Poll of the Day > I hate when you ask how to do X and the response is...

(+) Yeah! (+)

"Why would you want to?"

Makes me want to find them IRL and kick them in the face until they run out of face to kick in.

Because then if I explain why I want to know, they either answer anyway if they know (which they could have done before the explanation), or they don't answer anyway because either they ignore the response or didn't know the answer to begin with. Either way, we both just wasted our time.

If I'm asking the question, then obviously I have a reason for wanting to know and the reason is irrelevant to the answer.

Grr, that's my pet peeve of the day.

or "google it"

Lokarin posted...

or "google it"

Yeah, that's annoying too, as if I haven't already tried it. But somehow still not as annoying as "Why would you want to?"

Of course, this falls in line with a whole bunch of other similar general communication annoyances, all of which are annoying because they waste time or something similar. Like for example:

-When I'm at work, and someone messages me over Teams, "Hi". Then I have to say, "Hi..." back, and then they ask me a question. JUST ASK THE DAMN QUESTION. This is something that east Asians and Indians do all the time at my company. Must be a cultural thing.

-When somebody does ask me a question, and then I respond, and they they message back, "Ok". Like, why did you have to send me a pointless message back that I then have to go look at to clear the unread status. It was their question. I don't give a shit about their "I saw your response" response. This is especially annoying over phone text when I put my phone back in my pocket and then get another text and have to pull it out again only to see that they sent something pointless.

-When somebody I don't know calls me on the phone and asks for someone or something without first saying who they are. Then I have to ask who's calling. I'm not going to just give a cold caller information.

-Etc.

Or "don't do X, do Y"

mrplainswalker posted...

If I'm asking the question, then obviously I have a reason for wanting to know and the reason is irrelevant to the answer.

Weelllll.

In some cases, knowing why you want to do something is actually helpful, because it tells the person the best way to suggest to you how to do it. Depending on what your X is, there may be different ways to accomplish it.

ie, "If you want X because Y, then Z" versus "If you want X because W, then V".

So someone asking can be clarifying your reasons to better answer your question.

Agreed though that most of the time online when someone says that, what they're really saying is "I wouldn't want to do that, therefore no one else should ever want to do that, because I'm an egocentric asshole who never grew out of the childish concrete thinking mindset."

And yeah, it can be frustrating. Especially when you can't just sarcastically shit on or abuse them for it, because then you come across looking like an asshole and the actual helpful people may be less inclined to want to help you.



keyblader1985 posted...

Or "don't do X, do Y"

Sometimes that IS good advice. Like, if you're asking how to do X, but what you really want is to achieve V, and are just assuming that X is the best way to do so, someone recommending doing Y might actually be helping, by trying to recommend a better way to get to your actual intended goal.

Which goes back to the "Why do you want to?" occasionally being a useful clarification. It's basically saying "What are you trying to achieve by doing X? I'll tell you the best way to achieve your goal, which may not actually be via X."

But again, it's definitely more the case that the person answering is just being a cocknozzle rather than trying to be helpful.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

In some cases, knowing why you want to do something is actually helpful, because it tells the person the best way to suggest to you how to do it. Depending on what your X is, there may be different ways to accomplish it.

ie, "If you want X because Y, then Z" versus "If you want X because W, then V".

I'm trying to think of a case where this would be true, and I just can't. I mean, I could see cases where achieving X might be easier/harder depending on what resources you have available, but that doesn't change the actual end goal. And if it's something extremely complex, like, "How do I create a new nation?" or whatever, I probably wouldn't be asking randos on the internet. The kind of thing you ask randos on the internet is, "How do I beat this boss?" or "How do I get the macguffin in part 3?"

How do you spell <word>?

"Look it up in the dictionary"

How can I look it up in the dictionary if I don't know how to freaking spell it?!

captpackrat posted...

How do you spell <word>?

"Look it up in the dictionary"

How can I look it up in the dictionary if I don't know how to freaking spell it?!

A thesaurus would be more helpful since if you know what the word means you just need to search for synonyms or antonyms.

mrplainswalker posted...

I'm trying to think of a case where this would be true, and I just can't.

The kind of thing you ask randos on the internet is, "How do I beat this boss?" or "How do I get the macguffin in part 3?"

To counter your own examples:

"How do I beat this boss?" Presumably you want to beat the boss to get to the next part of the story. But if the boss is optional, or meant to be encountered later in the story (and you're supposed to go a completely different way where you don't encounter them until after you've leveled up a bit), knowing why you're asking can lead to a helpful responder to point out that you don't need to fight that boss at all. At which point, clarifying WHY you want to beat it (to continue the game, to get an achievement, to get a special item drop, to go for 100% completion, to prove to yourself than you can, etc) can lead them to offer different advice.

