What Kind of Questions Do You Ask?

Hmm...okay. Switching from the serious nature of my post to subtle humor isn't my strong suit, apparently. I hereby request George Wright only uses absurd humor when he's the first one to comment after my post.

Just kidding, we all need to laugh at ourselves from time to time, I guess I was due.

I agree with what you said, too, Paul. I think it was Albert Einstein who said, "The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know."

Good post Denis I think I ask the right sort of question, apart from when sarcasum kicks in of course. What I was taught quite recently actually, about year ago now, was to always ask "why". If you ask "why" most of the time, you already know the answer to your own question, or by asking "why" you are able to search for the answer for that question and find the answer much quicker.

Because you want to.

If you don't want to, don't do it.

Nobody is going to hunt you down and tell you that you HAVE to answer newbie questions.

Perhaps we don't really need to tell the newbies they HAVE to shut up and answer their own questions, either.

I suggest there is plenty of room for both approaches to work just fine within the same community.

Have you looked?

Dennis, I just saw the post you referenced about "What's More Important" - yeah, the post was definitely off-topic, but there's an easy solution that is too rarely employed here. Instead of engaging in the conversation, those who know better need to tell the poster that the post belongs in the Off Topic (or whatever) forum, and ask a mod to move it. In this case, several "advanced Warriors" answered the poster and continued the thread. I didn't see anything that would let the OP know he did anything wrong by posting the question where he did. This particular poster may be trainable, but instead he was aided and abetted.

Hmmm, there's a Miscategorized button on Craigslist. Something like that would be a great way to alert the mods.

Moving on. Dennis, I agree that "I think I can predict who will experience some success relatively quickly and who will struggle for a long time" based on the questions they ask." And your post is great as a means to express frustration, but I really think you're kind of preaching to the choir.

To get what you're saying requires common sense, which isn't at all common, and what seems obvious to some isn't obvious to others (obviously). Those who get it are probably already doing it (or trying to). And others either don't know how to ask good questions, don't care, or ARE just here for the cocktail party chat.

To me and, it's second nature to search before asking, to RTFM, to gauge the personality of a forum before posting... to check the cables first if the network's down, rather than assuming it's something more complex.

That said, I probably ask a bunch of dumb questions. We all have holes in our knowledge and understanding, and I have more than my share. I always attempt to find an answer myself, but even though I've been a professional researcher, I can't always get what I need. In most cases, it's because I don't know how to frame the question. It IS always about the question, but figuring out the right question isn't necessarily easy.

Anyway, for newbies interested in improving their ability to ask questions without unduly annoying the experts, Eric Raymond's 2001 classic, How To Ask Questions The Smart Way, provides definitive training on forum behavior.

It's an entertaining trip down memory lane - the "RTFM and STFW" section brought back fond memories.

Here are Eric's suggested steps to take before you post a question:

Bottom line: the clueless are likely to remain just that. The people who come in here asking "how do ya make a whole lot of money, i need it now" aren't going to start doing their due diligence before posting no matter what anyone says. But maybe a few will read this thread and get a clue. Here's hoping.