Don't be dumb, be smart
01 Sep 2017
Introduction
There’s no such thing as a dumb question, but there are stupid ways to ask them. As we continue down our paths as CS students, we will be faced with obstacles/problems. But, what is the right way to ask for help when we get stuck? The answer to this is very simple and it requires a lot more effort than just simply asking a plain question, instead, we ask “smart questions”.
Background Info.
Smart questions are an effective way of asking questions without wasting other people’s time, is the way I interpret it. Time is money, so when a question is vague or the person asking for help doesn’t put the time/effort themselves first, then there is no use in helping. Some characteristics of a smart question include being informative with your questions and always including the software/program where the problems occur.
An example of a non-smart question
As I scrolled through StackOverflow, searching for the most downvoted question I could find. We can see here in exhibit A, that this is more of a stupid question. Now, it’s a question nonetheless don’t get me wrong, but the way it was asked is just “loser” like. The user clearly does not list the steps he/she took in order to tackle the problem by themselves. This is really important because listing down different strategies that were used, can ultimately lead to solutions that you have never attempted before by replies. Besides not including the solutions attempted, the user also didn’t include the research he/she did in the question. This is also important because it shows what you know and what don’t, which makes the replier’s job a little bit easier.
An example of a smart question
On the other hand, it was quite easy picking a smart question on StackOverflow. Reasons, why this question is a smart one, is not hard to point out. The user’s question was precise and informative, he/she listed the programming language that the problem was located on, which caused no confusion for the people trying to answer. Another reason why this is a smart question is that the user listed the different strategies that he/she used to solve the problem. This stands out the most because, why would you want to help somebody that did not take the time to help them first?
This shows that the user actually attempted the problem and is not showing that he/she is entitled to an answer without putting in an effort. In this case, the user did put the effort in experimenting with different ideas and that lead to him/her getting a lot of help from the community.