If anyone is coming to this forum to find out what the average graphic designer is like, they are probably looking in the wrong place. I don’t think that the average graphic designer contributing to this forum is the average graphic designer.
I have a theory that the majority of contributing members on this forum are what Adam Grant would classify as disagreeable givers. But you might disagree.
I’d agree with your disagreeable givers assessment.
In real life, I feel like a lot of designers hold their cards pretty close at first. But once you get to know them, they’ll open up and want to help. I mean, hey, we’re all in this thing together.
With this particular forum, it seems like there is a core group of members that are pretty happy to help. Then there are a lot of people that join, ask a question, get some pretty valuable feedback, and never participate again. Maybe they just don’t have the desire or bandwidth to participate. Or maybe they have more of the taker mentality.
I’m a self-serving giver.
…in the vain hope that maybe some of my words will help designers not torture their printers so much.
None of the real world designers I know would participate in a forum like this. It’s not that they aren’t caring or giving people, it just they are busy actually living the dream.
That’s what Adam calls a “matcher” in the TED Talk