This mainly relates to tech communities, but certainly applies elsewhere. I’m just so sick of seeing a constant flood of basic questions being posted that would’ve been better off as a search query.
Instead of communities being a wealth of discussion and a place to learn/exchange knowledge and ideas, it feels like most have about 10-20% solid content at best, and 80-90% useless noise: “How do I X?”, “What Linux Distro should I use?”, “What does Y mean?”
Like, I’m all for asking questions, but I prefer to help those who help themselves. Is this all the result of iPad kid syndrome or something?
If you’re willing to take the time to post a simple question that 50 other people have already asked within the last week instead of taking 5 seconds to search for an answer (that’ll probably be the first result on any search engine), your thought process makes no sense to me and I can’t see you as anything other than a complete nuisance to the community/fediverse.
Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.
Counterpoint: Having those questions posited here does mean we can start getting fediverse traction in Google. Even if it’s a tiny amount.
I see where you’re coming from. “Any publicity is good publicity”, as they say. So, sure… traction is good for overall visibility. I agree. We do need more of that.
To counter your counter, for the sake of discussion:
If the traction is built on semi-incoherent noise, doesn’t that feel precarious? Artificial, even? Kinda reminds me of bot-boosting, where you’d see a big initial uptick in views and maybe drum up some actual buzz. But in the long term, it’s either a fart in the wind, or it backfires altogether and ends up fueling a negative public opinion.
We had a similar conversation back in the forum days.
A lot of people screaming RTFM.
But someone enlightened me a little.
Often when people ask questions like that, what they are really doing is trying to become part of your community. An easy to answer question, a way for people to assume the mantle of the expert.
Really, how hard is it to answer those questions… And maybe stipulate that the person asking the question can answer it for the next one?
Obviously, some people are just treating you like Google, but if you act hostile, you’ll never know.
I agree. I love seeing community engagement when there’s an actual question involved.
My issue is with the flood of incredibly, incredibly basic questions being repeated over and over again. Especially when the user isn’t even looking for discussion - just an answer. Essentially treating the community like their own human-powered search engine. Gives off the vibe that they OP’s don’t care enough to put any effort in, they just want someone else to spoon-feed them and/or tell them what to do. Seems so mindless.
And, the sheer volume of posts that fit that description can, and do, inadvertently drown out the less frequent, but more valid questions and requests for help… which just, sucks.
You know, this exact same complaint has been repeated, near verbatim, for as long as the internet has existed.
Post a question on a dial up BBS? “Just search!”
Post a question on Usenet? “Just search!”
Post a question on a forum? “Just search!”
Post a question on Discord? “Just search!”
Post a question on Lemmy? “Just search!”
Etc. I don’t think it’ll ever change.
Genuine unpopular opinion. ^^^
I also think it’s OK to ask questions.
