Quality Thought Process
09 Sep 2021
Today’s world offers a colossal amount of educational information and resources. Many can learn about subjects that out reach to the common populace. Such information was often gatekeeped by universities and secondary educational institutes. What does this mean for the general population? Can everyone learn everything that they want and can they do so at an efficient learning pace? This is where the disconnect occurs from the tremendous wealth of information the internet provides as well as the support of countless trained professionals. In order to gain access, the key one needs is the proper question and for most this is harder than it seems.
The Respected Approach
Not everyone in a particular field can be expected to be an expert. It is normal to develop questions as problems arise and new situations demand greater understanding than one posseses at a certain time. How then can one hope to answer their queries without the disdain of their fellow colleagues and peers. It starts from demonstrating effort. In one such example found on StackOverflow, a question was posed regarding templates and their usage in C++. The author of the question immediately established rapport with readers in showing the effort they achieved prior to asking their question. They quote information from “The C++ standard library: a tutorial and handbook.” This displays an attempt to search for and understand the topic of their question. Many questions can often time be answered from simple queries and personal search. This author has revealed that at the very least a personal attempt to understand the material was made and still unanswered questions remains. Furthermore, they also add further clarification to their question to focus the direction of assistance. In providing a focused query, the community was able to provide direct and concise assistance. They provide an example iterating what the author of question needed help with and also provided an alternative solution. This alternative solution , while not specifically what the author was asking about, could nonetheless provide more food for thought and potentially more understanding of the subject matter.
The Novice Approach
As seen above it is possible to access the great wealth of knowledge that the internet holds. Great personal strides can be made by asking educated questions formed through a dedicated and educated process. On the other hand, we often see poorly written questions on the internet. Why does this happen so often? Knowing that the internet holds this vast amount information, people develop an expectation for all of the their questions to be solved and answered at light-speed. While simpler questions can often times be handled succinctly by Google Search, people run into issues when needing more sophisticated help. One author from StackOverflow illustrates what can go wrong in asking for help on an online forum. They have requested assistance with their homework regarding a sum of squares problem. There are a number of proper ways to request help on homework assignemtns that can be seen as not a desperate cry for last minute help but a educated inquiry into a troublesome problem. The author of this query does the opposite. They simply paste their current iteration of code, stress that this is a homework assignment, and reassure the community that they can receive assistance. The community is quick to point out several concerns with the post, namely the lack of information. One member asks for “inputs and outputs.” Another suggests, “looking at the HMM documentation.” Universally it seems the community is reluctant to and incapable of giving answwers to this query. Eventually, a moderator places the question on hold for the very concerns brought up above and states that this question would “not [be] useful for future visitors as they can’t determine if they have the exact same problem.” From both of these examples, we are shown the difference in response from the community in both helpfulness and willingness. All of us should strive to ask more educated questions as professional members of the community.