What is the psychological reason, if any, for some people on Yahoo! Answers to only or mainly answer, not ask?

Question

There are individuals very active on Yahoo! Answers for a long time who have answered a gazillion questions but asked none or very few. What's up with this? I mean a lot of them don't even act like know-it-alls, even some who appear to be polymaths.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymath

As far as "spending" points for asking questions goes, if you've got a couple thousand points what's the big deal?

pandora the cat: For God's sake, I'm just asking an innocent question here. I'm not complaining about or being critical of anyone. The fact of the matter is I genuinely value many of the answers of many of the people I'm talking about here. This was an honest and non-accusatory question that I thought related to Psychology. You are assuming you know me and my motives well. Come on, give me a break here. Give me at least the benefit of the doubt.

Mr.Wise: Good point. There are also many other categories of questions - - - - questions for which easy answers can not be found, questions relating to sharing of personal experience, just plain fun questions - - - - to name a few.

Mr.Wise: Oh, also provocative questions like this one is turning into. Though not intended it seems to have struck a nerve.

Mr.Wise: For examples of questions that do not fit the simplistic category of question you are describing, see these

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=At2mPUGVtiUbfXszY0NlHbPsy6IX?qid=20061022121314AASTg38
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AjIJtFrCPhL.RvPpsCIA6nfsy6IX?qid=20061022123607AAvGhmv
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ai5a2_mEMI0MH_hYNyNpAp3sy6IX?qid=20061022132137AANyCwK
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AjI5Bnhe351tHlpCGm1awpHsy6IX?qid=20061022141708AADEjke

I just gotta say it or it's gonna haunt me all night: There are many different functions to questioning, not just information gathering.

Oh, and sometimes one can GIVE as much by asking questions as by answering them.

Here is another example of a question asked not simply or mainly to gather information:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061023072638AAPTZJG&pa=FYd1D2bwHTHwIrtgFek.SAWQ2Bd25SRj0rgM8SXPSsgAqoleu.CDP25R5cO0WSYZAD0qQikhnUTe8Q--&msgr_status=

mank: Rest assured that at least one person read your answer in its entirety and both understood and appreciated it. I even agree with all of it (well, some of it requires neither agreement nor disagreement, I understand that too) Know also that I really look forward to reading your answers to questions, whether one of my own or someone else. Now please believe this was really an innocent question on my part. I am frankly surprised at the furor it has caused here. But I think my intention in asking this was misunderstood. Far from being critical or in any way judgemental I was throwing this question out into the cybersphere (my own neologism, I think) for two reasons mainly. First, to me this was a curious phenomenon which I have only recently begun to notice, one which I did not fully understand (I'll explain in a moment why I found it so difficult to comprehend) and which I desired to understand better.

mank:: Second, I have found that most YA members who mainly answer and never or rarely ask, as yourself, tend to give extensive, thoughtful, responsible answers. In a way I intended this question as a tribute or compliment to those individuals. I confess I'm not entirely sorry that I was misunderstood because strong emotion generates strong response and a little inoffensive controversy is, I believe, healthy for all of us.

Next, the matter of why I find it so curious that these very educated, responsible and well-intentioned individuals would refrain from asking questions here, why I find it difficult even now to accept the underlying logic. I think as a teacher (not a previous teacher; once a teacher, always a teacher, I believe, and I should know because my father was one) you will understand what I am about to say. I believe (and I guess have for so long that it is difficult for me to see it otherwise) that one can teach as well by asking questions as by answering them.

mank: Just as one can receive by giving and give by receiving, so one can give as well by asking questions as by answering them. This is the Socratic method and it has withstood the test of time. I am telling you what you already know now so I think it's time for me to shut up. Please....just think about it. I know you are already giving much here, that you ARE asking by answering. What I am challenging you and others like you to do here is to answer by asking. Thanks for your attention.

mank: In the spirit of fair play I am going to accept YOUR challenge, at least a part of it. For a children's book with a dog named Shoestring see David Slonim's "Old Jake's Skirts" at

http://www.davidslonim.com/books/index.php

Peace.

mank: Likely not the painting you're looking for but worth a look anyway. Certainly a great work of art.

Joan Miró. Acrobats in the Night Garden.

http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?object_id=63125

I would like to go on record here as saying the best answers I get to my questions are usually offered by these individuals who mainly answer, rarely ask here. Their answers are detailed, well thought out, responsible and usually correct. I always appreciate these answers and those who so generously take the time to give them.

Excuse me if I can't resist adding this example of someone who, yes, mainly answers questions but also knows how to ask them in an effort to share vital information. See, asking questions is not only about gathering information. Computerbuddy asks, "Does anyone here who is pregnant have any cats in the house?"
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AkeuD42JSvloMKgjI1yfMYHsy6IX?qid=20061015152328AAmGF81

Answer 1

Very interesting question! Very interesting responses, too. Not one that I had any intention of answering when I saw it on your list, but then I can't get it out of my mind.

