I see many posts on the SDMB that start with:"I don’t know the answer to your question, BUT…Hey, if you DON’T know, DON’T answer!! We who ask questions want knowledgable answers, not some stupid guess! I don’t know, but think thoes answers should be deleted, but I don’t know! you know?
Zymurgist
Well, I don’t know the answer to your problem but I for one like to share little anecdotes whenever and anywhere I can.
I can imagine thousands of threads with only one reply each. I also imagine the most boring message board on the internet.
I know you have mistaken a conventional phrase for its literal meaning. I haven’t seen people say “I don’t know” and then talk about something totally unrelated – just that they have something to add to the debate or some part of an answer.
I’d rather see that than someone who really thought they knew it all. We all like to pitch in and help, few of us have the complete answer. Maybe we should find a new way of expressing that. I don’t know.
“non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem”
Geez, and I always thought that my opinions were apples of gold, desirable in every way.
I don’t know what worm burrowed up your wazoo but maybe, just maybe, people are trying to have fun. If I want serious facts this is the last place I’d look. If I wanted dubious, perhaps humorous, facts this is the spot. Please note, when the topic IS serious so follows the replies. Now of course I know you’re not serious about this, so my response twern’t either.
I Don’t Know!
Third Base!!
Thanks for your input! I don’t know, but you have given me a new slant on the subject:I don’t know! I shall be more tolerant in the future, even ifI don’t know!
That’s exactly why I didn’t post on the ‘what are you doing on Friday nite’ thread.
>^,^<
KITTEN
Coarse and violent nudity. Occasional language.
Personally, if I just wanted the hard facts on something, I could look most things up on the internet or whatever. However, my point in coming here (at least the GQ part) is:
(1) If I’m posting, then I tend to get a more rounded answer than I’m likely to find on my own, with additional tidbits thrown in.
(2) I read other people’s posts and learn about things I’d of never thought of asking.
Like Papabear said, if each post was just “Why is this?” “Because of this. The End”, it’d be some pretty dull reading. Hell, even Cecil goes off on tangents.
“I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”
Actually, people are like assholes. Everybody is one!
Just to be almost serious for a moment: there are questions asked for which I know the answer (and some that I can even document!) and, then, there are questions asked, the answers to which are half-remembered factoids or keywords. I am pretty good at inferential thinking and I have a voluminous memory, but I am not infallible and my memory is ancient and creaking. It is hardly fair to post as fact every faded memory that I can drag up. If a question is posted that gets no answer for a while, I may post my memory or inference just to provide a clue to the poster of places they could look. But posting those memories or guesses as fact could lead somebody astray. “I don’t know” is a simple disclaimer that while information is being presented, it does not have a very high comfort level associated with it.
Tom~
I DO know. But I’m not going to tell YOU!
The moon looks on many flowers, the flowers on but one moon.
The reason I’m not going to tell you is you didn’t post to my Friday Night thread and I’m hurt. Just kidding! Sometimes I’ll say something like, “I don’t know about you but this worked for me…” because I don’t want to come across as a know-it-all.
I see your (original) point. A post that just says, “I don’t know,” in some terms or other is pretty useless. Two points:
> First, has anybody noticed that some of these threads get pretty far off the original track? ;/
> Second, sometimes a post that does not know the answer can nevertheless help direct the finding of a solution. For example, if you were to post, “What is a fnord?” my response would be “I don’t know, but I vaguely remember that it has something to do with the Illuminati.” Our trusty moderator would then come up with the URL to Cecil’s column on the subject and post that after mine. Even though I didn’t know the answer, I was a useful link to getting it.
Tracer,
Just wanted to acknowledge this. It was funny and I got it.
-Leslie
“It’s not burnt. It’s Cajun!” - Christopher A. Evans
Leslie, Tracer
I’m slow but it finally sank in! LSHIPMP!
“non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem”
– William of Ockham
I don’t know about all that, and I don’t care. I just hate ignorance, apathy, and hypocrisy.
{{Second, sometimes a post that does not know the answer can nevertheless help direct the finding of a solution. For example, if you were to post, “What is a fnord?” my response would be “I don’t know, but I vaguely remember that it has something to do with the Illuminati.” Our trusty moderator would then come up with the URL to Cecil’s column on the subject and post that after mine. Even though I didn’t know the answer, I was a useful link to getting it.}}
::derisive snort:: More likely I’d tell you to look it up in the archives…Depends on my mood of the day, and whether I’ve had enough chocolate lately.
Lynn