Read Before Answering!

October 5, 2006 5:13 PM

Is it really that hard for people to thoroughly read an AskMe question before answering? It seems increasingly more common to have mutliple answers to a question that duplicate material already mentioned in the question or answers that express concern for an aspect of the question the original poster already explicitly addressed. To get a sense of what I am talking about, see the first 6 or so answers here.
posted by Falconetti to Etiquette/Policy at 5:13 PM (30 comments total)

I don't mean to draw attention to anyone in particular, I am merely addressing how annoying this is. If someone says: "I like A, B, and C, but not X, Y, and Z. What else do you think I would like?" You can almost be assured than someone will respond: "You should check out X."
posted by Falconetti at 5:15 PM on October 5, 2006

I don't know about that, but what really bothers me is when people jump in and answer a question without seeming to even read the post.
posted by found missing at 5:19 PM on October 5, 2006 [3 favorites]

This is a subset of that phenomenon.
posted by Falconetti at 5:20 PM on October 5, 2006

It's annoying, but it goes with the territory. For instance, all font questions will have at least one answer saying "have you tried whatthefont.com" even when you explicitly mention it in your post. No big deal.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 5:31 PM on October 5, 2006

Is it really that hard for people to get to the point in their question?
posted by smackfu at 5:41 PM on October 5, 2006

All those users are $5 users. Coincidence?
posted by bonaldi at 5:43 PM on October 5, 2006

Yeah, Falconetti, I'm with you -- this is really annoying to me, and it happens here far too often. (It happens elsewhere, too; my wife posted a question to Apartment Therapy not too long ago, and no joke the first two dozen replies were all either suggested something which was already addressed in the question or suggested something which was impossible if they had read the question.) I don't really know if there's a systematic way to fix it, though, other than to continue to educate people as to how annoying it is.

Oh, and Smackfu, I can't disagree with the idea behind your response more. What we want here is questions that are well thought-out and go through the detail needed to steer the answers in the right direction; if all he asked was "What's a great boardgame for us?" the answers would most certainly be all over the place and completely useless for his needs. I thought that the detail in his question was perfect for the answers he was seeking, and gave potential answerers the meat of what he and his friends liked, didn't like, felt was important, and all that.
posted by delfuego at 5:54 PM on October 5, 2006

Falconetti posted "It seems increasingly more common to have mutliple answers to a question that duplicate material already mentioned in the question"

I've done this a couple times that I can recall. Both times it was a distraction brain fade coupled with having a couple dozen MF tabs open. I read the question and just didn't integrate all the constraints. The last time was was especially embarrassing. I somehow inverted the logic of the question and therefor gave the exact opposite advice from that which was desired.
posted by Mitheral at 6:07 PM on October 5, 2006

I had the same reaction to this thread, where lots of people were advising "don't report your cousin to the cops" when the poster wasn't even suggesting that was an option.
posted by brain_drain at 6:10 PM on October 5, 2006

Is it really that hard for people to thoroughly read an AskMe question before answering?

Well, clearly so, if you're saying it's happening a lot.

Sometimes it's a matter of the original question not being well written. The one you sited is a good example, it seems rather longwinded.

I had the same reaction to this thread, where lots of people were advising "don't report your cousin to the cops" when the poster wasn't even suggesting that was an option.

The tile of the thread is "Should I narc on my cousin"! Of course people are going to misread that!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:31 PM on October 5, 2006

Garbage in garbage out? Not that the question was bad, but it's helpful when questions start with something like, "I need/want......"

This question was kinda chatty and got some chatty anwers. It's not my point to "call out" the OPer, but I had to read through several sentences before I even knew what was needed.

I always love the responses I get on AskMe, but I also spend at least 10 minutes writing the question, trying to ensure that my need is clearly expressed.
posted by snsranch at 6:52 PM on October 5, 2006

Oh, you mean like the question "what should we rename the Sexual Assault Unit BESIDES SVU?" and ten people responded "SVU?" Flag 'em as noise or a derail.
posted by IndigoRain at 7:08 PM on October 5, 2006

Is it really that hard for people to thoroughly read an AskMe question before answering?

You've heard of the "news hook?"

Well, with AskMe, you only need to read as far down as the first "lecture hook" before you get to start passing judgment and pissing up the place.
posted by scarabic at 7:12 PM on October 5, 2006

Detailed questions like this one get the best answers from people who really care about the subject. Telf has some great responses, I doubt that he's very bothered about the others.
posted by teleskiving at 7:15 PM on October 5, 2006

I don't know about that, but what really bothers me is when people jump in and answer a question without seeming to even read the post.

I think this was a joke.
posted by scarabic at 7:16 PM on October 5, 2006

I think this was a joke.