If you want my response in 25 words or less, “I answer questions that I like to ask myself. As an answerer, I am actually an asker.”

Now to understand what I mean or why I might say that, you can subject yourself to my real answer, not the 10-second sound bite.

Since I probably fit in the category of Y!A participant you are focusing on, I will answer only for myself. Well, I haven't answered a gazillion questions, only two or three a day, but my record shows that I've answered 389 (390 now) and asked only 14.

Now from the beginning let me admit that, like Pandora's Cat, I assumed you were reprimanding people like me, assuming that we would think of ourselves as "know-it-alls," or being interested only in what we think, not what others think. Maybe, I thought. You see, about the only thing that remains of the Southern fundamentalism of my youth is a guilt complex. I tend to think of myself as usually at fault or as the focus of others' criticisms.

But then I read your additional details and was assuaged--sort of.

So let me respond to your two questions. First, why not ask?

Curiously, I discovered Yahoo! Answers because I wanted the answer to some questions that I have been asking for years, searching for information in libraries and more recently on the Internet. Of course, I received no answers, just two or three people giving me advice I didn't need: to google my questions or to go to Amazon.com. Obviously my questions were too specific for Y!A. Even if there's someone out there who knows the answers, the chances of their finding my question are very remote.

Then I asked several questions (like this one) to which I wanted multiple responses. I see the value in both qualitative and quantitative research, but again my questions were apparently too abstruse to be of interest to many people. I got few answers and only superficial ones. So I pretty much gave up on asking questions. I am an inveterate questioner, but--for me at least- there are better venues in which to ask questions than Y!A.

(By the way, the whole point system is meaningless to me. I think that's a more interesting psychological question--one that puzzles me. Why would anybody care how many points they've earned on Y!A. Now, if I might win a Honda Accord or a cruise on the Mediterranean--but points for points’ sake. Forgeddabout it! I would rather go back to my solitaire and crossword puzzles! However, people who do collect points are encouraged to answer and to vote, but not necessarily to ask.)

Second, why mainly answer? Again, for me, this came about coincidentally. When I first discovered Y!A, I thought I'd be asking a lot of questions, so I thought I'd better answer a question or two to keep a savings account of points. For the first week or two, I simply tried to answer enough Q’s to keep a balance of somewhere near 100 points.

But then, guess what? I'm a retired teacher. I chose teaching as a career because I love doing it, not because of the financial rewards. I was not meant to be a "retired teacher"; but health and other considerations keep me out of the classroom nowadays. So here, on Y!A, I have the best of both worlds. I can make my own schedule; tutor one person at a time, not a classroom of 35; occasionally find someone who appreciates an answer and actually says so; take as long as I want to answer a question and answer it as thoroughly and carefully as I want to (not a 30-second sound-bite before the bell rings, or the other 34 students get restless); and, yes, answer only those questions that are interesting to me (not "Will this be on the test?" "How many points is this worth?" "Are we gonna do anything important in class today?" "Tell me one more time what I'm supposed to know about a sonnet.").

Soon I was addicted. Some of my other writing, I have to admit, has suffered. Though I answer only two or three questions most days, I sometimes spend a hour or longer on each question. I know that askers usually prefer succinctness, but I'm doing this mainly for my own satisfaction. So I work on each question until I think I've really answered it. Maybe no one will ever read my response (maybe no one will read this response), but in formulating it I clarify my own thinking and achieve a sense of closure that so often eludes one in the teaching profession, in life.

Maybe that's what retirement's all about: closure.

I choose questions that are interesting (my answering a question is really a compliment to the asker, for I probably reject 50-100 for every one I answer); I choose questions that haven't already been answered well or completely or from an angle that I choose to take; I choose questions that I haven't answered before or seen repeated a gazillion times (no more Harry Potter questions for me!).

Generally, I think my responses take one of three forms:

(1) I like to tutor high-school students, helping them do their homework. Oh, I know they're cheating, kinda, but all kids deserve private tutors. Their parents just can't afford it. So sometimes I tutor.

(2) I like to join in conversations about books and authors, sharing my enthusiasms, confirming others' enthusiasms, coming at old chestnuts from a new angle or repeating lessons I taught in my English classes long ago--or wished I could teach in my English classes but couldn’t.

(3) I like to answer questions (like this one) that I do not know the answer to but work out in my own mind in the process of constructing a response. “Why do I mainly answer and not ask? Hmmm. That's curious. Not let me think about that . . .”

