Asking Smart Questions

[Brian K. White]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Pancero" <postmaster at cobbinc.com>
To: "Filepro List" <filepro-list at lists.celestial.com>
Sent: Monday, June 13, 2005 7:40 AM
Subject: Re: Asking Smart Questions


> >
>>
>>Actually, not necessarily.
>>
>>I'm going to (possibly re-)post here a link to one of my favorite
>>documents intended to try to avoid this sort of thing.
>>
>>It tends to hew a little closer to Mark's point of view (and I'm sure
>>he's already read it :-), but since the person reading it isn't known
>>to the person who wrote it, it's a little less personal.
>>
>>It's called "Asking Smart Questions", and it's as applicable in this
>>our small world as it is in the big full world.  It was written by Eric
>>Raymond, author of "The Cathedral and The Bazaar" and editor of "The
>>New Hacker's Dictionary", and while he is an admittedly opinionated
>>bastard, he has many god points to make.
>>
>>Read it.  Learn it.  Live it.
>>
>>http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
>>
>>Cheers,
>>-- jra
>>
> I think y'all are missing a BIG point in this discussion.
> There seems to be a lot of haggeling over HOW someone asks for 'HELP'
> especially if it does not conform to YOUR standards.
>
> If I see someone bobbing up and down in the water and they are yelling
> "HELP!" I do not stand there, Life Preserver in hand, and yell back "Say 
> PLEASE!"

Attempting to counter a technical point with an emotional scene is 
inappropriate, pointless, and stupid.
Read the document and pay attention to what the others are saying!

If we must use an emotional analogy because simply speaking the logical 
truth isn't enough, then the analogy is more like a 911 telephone call where 
the person gibbers useless nonesense into the phone and expects the 911 
operator to magically figure out the address and what type of facilities to 
send.
A helecopter? an ambulance? a rope? a fire truck? digging equipment? 
biological containment? Did Timmy fall down a well or did gangsters stab you 
or did you find your teenager overdosed on something or are you trapped at 
the top of a burning building or ... All you said was "Help! He's not 
moving! There's blood! I'm scared!" One is tempted to go ahead and let 
nature take the corrective measure it's trying to take in culling another 
idiot.

You can't just say "I need help!" You have to say what kind of help.
And in the case of anything technical, you have to be very precise and 
unambiguous and make some attempt to eliminate at least some possibilities 
yourself logically if at all possible.

When I know 23 different possible things that might result in some end 
result you are seeing, why should I take 23 hours to write a post that 
covers all of them? Especially when the people that can't be bothered to 
gather details to present a clear question are the exact same people who 
can't be bothered to read long replies.

I don't see any need for excessive or unecessary rudeness either, but I 
DON'T think it's wrong to insist on some basic standards of meaningful 
communication.
We all have jobs and things to do and any help given here is a plain gift 
and people should remember that and strive most humbly not to waste the time 
of the people they are begging free help from.
If you ask a question and someone says "I can't answer that because it's not 
a meaningful question, you need to supply at least xxxx" , the ONLY 
acceptable response is to supply xxxx to the best of your ability. Maybe you 
have to ask "what is xxxx, what do you mean, how do I do that?", but what 
you don't get to do is argue the point.

I said I don't see a need for rudeness and yet this very post would seem to 
negate the claim. The fact is most times when I see something patently 
stupid I choose not to pollute the environment with an unecessary statement 
of my opinion. I also don't bother saying anything else either and the 
person doesn't get helped. Or I may answer with a meaningful answer that 
leaves out opinions and which I also know the person will not grasp now but 
maybe they will later. But what prompted this post and most others where I 
do express heated opinions is when someone isn't content to merely be 
ignorant, isn't even content with going further to defending their right to 
be ignorant, but goes all the way to demanding others go out of their way to 
cater to their ignorance! THAT is what I have a hard time accepting with a 
peaceful philosophical coexisting grace. I don't think its necessary or 
admirable or in any slight way good to tolerate that.

I say "you" a lot but of course it's figurative, I don't mean "You, Tom". It 
just happens to be your post I'm making this general reply to.

Brian K. White  --  brian at aljex.com  --  http://www.aljex.com/bkw/
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