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Ask HN: Getting Answers to Ungoogleable Questions?

by chrisbigelow on 3/11/21, 3:07 PM with 2 comments

I have recently been architecting a cloud-based single board computer emulation tool, and I'm finding it very difficult to get my questions answered on StackOverflow and various subreddits.

How do you effectively find and reach experts? Especially on a topic you are fairly new to? (i.e. I don't already have a network) I wish I could pay someone more knowledgeable than me to just talk to me on a 10min video call.

  • by PaulHoule on 3/11/21, 3:26 PM

    1. Look it up in "the literature" the way you would have done it before Google.

    2. You can often look up a professor who has written on a subject in their campus directory and cold call them with a quick question. This sort of "expert" is accustomed to getting random calls from other professors, the media, etc. and really has less cognitive load just answering (what for them) is an easy question than in determining who exactly you are and if you deserve it.

  • by Irongirl1 on 3/12/21, 8:59 PM

    Maybe https://www.codementor.io? You can search by expert and even system.