But no matter what format my responses take, one thing that I am always doing is clarifying my own thinking. I imagine saving all my responses so that if my children and grandchildren ever wonder what the old man really thought, they can browse around in my Y!A file. Not they ever would. But how I wish I had some such document from my parents and grandparents (and great-grandparents!). What did they really think? Back when I could have asked them, I was too young to care or to understand and they were probably too busy to take the time.

You see, to answer your question briefly then: Why mainly answer, not ask? I answer questions that I like to ask myself. As an answerer, I am actually an asker. So there.

(1168 words)

Closure.

Now if you know someone who can tell me the title of a children’s book with a dog named Shoestring or identify the Miro or Klee painting, mostly in red of circus acrobats, or tell me which book on impeachment I should read, maybe I’ll go back to asking!

LATER

Thanks, for your good response to my response. Oh, yes. In fact, my prime method of teaching was to get students to raise their own questions AND to answer each other's questions as well as their own. Lessons always ended w/ further questions. Good, in-depth answers inevitably raise other questions yet to be answered. C'est la vie.

And thanks, too, for looking for Shoestring. Regrettably, the Shoestring of my childhood goes back several decades before this one. But I did adopt this one as a descendant of the original. I even made friends (over the Internet) with a man in Alabama who owns a dog named Shoestring--but he didn't know my book either. Someday . . . .

Answer 2

Wow! Lots of opinions! I have never asked a question for the same reason that some said. Most of the time, I can find the answer on the net. Just today, I was trying to find out about the disease that my son had when he died. I knew a lot about it at the time, but now, years later, more information is known. I don't think anyone on here would have had the answer.

I like to help people if I can, as I worked all my life in the health care field. I read all of the answers before I decide to add mine. If many people have said the same thing, I just don't say anything. No one has to be told the same thing 30 times. I don't answer just to get points. And I really didn't know how the point system works for asking questions!

I don't care how many points I have. That isn't the reason I come to this site. I am up during the night, and the bulletin board that I go to is dead. No one to talk to, because everyone is sleeping. So I started coming here to see what is going on. I even learn a few things! I didn't know what a polymath is, so I looked it up! I am no kid anymore, and the old brain cells need to be challenged or they will die. I want to keep those things working as long as I can! I don't know everything and never will, but I have learned a lot in my lifetime, and sometimes can pass on what I do know.

So someone gives a stupid answer just to get 2 points. All it shows me is that they are very immature. And what good does it do to have tons of points? All it shows is that they answered a lot of questions. It doesn't prove that the answers were of any benefit to anyone. .

That's MY story! Yours was a very good question!

Answer 3

Many questions people have are ones that they already know the answer to or can find out if they look.
"Could I be pregnant," "Should I leave my physically abusive husband," and "How do I ask a girl out". Are pretty common.
Some people answer their own questions in the additional info box.
Some people are seeking allies in their own arguments, some are merely making statements, and some try to provoke a passionate response because they have control issues.

There are many questions that are not worth answering, and many that people will have something to say something about.

It would be foolish and ignorant to decide that all answerers answer more and ask less for the exact same reason.

Your question says more that you think it does. It is more of a statement than a question. Perhaps it is a complaint? An insult?

Everyone has an opinion and loves to share it with others. That is human nature. Why would you question this or have a problem with it?

Is it easier for you to focus on things that don't happen you're way than things that do? Is it your displaced anxiety? Do you think that everyone should behave the way you want them to?

There are a lot of people out there with empathy and compassion, and are happy to give support end encouragement to those who actually need it, who reach out to others. What's wrong with that? Some people give more to others than they ask others for. Isn't that something you can understand? If this is a foreign idea, then I am sorry for you.

Answer 4

I like answering questions.

I only ask a question when I have a question to help in a situation or if I want an opinion on something. I don't like to ask questions just to ask questions because it does cost five points in which I only get three points back when I pick an answer.

Also when I go to ask a question I will see if someone else has already asked the question and what their answers are before posting my question because you never know someone might have already answered my question.

Answer 5

Many questions here can be answered by a simple search on the Net or a trip to the library. Why do people ask questions about geography, health, history, etc., when it's readily available? If I wanted a knowledgeable answer without having to put up with nonsense, why would I ask a question here?

Answer 6

I think most people would rather display their intelligence than admit their ignorance.

Also, I asked a couple what I thought were good questions and got very superficial answers.

Answer 7

It costs 5 pts a piece to ask a question. If you ask ad many questions as you andser, you could cancel out your points, discounting your best answers, and thumbs up.

Answer 8

It`s probably because of the points system. It costs 5 pts. to ask a question.

Answer 9

1. They like helping people
2. They have no life?
3. They got nothing better to do
4. Asking costs points

Answer 10

Answering[most] questions forces me to think and do research.

Answer 11

Because judging by the answers to other peoples questions Ive read...They are inadequate, ill informed, poorly educated, etc.

I'd rather get my info from actual sources.