" in a way for places with a more colloquial attitude like reddit.com etc., and can't really be answered in a single paragraph, either because they are too open-ended and only were to be asked with the intent of gaining a more holistic understanding of a certain subject or because they're to complex?<p>You know, stuff that you would have originally asked in a forum about that specific topic, before they (the forums) all died off for no reason.
Sadly, I usually ask in one of my Slacks or Discords. This is sad, because the question evaporates into the aether, but in those communities I know enough about the people to tell who might be able to help, and who has the time and bandwidth to discuss this with me.<p>It's also mostly async, but synchronous enough that we can have a reasonable discussion without it taking two weeks.
Sometimes, asking a question is not possible unless you personally find someone (or someones) qualified to answer it. Rather, you'd pick up a book and/or watch some YouTube videos regarding the subject. Then you can brainstorm and bruteforce attempts at understanding the topic until you finally achieve some level of comprehension of whatever it is you're trying to learn.<p>So most of this would boil down to RTFM, except it would be in published academic books or videos of "experts" discussing it. It would be up to you to define what an expert is. Choose carefully.
So this would kind of a mentoring help, right? I feel like that is one of the main advantadges of working inside a Big Co. Its hard to do the same without being part of a group.<p>What probably works best "outside" is writing a blog post with your problem, and throwing that into HN/Reddit for discussion.
In a forum about that specific topic! NixOS, OpenStreetMap, and Rust all have active Discourse instances.<p>For things that are too vaguely defined for that, I’ll bring it up at the local “Linux” user group, which in practice is just a nerd social group with an active group chat and biweekly gatherings.
You're looking for Ask.Metafilter [0]. The "Popular questions" [1] section is usually full of gems:<p>- Seeking a Paradigm Shift: What is an article or essay that you have read that caused a dramatic change in your thinking / perspective / life? [2]<p>- How to become a person who just goes out and does things? You: a person who goes out and does things, just because. Things like hiking, going to the farmer's market, casual day trips to nearby places, checking out local events, etc. Nothing in particular really, just things outside the house. What does your thought process and mindset look like? How do you decide when to go out and what things to do? How do you keep track of what events are going on in your locale so you remember to go to them? How do you trick yourself into going places when you are feeling ho-hum about it? [3]<p>There's a wide gamut of questions. I've asked some random things before and gotten good responses.<p>[0]: <a href="https://ask.metafilter.com" rel="nofollow">https://ask.metafilter.com</a><p>[1]: <a href="https://ask.metafilter.com/home/popularfavorite12" rel="nofollow">https://ask.metafilter.com/home/popularfavorite12</a><p>[2]: <a href="https://ask.metafilter.com/354882/Seeking-a-Paradigm-Shift" rel="nofollow">https://ask.metafilter.com/354882/Seeking-a-Paradigm-Shift</a><p>[3]: <a href="https://ask.metafilter.com/355442/How-to-become-a-person-who-just-goes-out-and-does-things" rel="nofollow">https://ask.metafilter.com/355442/How-to-become-a-person-who...</a>
Reddit.
Metafilter.
Metafilter seems to be not as popular as it once was. This means an answer won't be immediate.
RTFM won't help when you want to know industry best practices, for example, or want to find someone who's been through an experience you're about to suffer.
TripAdvisor.
Google unfortunately won't be of much help.