You have to be knowledgeable about a domain that can’t easily be simplified by series of web searches, and more importantly, there has to be a suggestion that s

You have to be knowledgeable about a domain that can’t easily be simplified by series of web searches, and more importantly, there has to be a suggestion that someone might be seeking that clarification. You won't believe how difficult is to offer help if you are not a professional programmer of some sort (in HN and outside HN). Even for open source projects. Even if you try to provide insights on your "professional" job that, in theory, is full of "startup potential" (finance, like we are still using MS Access and messy spreadsheets).