3 ms·

> give them the wrong answer, they will be forced to correct you. Before Stack Overflow, the savvy knew that this was a great way to get help with anything Uni

> give them the wrong answer, they will be forced to correct you. Before Stack Overflow, the savvy knew that this was a great way to get help with anything Unix-related. If you just went to Usenet or mailing lists and asked "how do I X?", you'd be pummeled by uppity greybeards going "RTFM, n00b". Ah, but if you created a sockpuppet and posted the wrong answer in reply to your question, then you'd be guaranteed to get useful advice.

sah2ed 9y ago
Yep, that's definitely Cunningham's Law [0] in action. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Cunningham#Cunningham.27s_Law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Cunningham#Cunningham.27s...
- Analemma_ 9y ago
  Ha! I never knew it had a name. I thought I independently discovered this phenomenon, but I guess it's so obvious others realized it too.
  - dadoprso 9y ago
    Wow, this is genius. Makes so much sense.
lotsofcows 9y ago
Variation on that was to say something like, "Linux sucks! It won't do x." If the answers weren't sufficiently straight-forward, you could follow up with, "It's so much easier on MS!" Required a thick skin though.
nickpsecurity 9y ago
" Ah, but if you created a sockpuppet and posted the wrong answer in reply to your question, then you'd be guaranteed to get useful advice." I've gotten some great information on forums like this doing exactly that. I usually pose it as a challenging assertion or question rather than a statement of a fact I'm sure about. Gotta balance using that for it's benefit vs effects on one's own reliability.