Why Ask Why?

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Most likely M-F has always been this way and I just recently noticed it, or maybe it's a new/growing trend.

Poster asks: "I'd like to _________"
Responder asks: "Why do you want to _________?"

Or,

Poster asks: "What do you think of ________ (software)?"
Responder asks: "Why do you need that?"

And, my all time favorite:

Poster asks: "How can I run _________ full screen?"
Responder asks: "Why do you need to do that?"

Sure, there are lots of cases where knowing why someone wants to do something, can help provide alternatives, but believe me, most of the posts I've seen recently don't fall into that category.

I figure if someone can help, and answer the question, that's terrific, but it sure seems like a lot of folks are simply out to boost their post count, or worse yet, to appear as God's gift to M-F.

Between the increasing frequency of the above examples, and more and more people posting as self-appointed moderators, M-F doesn't seem as friendly, or as un-cluttered, as it was (though I just joined in January).

Surely, it's no catastrophe, but IMO, it wouldn't hurt any of us to ask ourselves "Why ask why" before just tacking on a reply for the sake of it (and yes, I'm sure I've been guilty of it at times too).

Mark
 
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there has also been a large amount of posts that the original poster does not give enough information in their post and people who would help dont even understand why they would want to do something.

also, safari is not made to run full-screen, it isnt going to be natively fullscreen ever.

and also there have been a lot of rediculous people and posts and people not using the search function and a lot of other things that have gotten some of the elders a little anoyed, and no it is not just a sudden thing that has annoyed us it has been going on forever and we are at wits end on this one.

post count also means nothing on this forum, please use the user reputation system if you do not like someones post and when you give negative or positive reputation please comment and let them know why. the system is anonlymous
-chris
 
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The reason people ask "why" is to better understand what the OP is asking in most cases.
It could be, and in most cases I have seen is, that the OP is trying to do something that is illogical and could be done by a much simpler method.
So when someone asks "why"... the OP's response to "why" will give the others a chance to post a much more informative and useful response.
 
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geekboy2000
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coach_z said:
also, safari is not made to run full-screen, it isnt going to be natively fullscreen ever.

Thanks Chris. Your reply above is a perfect example of a great response. Doesn't matter why someone would want to do it. You've stated that basically, it's just not gonna happen. I understand the rest of your reply as well, and I'll concede that not having been around for as long, I guess it hasn't taken as much of a toll on me yet. :) My point though is that, as I said, your response above would answer such a question. I think you might agree though that often, we see, "Why do you want to run it full screen?", followed by something like, "Isn't it big enough on your 20" screen as it is?", etc, etc. Gotcha though, and your point's well taken.

Mark
 
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D3v1L80Y said:
The reason people ask "why" is to better understand what the OP is asking in most cases.
It could be, and in most cases I have seen is, that the OP is trying to do something that is illogical and could be done by a much simpler method.
So when someone asks "why"... the OP's response to "why" will give the others a chance to post a much more informative and useful response.

Absolutely. I agree. Those aren't the kind of "why" questions I was pointing out though. :)

Mark
 

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