Oh yeah. Guess I really didn't take the time to read it before I responded. Oh well, no biggie.
posted by Falconetti at 7:26 PM on October 5, 2006

Lead with the most important details.

"Experienced RPG and boardgame fan seeks off-the-beaten-path, engaging sci/fantasy-themed boardgames for one-off gaming. [more inside]"

There's not replacement for it. The folks who answer just because they recognize the subject manner cannot be stopped—it is a fact of life—but if you put the most important details on the front page and then go on at length after that, you'll see a lot fewer off-the-mark answers.
posted by cortex at 7:42 PM on October 5, 2006

See also the first 40 or so answers here.
posted by sfenders at 7:47 PM on October 5, 2006

Once again, I say: answering isn't anyone's job.

I'd prefer a possible duplicate from the insightful answerer who doesn't have the leisure to read all the other answers, than to get no answer at all from him.

The questioner got his answers for free; the onus is on him to sort through them, mark the best, and make what use of them he will.

Constrain the answerers too much, make it too much like a job rather than fun, and your best answerers will go away.

Case in point: I sometimes answer reasonably complicated SQL questions. Reading the question alone -- and getting a precise idea of what the question is -- can be a task of several minutes. Testing my answer on my own database adds in more time. Figuring out what other answers are sufficiently like mine to duplicate it adds yet more time. But while I don't have a life, I do have other things to do. I try to budget a certain amount of time per question; if I have to also work through each answer, I just won't have time to post a comment for sufficiently complicated questions.
posted by orthogonality at 8:00 PM on October 5, 2006

I think you're misreading the problem ortho. The complaint is not that people aren't reading the other answers before they answer, it's that they aren't even reading the whole question before they answer.

There's a reason Trebek doesn't allow you to buzz in early.
posted by MrZero at 8:42 PM on October 5, 2006

MrZero writes "I think you're misreading the problem ortho. "

Yes, now that's irony. You are correct, I did not fully read the complaint about not fully reading.
posted by orthogonality at 8:52 PM on October 5, 2006

I had to read through several sentences before I even knew what was needed.

Several whole sentences! My God, man, how did you survive? Oh, the humanity!

</snark>

I can't believe people are complaining that questioners provide too much context and information. Look, people: if someone's question exceeds your sorry television-stunted attention span, just don't answer it. "This question is too long, so I'll post my moronic uninformed answer to the first sentence and ignore the rest" is an asinine position to take. You are not fucking King Solomon or the Usenet Oracle, people.
posted by IshmaelGraves at 10:06 PM on October 5, 2006

"All those users are $5 users. Coincidence?
posted by bonaldi at 5:43 PM PST on October 5 [+] [!]"

There are 16000+ freebies and 26000+ $5.00 mefites. Probability?
posted by Cranberry at 10:20 PM on October 5, 2006

It drives me crazy, yes.

However, having worked reference in a library, I know that both asking and answering questions are far more difficult than they seem. Also, asking the right questions to refine the original question is difficult.

I still shudder at how long it took me to figure out that the man who asked me for the pros and cons of DNA wanted the Time magazine article on DNA testing in the OJ Simpson trial...
posted by QIbHom at 10:53 PM on October 5, 2006

IshmaelGraves: Actually I am The Usenet Oracle.

You owe the Oracle a sock puppet.
posted by aubilenon at 1:52 AM on October 6, 2006

I'm thinking about having chicken nuggets for breakfast, but maybe I will have corn flakes and banana instead. Pretty happy because I get paid today. I'm a little stressed about my thesis, though - I haven't made as much progress as I probably should have by now.

current mood: cozy
current music: -
posted by thirteenkiller at 4:35 AM on October 6, 2006

both asking and answering questions are far more difficult than they seem

Exactly. Part of the problem is that many people are idiots who jump in to babble without paying attention to what's being asked; another part is that people are not very good at making clear what they want. Part of this is inescapable, but what gets my goat is posters who try to be clever or cutesy or snarky or whatever in their question and/or title and then get upset when people don't understand they were being "ironic" or "funny" or whatever. (Cf. "Should I narc on my cousin.") Just ask your damn question; it's AskMe, not MakeMeChuckleKnowingly.
posted by languagehat at 6:44 AM on October 6, 2006

"Is it really that hard for people to thoroughly read an AskMe question before answering?"

Yes. It's "that hard" for people to thoroughly read ANYTHING before chiming in with whatever they think will make us think they're smart, hip and elite.
posted by davy at 9:44 AM on October 6, 2006

Honestly, if Matt just auto-deleted the first 3-4 comments of any thread the quality would probably go up...
posted by vacapinta at 12:58 PM on October 6, 2006

And the last comment, which is often a lame attempt at irony.
posted by found missing at 1:18 PM on October 6, 2006