Wish more posters here would admit this. Way too many posts asking for help when it's pretty obvious they are way over their head when they run into trouble. When a little reading before attempting jailbreaking is all that is required so one doesn't need handholding to fix their issues.
As a person with a natural bent towards tech and a stronger bent towards research, that drives me up a wall. A five minute search of the forum or Google will provide answers faster than a post here will, almost every time.
For newcomers to the scene: If a search doesn't give you results, or if you found answers but don't understand them, know the basics before you post:
--We need your device model and firmware before we can help with anything. Seriously. This should be the first thing in any post for help.
--Tell us that you searched so we know you at least tried to figure it out (and so we don't waste time searching the basic stuff for you).
--Describe the exact circumstances. (Clearly, and without hysteria, please--a meltdown won't fix it. Neither will bumping your post every five minutes.)
--Does the device have power? What happens if you plug it into iTunes?
--What did you last install and when (including updates!)?
--Provide a tweak list so others can look for known conflicts or problem tweaks (which, BTW, are mostly avoidable--search before you install!)
--What have you tried so far? (And did you try a different port/cable/computer? Respring/reboot? etc.)
--Can you replicate the problem? Give us the steps so we can try it ourselves.
If you're not willing to run through this sort of simple triage on your own, you probably shouldn't jailbreak. Something WILL go wrong at some point (because, hello, it's a computer!). Apple's not exactly going to fix it for you, and it may happen at a time when most of the forum is offline. You need to know where to look for answers on your own, and how to do the basic things that solve most problems.
The first time I read up on bootloops--five years ago and BEFORE I jailbroke my first phone--I knew 95% of people fell into the "Don't try this at home" category, because they'd lose their minds if the phone started doing that. And sure enough, judging by five years of posts on it (both jailbroken and stock), that's pretty much what happens.
Almost anyone *can* do this with a bit of study, and with a continued willingness to learn (because things change with firmware revisions). We're always happy to have more people like that here! But we can't handhold every noob who comes along with the same questions that have been asked literally 1000 times, just because everyone's apparently too lazy to use the Search tool nowadays.
/rant
Again: it's well worth the effort in my opinion, because via jailbreak, you can make your phone a far more useful device, customized to the way you want it, not the way Apple thinks you should have it. But it's not for everyone.
