On Tuesday, 29.03.2005 at 18:27 +0200, martin f krafft wrote: > I know that it's sometimes a good idea to make sure that the person is > actually looking for the right answer, but I have been noticing a > tendency here (and elsewhere) to always ask first about the > motivations. Interesting observation ... I'm probably one of those 'guilty' of often asking for the motivation behind apparently 'strange' requests. It is helpful to those answering the (apparently unusual) query to know what problem is being addressed, since past history shows that often the poster is approaching the problem from the wrong angle, or may even be addressing the wrong problem! If I post something strange or esoteric as a question, I feel obliged to at least *outline* what my motivations are, if only to pre-empt the sort of question that *I* would retort were I answering that same question. I agree with you that perhaps Just Answering The Question is an appropriate response if it is clear what the solution should be (even if it sounds from the original post that The Wrong Question is being asked). I suppose we could answer the question but also query the poster's motives at the same time :-) Just thinking out loud ... Dave. -- Please don't CC me on list messages! ... Dave Ewart - davee@sungate.co.uk - jabber: davee@jabber.org All email from me is now digitally signed, key from http://www.sungate.co.uk/ Fingerprint: AEC5 9360 0A35 7F66 66E9 82E4 9E10 6769 CD28 DA92
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