It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.

He who asks will look stupid for five minutes, he who doesn't will remain stupid for the rest of his life.

Personally, I often find myself favouring silence over posting when others have covered the question well enough that I don't feel I have anything to add. And there are so many folks participating here that this happens a lot.

Funnily enough, I have hardly posted any questions since I joined - maybe this is just my own modus operandi. The questions I did post were almost exclusively requests for comments on style questions.

But if you look at Monks by Writeup Count you'll find that "often favouring silence" is quite relative - I have posted a ridiculous amount of answers and comments. Of those, the times I've been wrong weren't enjoyable, but the most educative. I can say with certainty that the time spent here has been a tremendous boon to my skills.

Don't fear the corrections. If you give a wrong answer and are corrected, you will learn something, and so will whoever posted the question. Also, chances are always that if there's something on your mind, you're only one of many others who're thinking the same. The sooner an exchange leads to a correction and the more people have the opportunity to listen in on the exchange, the faster the everyone will grow.

Don't also fear giving bad advice. There are so many others around that any bad or incomplete advice is likely to be corrected and completed very quickly.

Looking back over what I wrote - what an incoherent ramble..

Makeshifts last the longest.