That said, I (and I suspect at least a few others here) have encountered questions like GP’s too, and would value HN-style patient, civil answers from the sorts

That said, I (and I suspect at least a few others here) have encountered questions like GP’s too, and would value HN-style patient, civil answers from the sorts of highly-informed biochemists and medical professionals who sometimes lurk around these parts :) I’m curious what would disqualify this as an appropriate forum for “those kinds of questions,” and I’m not finding much in the guidelines ( https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html) to explain it to me. Rather, it seems consistent with curiosity. In the interest of avoiding shallow dismissals, maybe you can help me understand why you’d exclude the GP’s question? I can imagine myself asking something at a similar level about other topics that I’m fresh to, and I’d want to avoid asking unwelcome questions.