# Doper logic in which questions to answer? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 11, 2009, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-logic-in-which-questions-to-answer/509669 "2009-09-11T12:30:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JustThinkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@JustThinkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustThinkin)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-logic-in-which-questions-to-answer/509669/1 "2009-09-11T12:30:55Z")
Why did this [remarkably stupid question](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=531529) get responses, while [my question](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=530707), which was at least a question that I couldn’t answer by looking up a few images online, got completely ignored. It’s just weird. That’s all. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-logic-in-which-questions-to-answer/509669/2 "2009-09-11T12:36:45Z")
Don’t you know what the PMs are for? We pick people to hate on and then we vote on which of their questions are on the Do Not Reply list. Then we wait for them to whine about it in the Pit and laugh and laugh. We are a cruel bunch, we Dopers. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-logic-in-which-questions-to-answer/509669/3 "2009-09-11T12:54:18Z")
Seriously, dude, you’re asking dopers to identify a new smell you’ve noticed. Unless someone happens to be involved in (or heavily interested in) detergent manufacturing, there’s very little to say. Mountain tops, people have been there, read stories about them, seen pictures, and can actually offer up a response, even if it might have been something Google could have answered. In I kind of like those threads sometimes, because we all can pick up a tidbit of knowledge on a topic we might not have had enough interest in to personally research. ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-logic-in-which-questions-to-answer/509669/4 "2009-09-11T13:17:52Z")
I think the answer to your question, from most people, would be “I have no idea”. Which is probably why your question is completely unanswered - nobody knows, and it’s in GQ, so it’s not going to generate a lot of speculative discussion, either. You may think the other question is “stupid” (IMO, you could easily have found far stupider questions than that to pick on, I don’t think it’s a particularly stupid question), but it’s something people will actually know the answer to. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-logic-in-which-questions-to-answer/509669/5 "2009-09-11T14:36:42Z")
You also didn’t even bother to give the names of the products that you noticed the smell in. What are people supposed to do with nothing to work with? ---
**Author:** ![JustThinkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@JustThinkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustThinkin)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-logic-in-which-questions-to-answer/509669/6 "2009-09-11T14:50:32Z")
> [@Hunter\_Hawk](#): > > You also didn’t even bother to give the names of the products that you noticed the smell in. What are people supposed to do with nothing to work with? No one even had enough curiousity to ask me for more details? No one else with a sensitive nose experienced something similar? I didn’t expect much, and I’m not offended or anything. It just seems weird. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-logic-in-which-questions-to-answer/509669/7 "2009-09-11T14:56:02Z")
> [@JustThinkin](#): > > No one even had enough curiousity to ask me for more details? No one else with a sensitive nose experienced something similar? > > I didn’t expect much, and I’m not offended or anything. It just seems weird. Reading your OP, I think I would have assumed you didn’t remember what products they were, and my nose is not sensitive. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-logic-in-which-questions-to-answer/509669/8 "2009-09-11T15:04:40Z")
I cannot begin to count how many threads I’ve started have sunk like a well-reasoned, beautifully crafted, tone-poem stones without any responses. Sometimes no one knows the answer, sometimes no one cares. > [@](#): > > No one even had enough curiousity to ask me for more details? The answer to this question is evident in the number of requests you got for clarification. There is no ‘Doper logic’ as to which questions get answers and which die. Each individual poster makes their own individual decision on what they choose to reply to. Don’t take it so personally. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-logic-in-which-questions-to-answer/509669/9 "2009-09-11T15:05:01Z")
I think the real question is what it would smell like if you put soap on top of a mountain. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-logic-in-which-questions-to-answer/509669/10 "2009-09-11T15:13:26Z")
Moved from The BBQ Pit to In My Humble Opinion. **Gfactor** Pit Moderator ---
**Author:** ![JustThinkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@JustThinkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustThinkin)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-logic-in-which-questions-to-answer/509669/11 "2009-09-11T15:27:13Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > I cannot begin to count how many threads I’ve started have sunk like a well-reasoned, beautifully crafted, tone-poem stones without any responses. Sometimes no one knows the answer, sometimes no one cares. > The answer to this question is evident in the number of requests you got for clarification. There is no ‘Doper logic’ as to which questions get answers and which die. Each individual poster makes their own individual decision on what they choose to reply to. Don’t take it so personally. Oh, I don’t take it personally. My nose is a lot more sensitive than my emotions. BTW – I liked your first answer best. Explains a lot. ---
**Author:** ![JustThinkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@JustThinkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustThinkin)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-logic-in-which-questions-to-answer/509669/12 "2009-09-11T15:29:31Z")
> [@Gfactor](#): > > Moved from The BBQ Pit to In My Humble Opinion. > > **Gfactor** > Pit Moderator Huh. I thought calling someone’s question stupid was pit worthy. Maybe if I said it was f@#king stupid? ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-logic-in-which-questions-to-answer/509669/13 "2009-09-11T15:34:01Z")
Starting a thread is a little like having a child. There is no telling if it will be popular or successful or sink down into obscurity. You just have to send it out into the world and hope for the best. ---
**Author:** ![Erasmus\_Darwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@Erasmus\_Darwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erasmus_Darwin)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-logic-in-which-questions-to-answer/509669/14 "2009-09-11T16:08:17Z")
> [@JustThinkin](#): > > No one even had enough curiousity to ask me for more details? I can’t speak for anyone else, but I personally tend to skip over GQ threads where other people have to play “20 Questions” just to get enough information to understand the question being asked. Now I can understand if it’s an esoteric bit of trivia that the asker wouldn’t know to provide, but it doesn’t take an expert soapologist to realize that it helps to mention the soap products you’re talking about when asking a question about specific soap products. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-logic-in-which-questions-to-answer/509669/15 "2009-09-11T16:09:49Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I think the real question is what it would smell like if you put soap on top of a mountain. What if you were using the soap on the mountain to lubricate your treadmill? ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Buttons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@Mr\_Buttons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Buttons)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-logic-in-which-questions-to-answer/509669/16 "2009-09-11T16:16:08Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > What if you were using the soap on the mountain to lubricate your treadmill? While aiming your 1920’s Style Death-Ray at the nearest population center? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-logic-in-which-questions-to-answer/509669/17 "2009-09-11T17:01:31Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Seriously, dude, you’re asking dopers to identify a new smell you’ve noticed. Unless someone happens to be involved in (or heavily interested in) detergent manufacturing, there’s very little to say. I used to work in the detergent business, and don’t really know what that OP is referring to. It has been a few years, and s/he mentions it’s new, so maybe there is something to it. I don’t want to post in a pariah thread, so I’ll ask here: What products has this been noticed in? Also, is there any similarity in the packaging by chance - same bottle plastic, for example? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-logic-in-which-questions-to-answer/509669/18 "2009-09-11T18:22:37Z")
> [@Mr\_Buttons](#): > > While aiming your 1920’s Style Death-Ray at the nearest population center? 😛 No, at an approaching asteroid to split it so each half misses Earth. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-logic-in-which-questions-to-answer/509669/19 "2009-09-11T18:25:51Z")
Look on the bright side: at least this thread is getting responses. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-logic-in-which-questions-to-answer/509669/20 "2009-09-11T18:49:39Z")
> [@JustThinkin](#): > > Why did this [remarkably stupid question](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=531529) get responses, while [my question](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=530707), which was at least a question that I couldn’t answer by looking up a few images online, got completely ignored. Well, your question stinks. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doper-logic-in-which-questions-to-answer/509669.md?page=2)