You're absolutely right, I wholeheartedly agree, and in fact I think the "greycat-dyad" is the best of the 2/3 situations: * Correct and helpful - greycat. Sti

You're absolutely right, I wholeheartedly agree, and in fact I think the "greycat-dyad" is the best of the 2/3 situations: * Correct and helpful - greycat. Still gets you to a solution _and_ you learn something, at the cost of a bit of bruised feelings. * Helpful and nice - shows you how to go about answering (or asking!) your question properly, though perhaps not solving your immediate problem. Arguably the second-best of the 2/3 options? I'd rather "learn how to learn" than "get the technically-correct (but not actually correct) answer to my flawed question" * Correct and nice - probably the least-good of the 2/3 options? The querent continues to labour under the misunderstanding that brought them to their incorrect question, and might waste more time (for themselves or others) down the line. Still - better than any one property alone! That said, let's make sure not to brush under the carpet that _it is possible to achieve all three_; that it costs much less time and energy to be nice than is usually claimed; and that the benefits (an improved personal reputation, a more-welcoming community in which folks aren't afraid to ask questions), though immediately intangible, are considerable.