Contributing as a new member in this mature StackExchange site

Question

So, I am relatively new to Ubuntu (a couple years) and completely new to this site as a registered user. I have found lots of good information here before, but just now did I find something to contribute.

Hence I create an account and login. But in order to put small contributions into comments on already existing questions and answers, I need 50 reputation. I can get this only through asking and answering new, good questions.

But such questions are generally outside my level of knowledge. As a relative beginner, I cannot do more useful stuff than a tidbit here and a tidbit there. So what do I do? Does the current reputation model really work, when a large base of already answered questions is in place? Or do we need to change something here?

I thought commenting on already existing stuff would be the natural place for a newcomer to start. But maybe that would cause excessive comment threads full of garbage?

Update:

The comment by @ByteCommander leads to an old answer on a different Stack Exchange site.

There's a 50 rep threshold on comments mainly because we want users to focus first on the core part of a Q&A site -- asking great questions and providing great answers!

Also, comments tend to be meta-commentary, which while useful and often illuminating, isn't providing an answer.

We want users to learn this distinction before they are allowed to comment, hence, the requirement to earn 50 reputation.

But it is precisely this that I think becomes not only confusing, but perhaps outright wrong when a large enough number of questions are already asked. Thoughts on that?

Answer 1

The bottom line here I think, is that if something is worth unicorn dollars¹, it deserves to be an answer (or a question).

We just don't expect much value from comments; in theory, they are just a way of clarifying what is being asked, pointing out issues with a post that can't be fixed with an edit, or making temporary, peripheral remarks for the purposes of site management (for example, to help fellow reviewers).

Of course, in reality comments can be very helpful; sometimes they give the clue needed for someone to solve their own problem (so that person can then post their own answer) or provide a link to a relevant answer elsewhere on the site (generally a suggested duplicate), but those cases are more the exception than the norm, and the most helpful comments become redundant and are removed when the information is incorporated into an answer or duplicate link.

As pointed out by others, it's certainly possible to gain enough reputation to start commenting by suggesting edits (much needed and valued, I assure you), but becoming a commenter isn't a great goal to have as a contributor!

The site's maturity and vast library of questions makes no essential difference to this, I think. If you have something valuable to add to a question, old or new, then post an answer. If you don't have anything to say that is worth making an answer out of, then keep watching and be patient: I promise you, questions that you can answer will come along. It surprises me every day!

¹_{aka shiny green reputation points}

Answer 2

Edit:

Find questions and answers that are poorly formatted, have spelling errors and are not tagged properly and fix them so that those with the necessary rep can find and answer them. In this way you'll see a lot of questions and answers and learn a lot in the process. Your edits will be reviewed by the community and you'll get 2 points per approved edit up to a max of 1,000 points.

Ask Ask good questions and Accept good Answers

There's a full rundown on reputation here.

There are some valid points regarding comments here. I can only answer based on conditions as they are as any answer based on conditions the way we wish them to be would be fruitless and not helpful. We all had to make contributions to the site in the form of edits, questions and answers to earn the right to comment. If we open the door wide on comments we will need to adjust how comment voting is handled as well and are likely to get overrun by spam. I have to ask myself whether all those helpful edits would have been accomplished without that requirement.

While I agree with @Zanna points on commenting I'd like to add the most helpful comments are not only redundant but actually designed to be redundant. I've long ago lost count of the number of comments I've made to encourage users to provide enough information that their question can actually be answered. I don't consider being a commenter a goal per se, but I see it as a necessary part of adding quality to both questions and answers. I have no doubt that I could find literally hundreds of examples where a comment drove an improvement to a question or an answer.

Update: All things considered I can certainly understand the frustration that a new user faces when attempting to contribute to the site as I'm sure most of us who weren't here at it's inception do. However, I also understand the reasons why the current model is in place. You might consider taking a look at the User Reputation Leagues to put things in perspective. Reputation may not be directly in correlation to years of service but there is a definite impact. The longer someone has been here, the more there work is known and appreciated. While it might seem unfair when you first walk in the door, it's eventually apparent that the system works and works well.

Answer the questions that you can. It might seem that there is a shortage of questions without answers but I assure you that that is not the case. Sometimes a bit of research will turn up new solutions to older unanswered questions.

To top it off, You may find the final word on the stack exchange meta here.

Answer 3

Posting comments here and there does not add anything helpful to the site.

The less comments are posted the better.

If you have no questions and have no answers, just do not post.

You can be helpful with edits though if you want to do something useful.

Violating the rules and posting comments as answers will finally lead to an automatic ban.