Well-written questions get well-written answers?

Question

Just a little thing I've noticed, so I'm taking an informal poll. Seems like the more thoughtful and relevant your question is here, the better chance you're going to get a good answer. Stupid(meaning-poorly written, ungrammatical,just plain idiotic/obvious)questions seem to be the ones that are mainly used for point-gaming. How are you supposed to answer,"Am I pretty"?
What do you think?

Answer 1

Absolutely agree. You produce unusually well-written questions (I've answered several of yours in the past few days). You have a concise question as a subject, followed by just enough details to indicate what it is you really want to know.

Even though I'm a writer, spelling and grammatical errors don't bother me too much (I realize that many people are non-native English speakers ... and some people have great ideas, but have trouble with typing or grammar).

I admit that sometimes the idiotic questions really get me going. When someone starts with a bad premise, or uses glaringly faulty logic, I try to point it out (gently, if I can muster it).

And sometimes it's other *answers* that get me to respond. When someone writes a perfectly valid question and gets flamed ... or when six people all respond with the same *wrong* answer (like "Sedna is the 10th planet" or "carbon dating is how we date fossils"), I feel compelled to answer. Somehow quashing misinformation is as important as providing good information.

Other pet peeves:
- A statement with a question mark after it ... doesn't make it a question.
- A short question followed by a long list of unrelated questions, each of which deserves a page of reponse.
- A description that's essentially a long diatribe indicating that the asker has no interest in any answer at all.
- A question that has only been asked about 200 times. Don't people pay attention to the "previously asked questions" that comes up as you type a question in? I may barf the next time I see "chicken or egg?" or "why is sky blue?"
- A *stupid* question that has only been asked about 200 times. Why do creationists think "why are there still monkeys?" is *incredibly* clever, no matter how many times responders demonstrate that it is incredibly stupid?
- Questions copied ver batim from web sites. When the Asker can't be bothered to write his/her own question, then it's a sure sign they won't bother reading the answers.
- (Related to this.) Long answers copied ver batim from web sites. Please, just put the link.
- Askers who ignore the ten people who submit detailed answers to their questions, and then reward "I dunno" from a friend as the "Best Answer" (usually with five stars).

Answer 2

I've only been on a few days, cause I had a question that I couldn't find an answer for, I provided lots of information with the question so that people would fully understand it, and I got a few short and rude comments, but the ones that helped were long and explained pretty much everything I needed to know. I was also thanked for having a good question.

I think that you are right, there are lots of people here that just want the points, however the points don't actually mean anything in the real world, and though it may be fun to have a large number of points it really doesn't mean that you are better than everyone else, it just means that you may answer questions with "?" or perhaps even something that the person before you wrote.

Answer 3

The questions that I find useless (ie: badly written in to mind) are the ones that are too general. For example, a question that says "Can anyone help?" I don't even bother to read the details.

Had the person written "Trouble with cheating boyfriend, can anyone help?" they may get more attention... or "Trouble with Windows 98 crashing all the time, can anyone help" or "need info on saint Thomas University, can anyone help?"

The more specific the question, the more specific the answers will be and the less time people will waste opening and reading the question if it is irrelavent to anything they know.

Answer 4

This is a good hypothesis, but I'm not sure it's 100 per cent true.

I'm answering this because it IS a good and well-written question, but I've noticed an answer pattern to badly written questions as well.

If someone appears genuinely in trouble or needs advice, but their question rambles or is badly written, they still receive a few well-written, thoughtful answers. I think sympathy, the urge to help, overcomes any dismay or distaste about HOW badly the question is written.

The variable is human behavior, and there's nothing 100 per cent about it!

Answer 5

Okay, I've responded a couple of of your questions, but when you're asking us to do the entire paper then probably you are going to need to see your trainer approximately getting a few extra support, in view that you're not going to research a factor by way of with no trouble being trained the answers. Additionally, your trainer is not going to be competent to support you in the event that they suppose you could have gotten acquired one hundred% whilst genuinely you didn't be conscious of any of the solutions. Kind your life out!

Answer 6

I think that there are some questions that get poor answers because the question isn't phrased properly, yes.

However, the well-written-ness of the question isn't the only factor that leads to good answers. There are just some answers that people on Y! A don't know.

Answer 7

I think the stupid ones get the most answeres and sometimes the best answeres. People don't like reading the details.

Answer 8

Well, you are absolutely correct. Now about the trivial questions, I usually stay away from those. I might read a couple of the answers but I won't answer myself.

Answer 9

yes.