this post was submitted on 29 Mar 2024
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most people don't know how to properly formulate questions and it shows. 90% of new questions on SO are just bottom barrel which is why the rules are so strict about quality.
Absolutely true, but it's also more difficult to ask a good question when you don't know anything about what you're asking.
People who know a lot about a topic can ask very good questions about that topic.
The problem I see with most questions people post online is that they make too many assumptions that their audience will will magically understand the context of their question.
Good questions require relevant context.
Determining relevancy requires expertise.
Expertise comes from experience.
No matter how many questions you ask and answers you get you'll never "understand" something until you do it.
Instead of asking questions like "How do I do X?" people should be asking "I'm trying to accomplish X, I've tried Y, but I'm encountering Z. How could I resolve this?"
I guess my rule is that you should never ask someone a question without first trying to answer it yourself.
100% agree, and the new question page on SO makes most of those points but generally people dont read it. It would be kinda nice if they integrated an LLM to double check if questions need improvement before they get submitted.