Post AXpY0tMe7ARcmFBOng by b0rk@social.jvns.ca
(DIR) More posts by b0rk@social.jvns.ca
(DIR) Post #AXpQRIREiHUcRGPSHQ by b0rk@social.jvns.ca
2023-07-18T19:24:31Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
i'm working on a talk and here is a draft of a drawing with no contextwill probably make the actual slides more constructive than this but I want to keep some of this energy(also I'm talking about answering *your coworkers' questions*, not helping internet randos who have no claim whatesoever on your time, that is a different thing)
(DIR) Post #AXpQRLXjAbT44GTBJY by jeff@federated.fun
2023-07-18T19:28:31.608883Z
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@b0rk answering questions without being a jerk being underneath you trashing someone else's take on the topic is enough to have people online make fun of you without any end.
(DIR) Post #AXpQRXJHQ92cYvnoSe by b0rk@social.jvns.ca
2023-07-18T19:26:33Z
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anyway this idea that you have to Ask Questions in a Perfect Way is honestly exhausting and IMO inappropriate in a lot of casessometimes I regret writing https://jvns.ca/blog/good-questions/ because I see it thrown around a lot as "here is how to ask the perfect question so that I will deign to answer it"
(DIR) Post #AXpQihgo5E4Rg0zcqu by burner@frennet.xyz
2023-07-18T19:31:46.629Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@jeff@federated.fun @b0rk@social.jvns.ca I'm a fan of having thorough documentation to point people towards, so you don't have to worry about tone policing yourself. Granted, that doesn't work for many non-digital professions.
(DIR) Post #AXpRBTD2zyHtAKn39E by burner@frennet.xyz
2023-07-18T19:36:59.740Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@jeff@federated.fun @b0rk@social.jvns.ca I also like what I'd call "streamlined documentation", where it's documentation on a particular program that only gives information that's relevent to a specific task.
(DIR) Post #AXpRWyjOzpDJ0hBD96 by jeff@federated.fun
2023-07-18T19:40:50.833520Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@burner @b0rk if your docs are good there is a lot to read. if people are asking questions it is a bug in your documentation's completeness and searchability.i don't get upset if JKR shoots down my request to read harry potter out loud over the phone to me, why is it outlandish here?
(DIR) Post #AXpT0GlZ7c17IRirK4 by burner@frennet.xyz
2023-07-18T19:57:22.905Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@jeff@federated.fun @b0rk@social.jvns.ca Blender has the best documentation of almost anything I've used, if hover over a tool and hit f1 then it opens up the article on that specific tool.
(DIR) Post #AXpXp2h7bD6CEu6sAi by jitterted@sfba.social
2023-07-18T20:41:48Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@b0rk It (hopefully) happens less often with coworker questions, but in my community, I have to remind people (especially new folks) how to ask questions, because I see a lot of questions that simply can't be answered because there's:1. Not enough background/context2. Nothing about what was expected (what is actually wrong? Is there a stack trace?)3. Not enough code (please, no screenshots of code, and if you can, just point us to the source code repository)4. No information about what was attempted. (Optional, but helpful, so we don't suggest things you already tried)I try hard to be empathetic, but have sometimes had to say "without [more info], I'm afraid there's not much I can suggest". And rarely, "please stop asking questions without this info."
(DIR) Post #AXpXp41ie7AYN4kpuq by jitterted@sfba.social
2023-07-18T20:45:31Z
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@b0rk And so this is why I use https://jvns.ca/blog/good-questions/ as one of the links to help people understand how/why to ask good questions.But yeah, can see if someone takes it as: "don't even try asking a question until you've read these three things, and if you get it even slightly wrong, out you go" as being a jerk.
(DIR) Post #AXpY0tMe7ARcmFBOng by b0rk@social.jvns.ca
2023-07-18T20:46:10Z
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@jitterted been thinking about whether some of the issues with "asking questions" are actually issues with the asker not being great at debugging yet. feels tricky to work with someone who's struggling with debugging if you don't have an ongoing relationshp with them
(DIR) Post #AXpY0u3tWN2UwNPwDA by jeff@federated.fun
2023-07-18T20:53:28.682508Z
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@b0rk @jitterted regardless of the why, the underlying problem is that many users are asking questions in a very low skill manner. helping out users by letting them ask questions better is often the first step to answering a question at all. often these exchanges starts with "[software name] doesn't work, how do i fix it?", and yes literally that exact set of words.