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I'm a quite old user of linux in general and ubuntu in particular and find it quite frustrating not to be able to answer a question. Since I just register it appears that I only have one reputation point when I need 5 to answer a question. But well, how can I earn these points if I can't answer a question?

Cheers Gildas

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  • I agree, it can be frustrating to start, but as you gain reputation you gain access. Works out well in the long run.
    – Panther
    Commented Jan 5, 2012 at 16:50
  • The threshold for answering and asking questions on the main site is actually 0, you don't even need an account to answer and ask questions.
    – Jorge Castro
    Commented Jan 5, 2012 at 18:30

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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You don't need to have 5 points to answer questions here, you need 5 points to participate to http://meta.askubuntu.com/ (probably where your question will be in a few hours)

Just check the privilege page to understand what you can do or not with your points.

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1. Ask Good Questions

Firstly, ask good questions. Good and thorough questions are more likely to be upvoted to increase your reputation. When you ask questions you learn to, so you can help other people on the site with similar problems.

2. Edit Tags

Secondly, edit tags. This is something that anyone can do with access to google and some time on thier hands. Adding descriptions to tags that don't have descriptions already will help you further understand Ubuntu and help other pepole to learn about terms that they don't already know. You can edit tags by clicking on the "Tags" link in the top navigation bar.

3. Leave Helpful Comments

Thirdly, leave thought-provoking and helpful comments. Don't be so critical to the point of being annoying. Leave a comment if something needs to be clarified, this will help the asker of the question so that the people who are trying to answer further understand the problem. Don't leave comments saying that the asker did a good job on thier question, instead, upvote.

4. Be an active user

Fourth, be an active user of the site. You get badges for leaving so many comments, upvoting so many times, visiting the site for so many days in a row, etc. For more information on what badges you can get for doing what, go to the "Badges" tab in the top bar. Read other people's questions and maybe they will help you learn something.

Conclusion

You earn privlieges for gaining rep. The more rep you have, the more stuff you can do. Remember that the FAQ says that "reputation is a measure of how much the community trusts you". In real life, building up trust takes time. Gaining a high reputation is going to take a lot of time and effort. Take some time and read through the whead the FAQ for some more ideas on how to gain rep and use the site appropriately.

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You should read this: faq

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