3 ms·

Here's the thing, if you ask an unusual question, one of two scenarios is often playing out: In case 1, you are a beginner. You have an XY question. But you've

Here's the thing, if you ask an unusual question, one of two scenarios is often playing out: In case 1, you are a beginner. You have an XY question. But you've never heard of an XY question. You also probably couldn't identify your question as an XY question if you had heard of it. Trying to educate people about XY problem is pointless, because beginners don't see it or understand it or have the ability to apply it. In case 2, you are advanced enough to avoid asking XY questions. You are instead stuck on some esoteric question which you can't resolve by exhausting all your skills. So you post a question on the internet. But you are only asking a question because it is a really hard question. Chances are that most other people cannot answer the question either. So, the only responses you get are people suggesting that you have an XY problem.

nullc 7y ago
> Trying to educate people about XY problem is pointless, I haven't found that to be the case. Neophytes are perfectly capable of asking questions with a reasonable amount of context: they just need to be taught to do so even when it seems unnecessary to them. Polite explanation to this end works. > to avoid asking XY questions. You are instead stuck on some esoteric question which you can't resolve by exhausting all your skills. So you post a question on the internet. But you are only asking a question because it is a really hard question. When you describe the context and the things you've tried so far you will signal to people that you're operating at a level beyond their ability to help. Asking a high quality question is a universally good move for both newbies and experts alike. It takes more effort, but when you are asking strangers who owe you nothing to put in effort on your behalf it can be a demonstration of good faith to put in obvious effort on your part.

nullc 7y ago

> Trying to educate people about XY problem is pointless, I haven't found that to be the case. Neophytes are perfectly capable of asking questions with a reasonable amount of context: they just need to be taught to do so even when it seems unnecessary to them. Polite explanation to this end works. > to avoid asking XY questions. You are instead stuck on some esoteric question which you can't resolve by exhausting all your skills. So you post a question on the internet. But you are only asking a question because it is a really hard question. When you describe the context and the things you've tried so far you will signal to people that you're operating at a level beyond their ability to help. Asking a high quality question is a universally good move for both newbies and experts alike. It takes more effort, but when you are asking strangers who owe you nothing to put in effort on your behalf it can be a demonstration of good faith to put in obvious effort on your part.