It Takes Two to Teach
30 Jan 2020
Ask and you shall receive
The author of the question, “Why is processing a sorted array faster than processing an unsorted array?” seems to have followed most of the guidelines that are outlined by Eric Raymond on how to ask “smart questions.” The question seems a little vague, but the author provides a very clear example of what he/she is asking about. They provide clear and concise code that shows exactly the steps that they had taken to get the result that they did. The author even went so far as to test the same thing in another language to see if it changed anything. Finally, the author shares some of their thoughts, showing that they tried to think of an answer, before refuting their theory and concisely stating the question that they wanted answered. Because of this, the answer that they received is extremely informative and has been updated recently, despite being posted 7 years ago.
…unless you ask like this
On the other hand, “ditching server side languages and going for javascript for both client and server in 2020,” provides an example of how not to ask a “smart question.” For starters, it’s not even a question! The post fails to provide readers with a clear idea of what exactly the author wants answered. The details do not really help much either. Instead of beginning with a specific goal or problem, the author is basically asking an extremely open-ended question that would require a lot of time to formulate an informative answer to. They also come off as slightly combative with their comment on how “the army of moderators” close threads like the one they posted before “ever getting to a useful answer.” I am pretty sure that when one is relying on a site for help, the last thing that they should do is pick a fight with those that moderate it. It is highly likely that the reasons that similar posts might have been removed are the same reasons why they are “stupide questions.” The question is not very straightforward and likely does not belong on stackoverflow in the first place. It is also long-winded and seems like they just wrote their thoughts and posted without going through and revising anything for conciseness or clarity. The author might be better off asking somewhere that is more specialized and focused on the benefits of using javascript over other languages for a web app.
My Thoughts
Overall, the guidelines on how to ask “smart questions” seem to make a lot of sense. It essentially boils down to being concise, courteous descriptive, and willing to learn. The less work that one makes the reader must do in parsing and understanding the question, the more likely one will receive a timely and helpful responsive. People are more than willing to teach if they know that the other person is eager and willing to learn. On a somewhat related note, reading Eric Raymond’s essay and looking through various questions reminded me of Murphy’s law, which states that the best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to post a question, but to post the wrong answer. I wonder how it compares to Raymond’s guidelines.
link to smart question: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11227809/why-is-processing-a-sorted-array-faster-than-processing-an-unsorted-array?rq=1
link to not-so-smart question: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/59997503/ditching-server-side-languages-and-going-for-javascript-for-both-client-and-serv