Helping others helps your own game a lot, probably more than the person you are helping.
In order to teach a thing, you need to understand a thing. The first time anyone teaches a thing he most likely fails miserably, and learns that he failed miserably. This will focus his thinking about what he knows about a thing into becoming a more coherent knowledge. That process, which every thinking human can do, is the 'makes me better' part of the equation. To take this a step further, since most of us have NOT refined our thinking about our games, or anything we consider ourselves proficient in, we join a forum, which is similar to a think tank, or seminar, where we float ideas, get feedback, and our understanding of any issue, poker or otherwise, is broadened.
So teaching a thing is relearning a thing.
As you get older you get less 'friends' and more 'acquaintances'.
Sorry.
For you younger players this is re-quoted for truth. aka QFT.
When I first picked up Super System, I wondered why Doyle would print such a thing. It caused an up roar in the poker world, and I can remember a friend who had it on his shelf recoiled when I asked about it.
What good could come from someone giving these major secrets away? There really isn't a whole lot of difference between what Doyle did way back then, and what forums are doing now. Except that forums add in a lot of comfort food in the live interactions realm.
I believe it has some genetic component to it. The successful strain of the breed does things which encourage the group to survive. Lack of co-operation will doom a species. Successful groups will compete against other groups in every ecosystem and a winner will be had, or some sort of balance will occur. Or a symbiosis will arise where one group finds it needs and benefits from the continued existence of another group. So in Doyle's case, he benefitted from the influx of new players who joined the game after reading a chapter or 2 of Super Systems, and they were his fish.
So why share this info? I believe the overall benefits to the more experienced will prevail.
But still, in the back of my mind, I wonder about it all being a grand Ponzi scheme.......