The answer machine: who is the crowd? [Reflections]

A friend said she had an Internet question for me. "Sure," I said, thinking I would have to explain some technical matter in simple terms. · "Who puts all that stuff on the Internet?" she asked. · I stifled a small laugh, uncertain whether or not this was said in jest. But she was serious, and as I have thought about it since, it is actually quite an interesting question. I never cease to be amazed that almost everything I need to know can be found on the Internet. If I have a question, need to fix something, have some problem–whatever–someone has gone to the trouble of posting relevant advice. Yet I myself have put very little out there, and whenever I consider doing so, I discover that it has already been posted. So where do all of these postings come from?