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I truly cannot stand “any reason why you don’t” questions. They immediately make me defensive. I’m far more open to alternate approaches when they are laid ou

I truly cannot stand “any reason why you don’t” questions. They immediately make me defensive. I’m far more open to alternate approaches when they are laid out in a clear, detailed and unbiased way. Mutual respect and all that.

MereInterest 6y ago
I am fine with "any reason why you don't" questions. Being asked one assumes that I am aware of the options, have gone through the pros and cons, and have made a decision on the matter. Clearly, I must have some reason for the decision, and so the person wants to know what reason that may be. Mutual respect and all that. Layout out alternate approaches assumes that I haven't done any research into the matter at all. It may be that the reason I don't use something is that I have never heard of it, in which case having the alternate approaches laid out is useful. Otherwise, it is a waste of the person's time to lay out what may already be known.
- ianai 6y ago
  The phrasing though sounds like I’ve better got to know about it “or else”.
  - MereInterest 6y ago
    Hmm, different connotations for different people, I guess. The phrasing to me sounds like a junior dev asking a senior dev why something was implemented the way it was, for the sake of learning. Thank you for letting me know how the phrasing could be interpreted, and I'll try to keep that in mind when asking similar questions in the future.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - selestify 6y ago
      Is there a better way to phrase that question?
      - irrational 6y ago
        Have you considered installing GNU coreutils via brew et. al?
        rocqua 6y ago
        That is a great way to give the suggestion. It is not a great way to check what the reasons are why they did not. Something like "Have you considered installing GNU coreutils? If so, I wonder what made you choose not to" might do the job. But really "Any reason why you didn't install GNU coreutils via brew" seems to directly ask the question. It can come across a bit passive aggressive. But I don't think we should concede clear questions to passive aggresiveness.
      - lifeisstillgood 6y ago
        "I would have gone with (installing MSDOS), what were your reasons for going the other way?"
        selestify 6y ago
        What if, as a junior developer, you don’t have an opinion either way and just want to know how they do things?
        lifeisstillgood 6y ago
        Everyone has reasons - from "that's what the code I pasted from StackOverflow did" to "this is what the standards doc I wrote decided upon after months of rewriting" Forcing you to examine your reasoning usually results in better understanding
        selestify 6y ago

MereInterest 6y ago

I am fine with "any reason why you don't" questions. Being asked one assumes that I am aware of the options, have gone through the pros and cons, and have made a decision on the matter. Clearly, I must have some reason for the decision, and so the person wants to know what reason that may be. Mutual respect and all that. Layout out alternate approaches assumes that I haven't done any research into the matter at all. It may be that the reason I don't use something is that I have never heard of it, in which case having the alternate approaches laid out is useful. Otherwise, it is a waste of the person's time to lay out what may already be known.

ianai 6y ago
The phrasing though sounds like I’ve better got to know about it “or else”.
- MereInterest 6y ago
  Hmm, different connotations for different people, I guess. The phrasing to me sounds like a junior dev asking a senior dev why something was implemented the way it was, for the sake of learning. Thank you for letting me know how the phrasing could be interpreted, and I'll try to keep that in mind when asking similar questions in the future.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - selestify 6y ago
    Is there a better way to phrase that question?
    - irrational 6y ago
      Have you considered installing GNU coreutils via brew et. al?
      - rocqua 6y ago
        That is a great way to give the suggestion. It is not a great way to check what the reasons are why they did not. Something like "Have you considered installing GNU coreutils? If so, I wonder what made you choose not to" might do the job. But really "Any reason why you didn't install GNU coreutils via brew" seems to directly ask the question. It can come across a bit passive aggressive. But I don't think we should concede clear questions to passive aggresiveness.
    - lifeisstillgood 6y ago
      "I would have gone with (installing MSDOS), what were your reasons for going the other way?"
      - selestify 6y ago
        What if, as a junior developer, you don’t have an opinion either way and just want to know how they do things?
        lifeisstillgood 6y ago
        Everyone has reasons - from "that's what the code I pasted from StackOverflow did" to "this is what the standards doc I wrote decided upon after months of rewriting" Forcing you to examine your reasoning usually results in better understanding
        selestify 6y ago