What we have here is literally a 21-point checklist that someone needs to go through before deigning to ask a question so as not to piss off the IT guy. We've a

What we have here is literally a 21-point checklist that someone needs to go through before deigning to ask a question so as not to piss off the IT guy. We've all seen it before, hundreds of times, stackoverflow has made asking a question into a sacrament, yes, with the same level of sanctimony. Perhaps that's not working? Perhaps its time to consider other approaches especially since complaints with such detailed advice for resolution ARE NOT READ by the people that actually need to read them? How is sharing this on HN REALLY going to help people ask better questions? Many tech people fail to understand that having knowledge and giving knowledge are two distinct things. Just because you know something in great detail and can practice it with fantastic skill, doesn't mean you're able to answer basic questions about it or teach anyone to do the same. The problem is not just "asking the right question" but also the skill of "giving the right answer". To a large extent this territory is covered well by teachers of all kinds. Pedagogy itself takes practice. I wonder if anyone has written a blog post with a 21 point checklist on how to ANSWER questions?