3 ms·

that invites a debate about the premise. i shouldn't need to justify my constraints. i should be able to pose a problem and STATE the constraints. if you do

by mmd45 8y ago

that invites a debate about the premise. i shouldn't need to justify my constraints. i should be able to pose a problem and STATE the constraints. if you don't believe that my constraints are real then you can feel free to not answer my question but the SO regulars always feel the need to interact even when they have nothing to add.

the8472 8y ago
> if you don't believe that my constraints are real then you can feel free to not answer my question But XY-problems exist and are not uncommon. Overconstrained questions also exist. How are people supposed to know that yours is not one of those without additional information?
zbentley 8y ago
> i shouldn't need to justify my constraints. If you're asking people for free help and to spend their time understanding how their relevant but not identical experiences may adapt to your different-but-related problem, then yeah, you might. If someone, even someone I respect, know personally, and work alongside, comes up to me and says "I need to install a nearly-20-year-old version of MySQL next to a modern software stack; help!" [0], I'm going to ask "why?" and maybe "are you sure there's no other way to approach your goal?" first. Not presumptuously or because I'm sure I know better, but because a) the answer will help me better understand the problem and goal, and b) because sometimes extremely competent, rational people really do overlook the obvious solutions, sometimes for days/weeks spent beating their head against the wrong problem. Sometimes the justification is as simple as "it's a business constraint imposed from above". Sometimes it's a more complex story. Either way, wanting to know that isn't asking too much. [0]: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/47350382 https://stackoverflow.com/questions/47350382

3 ms·

that invites a debate about the premise. i shouldn't need to justify my constraints. i should be able to pose a problem and STATE the constraints. if you do

by mmd45 8y ago

the8472 8y ago
> if you don't believe that my constraints are real then you can feel free to not answer my question But XY-problems exist and are not uncommon. Overconstrained questions also exist. How are people supposed to know that yours is not one of those without additional information?
zbentley 8y ago
> i shouldn't need to justify my constraints. If you're asking people for free help and to spend their time understanding how their relevant but not identical experiences may adapt to your different-but-related problem, then yeah, you might. If someone, even someone I respect, know personally, and work alongside, comes up to me and says "I need to install a nearly-20-year-old version of MySQL next to a modern software stack; help!" [0], I'm going to ask "why?" and maybe "are you sure there's no other way to approach your goal?" first. Not presumptuously or because I'm sure I know better, but because a) the answer will help me better understand the problem and goal, and b) because sometimes extremely competent, rational people really do overlook the obvious solutions, sometimes for days/weeks spent beating their head against the wrong problem. Sometimes the justification is as simple as "it's a business constraint imposed from above". Sometimes it's a more complex story. Either way, wanting to know that isn't asking too much. [0]: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/47350382 https://stackoverflow.com/questions/47350382