Question

We are running out of helpers in physics section..and chemistry section is totally dead..I only see the Mathematics section to be active..

Answer 1

you're running out of top users too...in case you haven't noticed

Answer 2

yeah..so what..

Answer 3

Tutoring people over open study is a hassle, so it's not really fun to do.

Answer 4

math has always been the most active section at the OS.

"tutoring people" should not be the focus of why you help out. You tend to learn more about a subject by answering the questions asked moreso than the people asking the questions.

Answer 5

YES! well said..happens with me!! :O
but still..thats not my point however

Answer 6

@amistre64 I've been coming here for little over a year and tutoring people is the focus of why I help out; I don't really get why you would tell anybody that it shouldn't.

Answer 7

if your impression is that you are actually changing the lives of the people you interact with by making them smarter and giving them to tools to understand the material ... this place can be a real downer.

The focus should not be on the asker, perse, but on the questions that are presented. If you can teach the subject matter in a cogent and comprehensible way, then expressing that knowledge helps you to retain it.

The asker learning something is more of a side effect of the interaction more than anything else.

Answer 8

which is really the same thing as you said: "Tutoring people over open study is a hassle, so it's not really fun to do."

Answer 9

I mean if you want to take that pessimistic attitude go for it. There are a lot of people here and few want to learn. That's what life is like, not something unique to OpenStudy. Just the other day I got this message which is thousand times more valuable than a medal:

"Hey I just wanted to say thanks for all the time you put in to your response it really helped"

Sure, learning through teaching is a great side effect and I'm not denying it, but it's just not my priority. Helping people who actually want to learn as opposed to answering copy pasted questions is more fun and a more valuable use of my time.

Answer 10

Those kind of messages do tend to be the best rewards :)