"How do I get the MacGuffin in part 3?" Do you actually need the MacGuffin in part 3? Can you get it earlier than part 3? Can you get it later than part 3? Is there an alternate MacGuffin that you can use instead? Is the MacGuffin actually a trick, and getting it screws you over later? Knowing why you want it can help determine what sort of advice people give you about it.

Again, most of the time this won't be the case, but it can be sometimes.



captpackrat posted...

How do you spell <word>?

"Look it up in the dictionary"

How can I look it up in the dictionary if I don't know how to freaking spell it?!

The usual assumption there is that you might at least have some idea how to spell it, so looking at that place in the dictionary will get you close enough to see it.

It's more helpful if you're only unsure about a couple letters (Is it thief or theif? Crenelate, crenelate, or crenillate?), because the word you're looking for will be close to what you need. It's really only useless advice if you misspell it badly and right from the start (so, say, zylophone instead of xylophone).

mrplainswalker posted...

If I'm asking the question, then obviously I have a reason for wanting to know and the reason is irrelevant to the answer.

not necessarily no, this is literally called an "XY problem" (or that is what is trying to be ruled out)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XY_problem

Q: How can I do <thing that makes no sense> (aka Y)?
A: Why do you want to do Y?
Q: Because X...
A: X is solved via Z.
<no further reason to solve Y>

my moms elderly friend: How do you buy a...*looks at phone*...$500 prepaid visa gift card?
cvs employee: why do you want to buy a $500 prepaid visa gift card?
my moms elderly friend: because my good friend needs help urgently and needs me to buy one and send it to her.
cvs employee: can I see the email...

me: *happy the employee asked why*

ParanoidObsessive posted...

To counter your own examples:

"How do I beat this boss?" Presumably you want to beat the boss to get to the next part of the story. But if the boss is optional, or meant to be encountered later in the story (and you're supposed to go a completely different way where you don't encounter them until after you've leveled up a bit), knowing why you're asking can lead to a helpful responder to point out that you don't need to fight that boss at all. At which point, clarifying WHY you want to beat it (to continue the game, to get an achievement, to get a special item drop, to go for 100% completion, to prove to yourself than you can, etc) can lead them to offer different advice.

"How do I get the MacGuffin in part 3?" Do you actually need the MacGuffin in part 3? Can you get it earlier than part 3? Can you get it later than part 3? Is there an alternate MacGuffin that you can use instead? Is the MacGuffin actually a trick, and getting it screws you over later? Knowing why you want it can help determine what sort of advice people give you about it.

Again, most of the time this won't be the case, but it can be sometimes.

Or maybe such as beating a boss a specific way because it yields different results. Undertale is a fine example of this, in which you can "win" by using Mercy and have a variety of endings--two of them fleshed out and the others a phonecall you can read at the end--depending on how many monsters you spare or kill.

To use a separate example, Doom Gaze in FFVI can be beaten with ease by using X-Zone if you have it. "How do I beat the boss without X-Zone?" becomes a valid question, with a valid counter being "Why do you not want to use X-Zone?" The answer, of course, is the magicite/Esper you can get only by beating Doom Gaze without the aforementioned spell.

To a lesser extent? "Why do you want to beat Emerald Weapon without materia equipped?" The answer is for the sake of a self-imposed challenge. For those interested, no, Emerald doesn't bother with Aire Tam Storm if you don't have enough materia equipped to receive any reasonable amount of damage, so the fight is not easier for it. "Why do you want to enter the Emerald Weapon fight with 7777 health?" For science! <_<

mrplainswalker posted...

"Why would you want to?"

Makes me want to find them IRL and kick them in the face until they run out of face to kick in.

Because then if I explain why I want to know, they either answer anyway if they know (which they could have done before the explanation), or they don't answer anyway because either they ignore the response or didn't know the answer to begin with. Either way, we both just wasted our time.

If I'm asking the question, then obviously I have a reason for wanting to know and the reason is irrelevant to the answer.

Grr, that's my pet peeve of the day.

Some people really just want to hear themselves talk, even if they dont have anything of substance to say. You might notice someone in this very topic making multiple long winded posts in defense of this behavior, while doing exactly what I described.

Nothing worse than a forum post asking how to do or fix something, then the OP saying "NM, found it" without stating what they did

Y > X.

better exclusives

how do i stab a fork into my thigh

Adam_Savage posted...

how do i stab a fork into my thigh

Hold fork in hand with prongs pointed down.
Position fork above the thigh you wish to stab.
Forcefully lower the fork.

mrplainswalker posted...

Of course, this falls in line with a whole bunch of other similar general communication annoyances, all of which are annoying because they waste time or something similar. Like for example:

-When I'm at work, and someone messages me over Teams, "Hi". Then I have to say, "Hi..." back, and then they ask me a question. JUST ASK THE DAMN QUESTION.

Ok, yeah, this drives me nuts too.