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On Wednesday 21 February 2007, kashani wrote: |
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> Contrary to Eric Raymond's "How to Ask Intelligent Questions" it is |
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> actually very hard to ask good questions or even search about a |
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> subject you do not fully understand. |
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That's an easy one. |
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If you really don't know the subject or how to search for answers on it, |
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then *just say so*. |
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The poeple reading the post then know what the deal is, know up front |
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they will have to take the poster through it step by step, and most |
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important of all: they know that the poster is smart enough to say he |
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doesn't know much. |
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The worst possible question is: "how long is a piece of string?" |
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You can avoid that so easily by saying "I need to know how long a piece |
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of string is, but I have no idea how to measure it and my knowledge of |
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string is limited. Can someone walk me through the process please?" |
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If I read the first question, I get the distinct impression I'm talking |
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to an idiot. The second question tells me I'm likely talking to an |
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intelligent human, who just happens to be ignorant about something. |
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alan |
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-- |
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Optimists say the glass is half full, |
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Pessimists say the glass is half empty, |
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Developers say wtf is the glass twice as big as it needs to be? |
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Alan McKinnon |
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alan at linuxholdings dot co dot za |
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+27 82, double three seven, one nine three five |
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-- |
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