It completely depends how you do it. You can assume the asker does not know what they're doing and try to snuff out their question as quickly as possible. Or, you can assume that they are also smart people who may have their own reasons, politely answer their question, while calmly pointing out that this is usually the wrong approach and suggest a better one. I see excellent posts on lists and on StackOverflow all the time that do this.
Bits don't have feelings, and bits don't ask questions of their peers - people do. The amount of sneering that a newcomer encounters when asking questions of a community online has a huge impact on how likely they are to continue participating, or to use that technology at all. If it's a young person or someone just figuring out whether or not a career or hobby in technology is for them, it can literally kill their motivation for the craft. I'm not trying to put words in the OP's mouth, nor am I at risk of being discouraged (I've been a professional web dev for 7 years now), but I am continually mystified by how tonedeaf some people in the tech community can be. The service of truth doesn't remove our basic obligation to be polite and welcoming. On Sun, Jan 6, 2013 at 8:06 PM, Rick Waldron <[email protected]> wrote: > > > On Sunday, January 6, 2013, Eric Mill wrote: > >> . >> >> Developers' responses to specific questions/suggestions with "Why do you >> want to do that? It sounds like you're making bad decisions." is a cliche >> that still happens all the time, and annoys the heck out of me. >> > > Really? Im facepalming so hard right now that I probably have black eyes. > It is _every_ _software_ _developers_ _obligation_ to always question the > approaches and solutions of their peers and their own. Feelings?? bits > don't have feelings. Bit operations aren't emotional. Software doesn't need > a hug. > > If I'm "doing it wrong", I expect—no, demand—that my peers inform me and > show me the best way, to the best of their understanding of the problem > space. If it turns out they're doing it wrong too, then we'll learn > together. If constructive criticism annoys you, you are the problem. > > -Rick > > -- > Job Board: http://jobs.nodejs.org/ > Posting guidelines: > https://github.com/joyent/node/wiki/Mailing-List-Posting-Guidelines > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "nodejs" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/nodejs?hl=en?hl=en > -- Job Board: http://jobs.nodejs.org/ Posting guidelines: https://github.com/joyent/node/wiki/Mailing-List-Posting-Guidelines You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "nodejs" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nodejs?hl=en?hl=en
