Re: "freak" and recent threads

[Nkuvu]

While I'm not disagreeing with your conclusions, I came to a completely different one.

All of the questions linked above have more than one thing in common (the first being the subject matter). What is more of a nuisance in my mind is that the questions are all very short. Concise questions are fine, but these are also very repetitive questions, and aren't showing much in the way of motivation. I'm surprised how few responses there are of "do your own work".

I'm not really inclined to reply to these threads, but if I were so inclined I think there would be a lot of RTFM involved.

[QM]

What is more of a nuisance in my mind is that the questions are all very short.

One of the skills useful in gaining information is to ask short questions with just enough info to optimize the number and depth of responses.

This can be used for good at, say, an industry convention to find out what the other guys are working on (or just to be socially engaging):

Hey, isn't your company into magnetic lasers or something?

Oh, yes, we're investigation cellphone signal distortions caused by atmospheric electromagnetic phenomena, and we're trying to apply those results to coherent transmission techniques for interplanetary missions during heavy solar activity.

Or in the on the blacker side of social engineering:

[Your example here]

So short questions might be generated from a severe lack of what question to ask, or to let those of us who think we know what the unasked question might be to give an answer we think fits, without letting out too much info about what the original motivation is.

Update: Yes, effortless questions...perhaps they deserve effortless answers?

[revdiablo]

This can be used for good at, say, an industry convention to find out what the other guys are working on (or just to be socially engaging)

What works well to start a real-life conversation does not necessarily make for good practice on an asynchronous forum like PerlMonks. Short, rapid, back-and-forth questions are fine when responses come in seconds, but On The Internet (tm), responses can take minutes, hours, or days. It's unrealistic to expect the same sorts of social conventions to work equally well.

[QM]

What works well to start a real-life conversation does not necessarily make for good practice on an asynchronous forum like PerlMonks.

I completely agree with you. But respected opinions aside, it doesn't mean that someone, either intentionally or not, wouldn't display this behavior, even in a context and environment where it is ineffective or off-putting.

On the other hand, the OP did get a number of responses, some of them bordering on useful. So I would be inclined to admit a score of "minimal" success for the posts, while at the same time preferring a more direct exchange.

[Nkuvu]

I meant to imply that the nuisance comes from "short and repetitive and showing no motivation" questions. Not solely from short questions.

Sorry, poor editing on my part (when composing the post I rearranged sentences a few times).