I asked a question on a forum about why a command wasn’t working. They said I didn’t have an interpreter installed on my computer and were making fun of me. I showed them that I had one installed and that wasn’t the problem, but they continued to talk sarcastically to me without explaining anything. Only one of them suggested the cause of the problem, and he was right, so I thanked him. Then another guy said that if I couldn’t figure it out myself, I should do something else and that he was tired of people like me. After that, I deleted my question, and now I’m not sure. And I don’t think I want to ask for help ever again
In short, this is a social faux pas that you didn’t know about, because you’re new to asking questions online.
And as you can see from the existence of that wikihow page: it’s a common problem and you are not the first or the last to run into this. Sorry.
https://www.wikihow.com/Ask-a-Question-on-the-Internet-and-Get-It-Answered
Describing what you have tried so far, is extremely important.
Writing it out can make you go through the thinking steps necessary and you will answer your own question in the process of asking it. That’s so common it’s called “rubber ducking”. Everyone does it. But if you don’t do the writing, people can be cross because you’re asking a question you didn’t need to ask.
There are different kinds of communities that have different levels of professionalism and question asking culture. You picked one at random at the wrong level.
I promise you not every community online is like that. Try a different one.
And also, you didn’t do your research for this question either. Or you could have found the wikihow page. 😜
No.
All of the “rules” you’re describing are effectively just gaslighting people who have been bullied into thinking they asked for it. It takes so little effort not to be a dick to people. It’s like the lowest effort thing I can think of.
Asking questions is fine; asking without doing prior research is fine too. Online bullies want others to think you need to have a PhD thesis on the topic before you’re allowed to ask a question and that mindset is ridiculous.
Ask your questions @alina@lemmy.world, don’t apologize for it, and just ignore the assholes. It’s totally fine to look for a human connection first, you don’t need that doctorate beforehand.
I will say that getting a question ignored when asked in a manner that is contrary to the rules of that community is normal. People not reading the rules and guidelines and asking inappropriately is very common and results in a lot of burnout.
But you are correct - it takes little effort to not be an asshole, and in those situations one should just move on and let the powers that be clean it up.
Thank you🥺
I don’t think it is about needing a doctorate beforehand and I find your characterization of @it_depends_man@lemmy.world’s advice on social etiquette weirdly non-sequitur and white knighty. Would you walk into a religious place of worship, a strip club, a gun range, or Costco without at least knowing how to interact with that space? Wearing your magic underwear? Bring enough fives? Ear protection? Membership card?
The point being virtual spaces are weird and full of weird people that live in their head. And they make communities that have implicit and explicit rules like all communities. And if you’re wading neck deep into a pool of internet weirdos (their pool, mind you, you’re the outsider traipsing in wanting their knowledge and wisdom) and want your question answered, the lurk and learn advice from above is solid.
Does it suck? Maybe? I can see it from the community’s perspective where they set the barrier to entry.
I wouldn’t walk into a strip club period, but for all of your other examples I would absolutely go to those places to figure out how to interact with them. Frankly, I do not understand why you wouldn’t. Who is more qualified to explain to you how to interact with them than the people you want to interact with?
You’re accusing me of “white knighting” (hello, painfully 2010s virtue signaling catch phrase) for saying that people shouldn’t be shitty to each other. I’ll counter by accusing you of enabling that negative behavior by making excuses for it.
No one’s entitled to an answer & certainly not a polite one if they fail to show consideration for others by putting sensible effort themselves. That’s not called a doctorate, that’s called trying.
Contrary to your opinion, those “assholes” may be doing OP a favor by pointing out the question is deficient. Most volunteers respond to an ineptly posed question by ignoring it. This is rational: which question would you rather answer?
Getting questions answered sooner by reducing the effort & pain to answer them is in everyone’s interest.
Learning how to learn & ask questions well are indispensable skills. If you want to keep asking questions unintelligently, though, then you can expect to wear out the patience & good will of the volunteers answering them. Just as you are free to not try, everyone else is free & entitled to go full asshole on that bullshit.
“Being mean to people is a good thing because it teaches them to [something]” is an indefensible sentiment.
Yes, nobody is entitled to your answer to a question and you’re fine to just not answer any question you don’t want to. Being a dick about it, though, is actively harmful to both the person you’re being a dick to, and the community you’re participating in.
It’s interesting that people defending being a dickhead so frequently fall back to accusations about intelligence. E.g.:
For a group of people so very concerned with intelligence, I wonder if anyone has taken the time to explain to you the concept of emotional intelligence.