Since starting to use R about a decade ago, I have been a consistent consumer of information from stackoverflow (SO). It is an invaluable resource and I am grateful to those who take the time to ask good questions and provide good answers. I have also felt a little guilty for not giving back by being an active participant. In this post I will give some (mostly bad) reasons why I was not actively participating, what finally pushed me to participate, and some benefits and tips for answering questions on SO.