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I don't think I am. I can certainly understand that it's doubly frustrating when after all the explanations you still don't get an answer - but there's a coupl

I don't think I am. I can certainly understand that it's doubly frustrating when after all the explanations you still don't get an answer - but there's a couple of further issues with your point specifically. As has been noted elsewhere, questions need to be appropriate for the venue they're asked in. A general-purpose channel for <language>-users may not be the best place to ask extremely niche questions about algorithm design in edge-case scenarios where none of the usual answers apply. If what you're doing is hyper-specialised to your individual environment, there's a very real chance no-one will know the answer. If you put the effort in to explain, in detail, WHY you need this really strange problem, you may get lucky and someone smart and experienced in a closely related field may be around and willing to put in the time to help you. Or not. But you're still going to need to be willing to to in depth into the reasons behind what you're doing or they will likely ignore you. The lack of response probably isn't because people are dazed and confused, it's probably because your constraints are so restrictive that what you need isn't free IRC help, but a specialist contractor who you're actually paying for their time.

derefr 7y ago
Do note that I'm not talking about asking questions on IRC; but rather, I'm talking about asking questions of people who I already know to be experts in the specific field I'm asking about. (The "specialized contractors" you're talking about, but more like e.g. university professors.) Like, if I have a concrete graph-theory problem, I'm asking a graph-theory expert about it. The problem doesn't come because the population I'm asking doesn't know graph theory; it's because someone who's an expert on graph theory can't be expected to also know e.g. DSP design, and the higher-level problem is a DSP design problem, and once they find that out, they say they don't know DSP design and refuse to help. Even though the concrete problem is a graph theory problem! This is, IMHO, one of the key psychological problems hindering interdisciplinary fields of study: everyone thinks that, because a problem is A&B, and they only know things about A, that they can't make a contribution. Even though everyone only knows either A or B, and the whole point is to get the people who know A talking to the people who know B, rather than to create some sort of A&B paragons.
- ska 7y ago
  Often a key problem with interdisciplinary study, as you described it, is that the people who know A and the people who know B are often both bad at communicating outside of their expertise. Sometimes terrible. Even worse sometimes when they teach A or B, because they incorrectly believe they are good communicators due to having some success as lecturers, but don't realize how narrow that is. So getting them to talk to each other often isn't nearly enough - you need a translator in the conversation, or you need to teach them to be more effective communicators.

derefr 7y ago

Do note that I'm not talking about asking questions on IRC; but rather, I'm talking about asking questions of people who I already know to be experts in the specific field I'm asking about. (The "specialized contractors" you're talking about, but more like e.g. university professors.) Like, if I have a concrete graph-theory problem, I'm asking a graph-theory expert about it. The problem doesn't come because the population I'm asking doesn't know graph theory; it's because someone who's an expert on graph theory can't be expected to also know e.g. DSP design, and the higher-level problem is a DSP design problem, and once they find that out, they say they don't know DSP design and refuse to help. Even though the concrete problem is a graph theory problem! This is, IMHO, one of the key psychological problems hindering interdisciplinary fields of study: everyone thinks that, because a problem is A&B, and they only know things about A, that they can't make a contribution. Even though everyone only knows either A or B, and the whole point is to get the people who know A talking to the people who know B, rather than to create some sort of A&B paragons.

ska 7y ago
Often a key problem with interdisciplinary study, as you described it, is that the people who know A and the people who know B are often both bad at communicating outside of their expertise. Sometimes terrible. Even worse sometimes when they teach A or B, because they incorrectly believe they are good communicators due to having some success as lecturers, but don't realize how narrow that is. So getting them to talk to each other often isn't nearly enough - you need a translator in the conversation, or you need to teach them to be more effective communicators.