5 ms·

I don't think they are and OP is demonstrating something I'm seeing more and more on the internet that's getting to be really prevalent and annoying. presents

I don't think they are and OP is demonstrating something I'm seeing more and more on the internet that's getting to be really prevalent and annoying. presents product oblivious_user: I don't get this? Why don't you do xyz? This provides me no value? What am I supposed to do with this? happy_user: If you're in situation abc and don't wish to do xyz this app can help. If you don't see the value in this product you're probably not the target market. oblivious_user: but why would anyone use this!? Just use xyz for crying out loud! I looked at this page for 5 seconds and I can't figure out what is does! This product sucks and they're not doing a good job convincing me I need it so nobody should need it! happy_user: I literally told you the use case in my previous comment. oblivious_user: It's still a stupid idea with a poor presentation. Use xyz and your life will be better! It's really really annoying. Everything doesn't have to be made for everyone. If you don't have a use case for a product and you don't understand why anyone else would use a product then the product isn't for you. It's so exhausting seeing Internet commenters confused over the popularity of a product that they have no use for because they don't understand it or they prefer xyz to abc when the product IS abc...

zeven7 4y ago
This reminds me of the following all-to-common StackOverflow interaction: dev: <tries to figure out how to do abc. Due to various limitations, dev comes to the conclusion that the best way to do abc is using def. Explaining everything involved in abc is a lot of work, and dev just wants to ask about def> How can I do def? stackoverflow: Don't do def, it's bad. Have you considered xyz? dev: xyz isn't what I want. I really just want to do def. stackoverflow: Don't do def, do lmnop. dev: lmnop won't solve my problem. I just want to do def. stackoverflow: No you shouldn't do def.
- alanbernstein 4y ago
  I'm amused at your description, since a common term for this is actually "XY problem" (https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/66377/what-is-the-xy-problem https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/66377/what-is-the-x...)
  - zeven7 4y ago
    Yes, however there are times when you are enough of an expert in the domain to know why Y is the solution you need and you just want someone to help you with that part. You might know X better than anyone else, and explaining X won't get you far. You just want help with Y. It is also true that there are many people who ask for help with Y and are wrong in thinking it is the correct way to solve X. I am describing the former situation and not the latter.
    - shagie 4y ago
      You need to reach the point where you have the appropriately shared context with the other person so that you are both able to work in the same direction. That often involves explaining the situation sufficiently so that it is clear that the thing you are looking for doing it in such a way is the way that it needs to be done. The vast majority of the time, when such questions are posted they are in the form of a work order and people who have gone through "maybe I should do XY" in the past have encountered some problems and are trying to warn you off of that path for the incomplete context that has been provided. In such cases, it is necessary for the person with the question to sufficiently explain the problem, the context, and the constraints so that is is clear that XY, despite its known issues remains the clear and correct course of action.
      - zeven7 4y ago
        On the other hand, there are times when people in the past have tried WY and decided in that situation Y was a bad idea. But your situation is X and it is quite different from what the answerer is familiar with from their experience with W. In this case you know X well, the answerer doesn't, and you know Y is what you want to do in this situation to solve X. The answerer assumes you're trying to solve W or something similar to W and you have to waste an inordinate amount of time assuring them your situation is sufficiently different from W in order to get a simple answer about how to do Y.
        shagie 4y ago

zeven7 4y ago

This reminds me of the following all-to-common StackOverflow interaction: dev: <tries to figure out how to do abc. Due to various limitations, dev comes to the conclusion that the best way to do abc is using def. Explaining everything involved in abc is a lot of work, and dev just wants to ask about def> How can I do def? stackoverflow: Don't do def, it's bad. Have you considered xyz? dev: xyz isn't what I want. I really just want to do def. stackoverflow: Don't do def, do lmnop. dev: lmnop won't solve my problem. I just want to do def. stackoverflow: No you shouldn't do def.

alanbernstein 4y ago
I'm amused at your description, since a common term for this is actually "XY problem" (https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/66377/what-is-the-xy-problem https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/66377/what-is-the-x...)
- zeven7 4y ago
  Yes, however there are times when you are enough of an expert in the domain to know why Y is the solution you need and you just want someone to help you with that part. You might know X better than anyone else, and explaining X won't get you far. You just want help with Y. It is also true that there are many people who ask for help with Y and are wrong in thinking it is the correct way to solve X. I am describing the former situation and not the latter.
  - shagie 4y ago
    You need to reach the point where you have the appropriately shared context with the other person so that you are both able to work in the same direction. That often involves explaining the situation sufficiently so that it is clear that the thing you are looking for doing it in such a way is the way that it needs to be done. The vast majority of the time, when such questions are posted they are in the form of a work order and people who have gone through "maybe I should do XY" in the past have encountered some problems and are trying to warn you off of that path for the incomplete context that has been provided. In such cases, it is necessary for the person with the question to sufficiently explain the problem, the context, and the constraints so that is is clear that XY, despite its known issues remains the clear and correct course of action.
    - zeven7 4y ago
      On the other hand, there are times when people in the past have tried WY and decided in that situation Y was a bad idea. But your situation is X and it is quite different from what the answerer is familiar with from their experience with W. In this case you know X well, the answerer doesn't, and you know Y is what you want to do in this situation to solve X. The answerer assumes you're trying to solve W or something similar to W and you have to waste an inordinate amount of time assuring them your situation is sufficiently different from W in order to get a simple answer about how to do Y.
      - shagie 4y ago