Stack Overflow is indeed quite painful in this regard, and it really, really doesn't need to be like this. And in fact, it isn't all the time, or in every Stack

Stack Overflow is indeed quite painful in this regard, and it really, really doesn't need to be like this. And in fact, it isn't all the time, or in every Stack Exchange. Sometimes, finding the right Stack Exchange site helps a lot (like with retrocomputing), where the premise (say, "I want to get this to run on Windows 95") won't turn into arguments over security patches (or whatever) derailing the question. Or sometimes you just have to find the right people in the community, and nudge them to answer somehow. Certain users tend to be quite generous and go out of their way to answer everything you asked with more to guide you, while others love to chide you and slap you with a question closure or deletion for even thinking about walking off the beaten path.