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How should we answer Questions
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How should we answer Questions
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DoctorBeaver
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How should we answer Questions
«
Reply #60 on:
28/08/2009 12:49:07 »
To get back to the original question (unusual for me, I admit), the status of the person answering the question affects the type of answer that will be given. Those of us who live in a mainly academic environment & who use technical language all the time will normally answer in the more formal manner used between peers. Then there are those, among whom I number, who are or have been educators and are used to having to impart knowledge to, for want of a better word, beginners. Our replies tend to be more informal and not loaded with subject-specific language.
I am not implying that either manner of answering is superior to the other, but the point has been raised that most visitors to this site do not have degrees in the subject they ask a question about. That most of the answers given here are readily understandable by the layman is what makes this site unique.
I have seen topics here that have developed into a mathematical examination of the subject that the original poster wouldn't have a hope in hell of understanding. Whilst this kind of intellectual interchange is very interesting to those concerned, and I do not wish to deny them the right to such in-depth analysis, the needs of the person asking the question need to be considered. I myself have asked questions that, to me, seemed as if they should have a fairly straightforward answer, only to find that there is much more involved than I had realised. But throwing complicated maths at me does not help in the slightest. I'm not good enough at maths to understand the reply and if I were good enough I probably would not have needed to ask the question in the first place.
I ask my questions in layman's terms. If I have used a word inappropriately it is because that is the meaning of the word that the general public understands. I don't want to be told that my question is meaningless because the person answering is adhering to a rigid scientific definition of the word. Accept the fact that most visitors to this site would use the word in the same way I do and try to answer accordingly. I have no objection to being corrected (where would we be if misunderstandings were allowed to go uncorrected?), but trying to demean me by simply pointing out my lack of understanding does no credit to the person replying or to the forum in general.
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Last Edit: 28/08/2009 12:54:57 by DoctorBeaver
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