>but the real power of the forum lies in the cases where your problem is original and you have to summon the community to give you a hand. Every time I have ha

>but the real power of the forum lies in the cases where your problem is original and you have to summon the community to give you a hand. Every time I have had an original problem, much of SO's value was similar to a stuffed animal that I could explain my problem to, with an occasional tip of something I should look into. I personally get much more value out of SO by passively reading other peoples' questions/answers. I think that is the real power of the service.