learning 'everything' from scratch
 

As an absolute newbie I know nothing about this whole forum system;dO not understand the jargon used.I'm 74 and can't speak the language used on this site.Blogging,posting and forums are all new words to me.All trades,associations and groups seem to suffer from the same problem.They understand more easily when they talk amongst themselves We 'outsiders'find it hard to comptrehend.How can I learn the terms necessary to be able to ask questions?Once I understand more I may be able to contribute more.Regards,petsno123

read,read,read and ask. we're a friendly bunch here. welcome to LQ

Welcome to LinuxQuestions :)

This web site is intended as a help resource for any Linux/Unix user that has problems or questions, regardless or their level of knowledge.
That makes for a lot of questions from a lot of users!

More over, this site lives through its users, in that answers come from them too. But not all people have the same areas of expertise (or at least knowledge), and for one person to read through thousands of questions a day and deciding on a few words if each question matches their knowledge would be a daunting task!

Finally, this web site acts as an archive of many questions and many answers, in which people are expected to do searches before they ask a question; this question is then expected to be different from all previous questions.

To make things easier for those who may have the answers to others' questions, and to make things easier for those who look for existing answers that may solve their issue, the web site is split in different forums.
A forum is assigned a theme, and in there you can ask questions related to this theme. Examples of forums: Software, Hardware, Security, Networking...

When you click on a forum, you're presented with the list of all already asked questions in this forum, going from the newest to the oldest, each of which can be clicked on, to read the full text and answers that might already exist to this question.

A question is refered-to as a "post". An answer is also refered-to as a "post".
A question and all its answers are refered-to as a "topic" or "thread".

I hope this helps.

Yves.

I agree. Reading is a an "old fashion" but the best method you can start with. Also some word of advice: Use www.google.com/linux

Google linux seach is GREAT! I've almost always found my answer there, and if you can't find it you can always post your questions here :).

Another piece of advice that might get me flamed. Don't use the search on LQ..it never finds anything relevant to what you are looking for. I never had any luck with the search here on LQ.

Read, use Google's likux search, and post any questions. That'll get you on a good track.

-custangro