What is the fastest way to earn the bounty privilege?

Question

I have numerous questions I need answered, and it doesn't look like they will be unless I unlock the ability to have bounties. On the particular stack exchange site, I'm not very knowledgeable about the subject so I can't earn points by answering questions.

Answer 1

To an extent this is an XY problem.

General Advice for Getting Questions Answers When You Can't Afford a Bounty

(and even if you can!)

Bounties are a secondary measure for attracting additional attention to a question. They are not initially available (you must wait a minimum of 48 hours after a question is asked to attach a bounty to it), and they are not necessarily more effective than other "free" measures.

If you have the rep, bountying your question(s) is perfectly valid. But here are some other ways to get answers, which you should try first (and, where applicable, keep trying even during or after a bounty):

1. Make sure you have a good question. If you can, edit your good question into a great question (or a better one). Do additional research on the topic and report your findings. (If your research leads you to a solution, you can answer your own question.)

2. Update your question with information obtained over time, whether that informaton be a result of newer research you've done, or details you remembered of discovered, or the answers to questions other people asked you in comments, or information that explains how existing answers (and other, similar questions) don't fully solve your problem.

3. Ask for help in chat. The sum of all your reputation on all Stack Exchange sites has to be at least 20, for you to post messages in chat. (Otherwise, you can enter chat rooms and read their contents but the system doesn't let you post.) You definitely meet this requirement; you can use chat.

   The proper way to ask for help with a question in chat is to:

   • Be polite. (Prefer "Can someone help me with ...?" to "Assistance now, minions!")
   • Let people know (with a link) what question you need help with.
   • Usually, give a brief summary of the issue, to help people decide if they should look at your question. That is, to help them figure out if they're interested, and if they think they might be able to help.
   • Ask for help in chat sometime when you have the ability to stick around and respond to people's questions and comments there. It's best to avoid asking for help in chat and then immediately going AFK for a significant time. It's especially best to avoid posting a link to your question in chat and then immediately leaving the chat room. Help people help you.

4. Share your question with people outside Ask Ubuntu, if you think they would be interested in it. For example, you could mention it on your blog. If you use social networking services like MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+, you could post there. If you use microblogging services like Identi.ca or Twitter, you could post it there. Someone on the Internet might see it, check out your question, and realize they can answer it.

5. You don't (yet) have enough reputation to start a bounty on any of your questions, but there are people who do. You can ask if anyone is interested in bountying any of your questions. You shouldn't expect that anyone will ...but often someone will if they think the question deserves more attention and would benefit substantially from a bounty.

   Chat is one good place to ask for this, but I'd advise trying to get help from people in chat before asking if anyone in chat wants to bounty your question. That's not a hard-and-fast rule, though.

   Of course, you should not angrily demand tribute from others in the form of bounties. (Not that you would ...I just want to make this answer as broadly applicable as possible.) Also, it's probably better to ask a group of people if anyone's interested in putting a bounty on your question, than to ask a specific individual. But your mileage may vary.

   I looked at your questions and I don't think they would likely benefit that much from bounties. So I tried to contribute in other ways besides bountying, like commenting and answering. However, I have already expressed interest in your questions (I am doing so right now). So please feel free to approach me to ask if I'd be interested in bountying. Unless something changes, such as more time passing without an answer, I'd likely say no, but I won't be offended and I trust you won't be either. You can contact me by saying something in main chat with @EliahKagan in it. I may also be able to help further in ways other than bountying.

Further Reading

• Help Center > What should I do if no one answers my question?
• Help Center > What is a bounty? How can I start one?
  (includes information about when to bounty, what to do first, and alternatives)
• http://meta.askubuntu.com/questions/269/what-happens-if-i-dont-get-a-satisfying-answer
• http://meta.askubuntu.com/questions/6449/how-can-i-bump-a-question-if-i-already-have-all-the-information-and-cant-bounty
• http://meta.askubuntu.com/questions/6347/what-to-do-if-your-question-on-askubuntu-does-not-get-answered
• How to get answers for sure
• Getting attention for unanswered questions?

My Thoughts About Your Particular Questions

Even if you had oodles of reputation, it seems to me that your questions, as they stand now, don't need bounties to be answered (and I'm not sure if they did have bounties that it would help much).

This, this, and that are already answered and you've marked an answer as accepted; I'm guessing those are not the questions you're looking to get answered.

This one may be a duplicate of this big general question. That big question is, in a sense, two questions in one, because some of its answers are about how to continue using Ubuntu after a freeze, while others are about how to troubleshoot a freeze (which is what you're interested in, if I understand your question correctly). Some of the answers might try to address both.

• If you have gone through all the answers there and tried all the suggestions in all the answers that may be applicable to your situation, then you should definitely update your question with details about everything you tried and everything that happened. That will make your question much more complete and should facilitate an answer; at that point, if you don't get an answer, a bounty would likely help a lot.

• If you haven't gone through all those answers and tried everything that might be applicable to your situation, then your question is a duplicate of that question. We might close it. But we can reopen it if it turns out not to be a duplicate for any reason; in particular, if you then edit it with information about everything you've tried, that might render it no longer a duplicate. Editing a closed question automatically causes it to be considered for reopening.

This has recently been answered (after you posted this meta question). Both answers seem reasonable and like they may help (though I may be biased, having written one of them).

This, this, and that appear to be bugs. It might be hard for someone here to give an solution to them ...but if you report them as bugs, you may be able to get help that way (and at least you will have helped make Ubuntu better). See my comments on those questions, for details.

If you decide to report one or more of those problems as bugs and you've read the bug reporting documentation (take a look at this question too), and you still need help gathering information and creating the bug report, it's definitely appropriate for you to ask for help with that in chat (though as always, it's possible no one will be available to help).

• In particular, if you wish, feel free to ask me for help reporting those or any other bugs. I love bugs. :) I cannot promise I'll be able to help, but if I think I can and I have time, I'll try. My guess is that my attitude in this matter is not rare.
• While it's okay to politely solicit help reporting bugs in chat, and questions about how to report bugs that are not themselves bug reports or requests for solutions to bugs are on-topic, questions that in effect are just bug reports in the wrong place are off-topic. (Occasionally a request for a workaround to a bug is considered on-topic, but usually not, since usually even workarounds belong in the bug report instead, where affected users can see and use them.)

This question would probably benefit from a bounty, but I don't think it needs one. It's an interesting problem, and there's more information you can provide that should help shed light on the cause of the problem (see my recent comment there). Hopefully a solution will be discovered soon. If you provide more details but still no solution is found soon, I'd definitely consider putting a bounty on that question.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Thats pretty much how you do it. Ask good interesting questions, research (rome wasn't built in a day) answers that interest you. I've ended up self answering questions I asked in a few instances, and its hugely satisfying.

There's no shortcuts - learn new stuff, answer questions and be awesome. Level yourself up! If the answers don't come to you, search for the answers. Its all out there