Carl Banks <pavlovevide...@gmail.com> writes: > On May 26, 7:48 am, Gary Herron <gher...@islandtraining.com> wrote: > > The proper response to a question like this has to be > > http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html as anything else > > is complete guesswork. > > Is there a Cliff's Notes version of this? > > I may be a cynic but I would think the people who ask bad questions > are the same sort of people who won't have the patience to sit though > this behemoth of an essay.
To the extent that's the case, then it benefits the community as a filter, by making it easier to detect those who aren't going to read a good essay on how to participate in a community of question-answerers. On the other hand, I prefer to give questioners the benefit of the doubt by not discounting the possibility that they *can* read and learn how to improve the quality of their questions. > And I may be a romantic but I would think most people who post this > are really trying to be helpful and not just saying, "Out of my midst, > vile newbie, until thou hearkenst unto the sacred words". Posting a reference to the “asking questions the smart way” essay is, at least most of the times I've seen it, an explicit effort to be helpful to the questioner *and* to the community that bears the load of finding out what the questioner needs answered — both in this instance, and in any future instance when people who read that suggestion want to ask other questions. -- \ “When I wake up in the morning, I just can't get started until | `\ I've had that first, piping hot pot of coffee. Oh, I've tried | _o__) other enemas...” —Emo Philips | Ben Finney -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
