HP calcs are really not that accurate..

[Thomas Okken]

(12-02-2017 02:50 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  You can learn a lot here, depending on how you ask a question, if you have thick skin....

You can pose the same question in different ways, for example:

1. "How does one do XYZ?"

or this way:

2. "There is no question that the best way to do XYZ is [insert simple/dumb explanation here], right?"

and you will get vastly different responses. The former is likely to get fewer simple answers, including the universal (and generally appropriate) "RTFM", while the latter will provide many more elaborate and insightful answers, often leading to a series of competing solutions, each successively improving on the last.

I agree that option 1 is generally not the way to go. For me personally, it tends to make me suspect that the person asking the question is looking for someone to do their homework for them.

Whether option 2 is right is a matter of taste. I find that it if you're actually making an effort yourself, it works perfectly fine to simply be honest: "I'm trying to figure out how to do XYZ. The best I've been able to come up with is <insert description of algorithm here>."

Not everyone has a taste for unpleasantness, and people who are genuinely willing to share their knowledge don't need to be prodded into action with provocatively-phrased statements, and might even by turned off by them -- "I'd be happy to help, but this person is being an ass, so f--- them."