Well are you going through the motions of doing 'curious' behavior, but you're not _actually_ curious?? That's kinda what it sounds like? If not, then the stuff

Well are you going through the motions of doing 'curious' behavior, but you're not _actually_ curious?? That's kinda what it sounds like? If not, then the stuff you said first is helpful -- find out as much as you can beforehand. Then also maybe a little bit of setup that frames what your interest actually is, or what you checked out previously. It's a bit of a balance because asking pointed questions could in some cases be interpreted as a challenge. Maybe just being totally straight up "I checked out this other thing and I'm really curious how you saw the trade-offs in XYZ choice?" idk.