I reckon there are some experienced, knowledgeable programmers who spend most of their days monitoring the programming forums and answering the questions.

I think this because it usually takes me 20 mins to get an answer to one of my (apparently) arcane questions, and I begin to notice the same people answering them.

Unfortunately, I have seldom the time or the expertise to reply to other people's questions. Where do these experts get their time from and do they get paid by a philanthropic institution? Maybe they are retired bods with a computer at home -- I dunno.