Let's be a little nicer, especially to newcomers

[Trell]

I sometimes think a new person asking a question gets so many and often conflicting answers it is bad. Almost always it is because the question lacked info or was unfocused. A common one asking a question with assumptions only specified after some unsought suggestions or not giving a budget.

But conflicting answers does not mean they are wrong, though, as the question is often too non-specific and lacking needed info from the poster.

 

[voodooless]

But conflicting answers does not mean they are wrong, though, as the question is often too non-specific and lacking needed info from the poster.

Well, the point is that then, the answer should not have been given, but rather a followup question should be asked.

… in this regard ASR seniors are very much like ChatGPT: giving any answer is better than asking a followup question

 

[fpitas]

Being kind of lazy, I wait until I understand what the poster is asking.

 

[Trell]

Well, the point is that then, the answer should not have been given, but rather a followup question should be asked.

… in this regard ASR seniors are very much like ChatGPT: giving any answer is better than asking a followup question

Yeah, I’ve been guilty of that on occasion.

On the other hand I’ve had a number experiences with trying to get more information from the poster is akin to trying to take a bone from a playful dog. That gets old after a while.

 

[Zensō]

On the other hand I’ve had a number experiences with trying to get more information from the poster is akin to trying to take a bone from a playful dog. That gets old after a while.

Often it seems people aren’t truly looking to have a question answered, but instead are actually looking for affirmation of some preconceived notion. You know this when they immediately start arguing with you after you’ve tried to provide a helpful answer. It does get old.

 

[thecheapseats]

...You know this when they immediately start arguing with you after you’ve tried to provide a helpful answer...

pearls before swine...

 

[pseudoid]

Much

here.

 

[Mnyb]

I sometimes think a new person asking a question gets so many and often conflicting answers it is bad. Almost always it is because the question lacked info or was unfocused. A common one asking a question with assumptions only specified after some unsought suggestions or not giving a budget.

The underlying assumptions of some questions makes it hard and we don’t know where to begin . Some ask the wrong questions . And some people are not even wrong .

Sure it can be awkward to be told something seemingly off topic to a questions.

For example,if someone asked which DAC matches thier headphones the best ?

 

[pseudoid]

This makes for a good reading for writing style:

• A brief example of tailoring words for different listeners: engineers and managers [2013/07/01]
  Here’s how I’d usually phrase a story, which is a quite objective narrative:

• • We have 2 CI servers: A weak one and a strong one. Our PRs trigger a Job on the weak server.
  • The disk on the weak server frequently becomes full, and — each time — an engineer needs to manually clean up the disk.
  • That chore usually takes 10 min and is a waste of time. An engineer’s average salary amortizes to $60/hr, so we’re losing $10 every time this happens.
  • Had the PRs been triggering the Job on our strong server instead, which has 10x the disk space, we could’ve reduced the frequency to 10% and the amortized loss to $1. We should migrate the Job. The migration should take ~1 hour.

  That’s engineer speak, suitable for communicating with senior engineers and tech leads. Nearly all the sentences have an object as the subject. There are numbers, but not emotions.
  

  • Suppose we are talking to a manager (who’s been quite rusty in engineer speak), can we phrase this better?
  • This morning, Alice can’t get her PR validated on the CI server. Yesterday, it happened to Bob. And the day before that? Cindy. [Screenshots of chat messages here]
  • None of them know as much about the servers as Dave, so that’s who they turned to for help.
  • Dave explained that, “the PR validation process runs on our weak server, and the disk was full.” and he went on to clean up that server.
  • Dave did that three times in a row, and it’s just this week. He’s got better things to do, like that killer feature due next Monday. We don’t want to risk missing a million-dollar launch, not this time, and also not in the future, do we?
  • If we move that validation Job from the weak server to our strong server, which has 10x the disk space, we wouldn’t have this trouble anymore. It only takes 1 hour to migrate, and it will save us tons of risks in the long run.

  The characteristics of this statement are as follows:
  • Start with a description of the current predicament rather than a bland background.
  • Talk more about people and less about things. Of course, avoid judging others. Focus on what kind of trouble they’re in. This evokes sympathy.
  • Exaggerate the impact, if necessary. “Millions” is more gripping than “$9.”
  • Negative emotions can shock others more than positive emotions. Compared with an optimization of “cost-saving”, the risk of “missing a product launch” calls for more action.
  From <https://lmy.medium.com/a-brief-exam...listeners-engineers-and-managers-1d9610666cda>

No one says you have to be an engineer or a manager to extract some style hints from the above 2 examples.

 

[RF Air]

Maybe the automated AI Greeter with each new poster that quantifies and qualifies the post beforehand with a measured response. Then we can all take a break and just watch the fun.

 

[JSmith]

That looks like it would KILL!

Maybe better, not as harsh?

JSmith

 

[pablolie]

Much
View attachment 296827
here.

There may be something missing in your next gen OP design

 

[dasdoing]

Maybe better, not as harsh?

View attachment 307143


JSmith

lol, I have a small version of this guy

 

[Digby]

can we have a shocked chicken emoji plz?

 

[JSmith]

shocked chicken emoji

JSmith

 

[pseudoid]

There may be something missing in your next gen OP design

Nothing was really missing in that OP design.
Positive-feedback is not for OP << It is for all of us!

 

[Multicore]

There are reasons indeed - look at studies on “online inhibition effect” and biases like “Dunning Kruger Effect” in combination with a primarily aging male demographic of the Forum (E.g., physical factors, like Irritable Male Syndrome).

Those will explain the need for the OP reminder, and will also explain why some need constant reminding or removal.

The social scientists and psychologists could give you a much more precise answer as to the general reasons for the group dynamics you see emerge, but there are going to individual factors as well - and those are reasons we will never know why they do what they do.

You're right about the individual factors. I think these are at least as interesting as what credentialed specialists might say about the generalities, not that any of this necessarily need to be discussed here. I believe people can profit from thinking about their answers to these questions with respect to themselves, others and how they prefer to think of themselves.

 

[anmpr1]

Often it seems people aren’t truly looking to have a question answered, but instead are actually looking for affirmation of some preconceived notion. You know this when they immediately start arguing with you after you’ve tried to provide a helpful answer. It does get old.

That's sometimes the case. Other times, it's sincerity. Most long-time ASR followers have a pretty common outlook on gear. But people coming from the Stereophile, Absolute Sound, audiostore floor salesman cowboy world, can be really lost. So they post naively, not understanding the general thrust of ASR. I usually take first time folks at face value. Time tells. Pretty quickly.

I'm reminded of my early days with Linux. You'd go to the usenet forums and read someone honestly asking questions about how to compile and install the latest Nvidia driver? Responses were: 1) You need to go back to Windows if you're asking this questions; 2) Nvidia is proprietary, and has no business on Linux; 3) GUI? If you're not surfing the Web and reading email inside an Emacs session you're just not capable. Then, there was the coup de grace: Linux is for losers. If you're not on BSD, you're just not on.

Also, one problem with text based replies is that it is not often easy to convey intention. Words are words, but speech (along with facial recognition) expresses deeper meaning. It is possible to read a reply, and take it in ways not intended.

 

[robwpdx]

I do have to say that the generic topic deleted message sent by the moderators is extremely rude and unbecoming of ASR.

 

[RayDunzl]

How to treat newcomers?

There's surely a lesson in here someplace: