My name is Bob. I’m 83 years old. I’m retired after a long career in IT starting in the mid '60s. I progressed from mainframe computer operator to programmer (COBOL/PL1/BAL) to analyst to team manager to programming director to CIO/CTO when I retired in 2001.
I got the idea to build a family website, as a hobby and pastime, primarily to preserve a collection of analog content and to convert it to digital for use by subsequent generations. Because I was a programmer, I decided to eschew tools like WordPress that would generate things for me and chose to write my own HTML/CSS/Javascript/SQL Server and SQL. I’m on a continuing journey to learn these languages as well as tools like Virtual Studio Code and Git/Github.
So far, I’ve progressed to a small degree of proficiency with HTML and CSS (and VS Code and Git) but have not really begun the Javascript lessons. I’ve done an online course or 2 on SQL. I do have a website but it is very elemental and lacks anything other than simple presentation. It does not allow user interaction except to scroll through the content. I have more content to host plus a lot more work to make the website interactive for users.
And now the questions: Is this the community for a fellow like me? Is this a place I can come to bring questions about things I don’t understand and to ask for help with problems I encounter?
I ask because I joined another communitey (freecodecamp) and was rather insulted by the brusque tone administrators there take. IMO they lack both cordiality and civility I would expect from anyone who moderates a forum or even who participates on one.
Welcome aboard Bob, and I will say YES this community will be very welcoming and helpful. You will rarely see anything insulting here, though I’m not familiar with the other community you mention. Be aware you’ve got a long list of technologies there, and this forum divides them up in different areas. So you’ll want to make sure you post in the right area depending on the specific issue you’re working on.
I am seriously impressed that at 83 you’re jumping in to this project. I’m a couple decades younger than you, and do web development mostly to keep my mind turning as I learn new things during retirement.
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Hello Bob. Welcome to the forums.
It’s good to see someone who continues to learn even with such a career under their belt. Cant say I ever see myself going up the management tree, but i’ll try not to hold it against you 
I would say yes. elaboration to follow…
Like most things in life, my response to this from this forum’s general behavior pattern is that the Golden Rule applies. You get what you give.
Allow me to say upfront; from your initial post i would anticipate you doing so, but if you dont mind I’m going to expound for a bit as a general statement for explanation to other people who may encounter the thread - and for those who may fall into the latter category I’m about to describe. Consider “you” to be a generalized noun from hereon.
And no, I don’t mean you’ll only get help if you give help; but if you approach a thread in the manner of genuinely seeking help, you’ll find many are willing to give help, and as thorough an explanation as required to get you to not only have the working code, but the understanding of why it works.
A few suggestions for being successful with posting here:
Give code when it is helpful (If you’re going to ask why X doesnt work, obviously its beneficial to us to see X. If you’re trying to figure out the way to go about something, come prepared with a “here’s what i tried” first).
Don’t post a link to the code. Post the code. Redacted/reduced as necessary to be relevant. The forum allows for code blocks; wrap your code block in triple backticks (```) and the forum’s code will do its best to interpret and highlight the code in the language it believes you’re posting.
(There’s probably a lot more here i’m forgetting, but i’m rambling now.)
The counter-stance to the above are; those who come here seeking someone to do the work for them; those who come here to “pose a question” but then proceed to argue with the person(s) who respond; those who want to provide nothing and get everything. And of course, those who are simply here to slip links into their posts because they’ve found sitepoint on one of the eternal “this site has dofollow posting” lists (It’s not. It hasn’t been for decades. And we’re very quick to put to rest those posts that try it.)
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