Can I answer without reference?

July 24, 2005 10:02 PM

With regards to AskMe: if I have experience with the subject of a question being asked, but my answer is anecdotal, unconventional, and basically just hard to support with any well-known reference, is it worth posting?
posted by invitapriore to Etiquette/Policy at 10:02 PM (17 comments total)

I know this sounds like a stupid question, but sometimes things just work in unheard of ways. I'm just not sure if sharing that really helps anyone. What do you think?
posted by invitapriore at 10:02 PM on July 24, 2005

No reason not to answer with "This is anecdotal, unconventional, and hard to support with any well-known reference but I believe it nonetheless: [Insert comment here]"
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:29 PM on July 24, 2005

"my answer is anecdotal, unconventional, and basically just hard to support with any well-known reference"

Sounds like 80% of the answers already posted. No, really! - luv m
posted by mischief at 10:44 PM on July 24, 2005

A lot of answers (most, practically all) are people relating their personal experience with a situation similar to the one the person is asking about. It's all anecdotal, but that's fine.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:52 PM on July 24, 2005

I have a friend who told me she read somewhere that this is perfectly OK.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 11:00 PM on July 24, 2005

This crazy one-armed dude on the train with cabbage leaves for shoes told me it was totally doable. Charge it like a capacitor bank.
posted by loquacious at 11:32 PM on July 24, 2005

If it seems likely hard facts exist, and will be posted soon, you should probably wait for a few hours. However, if no answer has shown up after a while, your anecdote is better than nothing, even for questions with definitive answers.

What's 2+2?

I dunno, I can't do addition. I have been using 5 for a while and it is working okay...

That is much better than nothing (that is going to be a controversial statement here), as long as you don't misrepresent it as provably correct. It might even start a conversation that will lead to the correct answer.
posted by Chuckles at 11:41 PM on July 24, 2005

If you sincerely think it will be helpful to the asker, go for it.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 11:46 PM on July 24, 2005

Chuckles, in retail $3.99 is the correct answer. :)
posted by shepd at 1:59 AM on July 25, 2005

is it worth posting?

Sure, as long as it's not so unconventional that it doesn't seem like an answer to the question.
posted by jessamyn at 5:03 AM on July 25, 2005

Do it. What's the worst that can happen? Some crank might tell you to keep your mouth shut. Or enough people will flag it, and Matt or Jess will delete it.
posted by crunchland at 5:46 AM on July 25, 2005

Sure, as long as it's not so unconventional that it doesn't seem like an answer to the question.

Answers that don't look like answers are not okay, but if it's not an answer and does seem like an answer, that's fine.
posted by spaghetti at 6:48 AM on July 25, 2005

Married life has taught me that a wrong answer is better than no answer, because at least it shows you were paying attention to the question.
posted by Plutor at 6:50 AM on July 25, 2005

Okay, so it sounds like any answer I'd be likely to give would be safe.

Plutor: what if the question is "do I look fat in this?"
posted by invitapriore at 11:06 AM on July 25, 2005

The answer to that is always "of course not".
posted by scottymac at 1:49 PM on July 25, 2005

It's up to the recipient to weigh the opinions. As the person receiving advice, I'm skeptical of "my uncle had a Volkswagon and it rocked/sucked" because I know that tells me little about the average Volkswagon. But maybe the questioner wants anecdotes. It's at least better than the plethora of people who have never experienced what you are talking about but think they can imagine it well enough to answer.
posted by dreamsign at 10:33 PM on July 25, 2005

I get flak for posting well-referenced, literature-supported answers to medical questions when what the poster really wanted was anecdotal experiences. Can't win for losing, what I say. Also I say go for it.

I say "I like pie," too.
posted by ikkyu2 at 7:51 AM on July 26, 2005