# If you don't understand a question, you probably don't have a valuable answer **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 9, 2024, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505 "2024-08-09T21:16:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2024, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/21 "2024-08-10T00:51:55Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > In the time it took the OP to write his snarky reply he could have answered the question and gotten that warm fuzzy feeling that comes with helping out a fellow doper. And in a fraction of that amount of time, the poster could have googled “AGI”. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2024, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/22 "2024-08-10T00:53:56Z")
You are only scratching the surface of AGI. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2024, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/23 "2024-08-10T01:12:44Z")
- Raises hand in acknowledgment \* I accept your point. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2024, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/24 "2024-08-10T01:16:44Z")
So I just did that, and the first thing that came up was an article from investopedia titled “What is Adjusted Cost Income?” It’s best to define acronyms on first mention because they usually have dozens of meanings. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2024, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/25 "2024-08-10T01:26:05Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > So I just did that, and the first thing that came up was an article from investopedia titled “What is Adjusted Cost Income?” In my infinite wisdom, I already addressed your point in my first post: > [@Babale](#): > > “But wait!” You might say. "The very top result at your link is “Adjusted Gross Income which is clearly wrong!”. And you would be correct! But let me introduce you to another wonderful tool, one that’s much older than Google: [![](https://i.imgflip.com/8zsijl.jpg) ](https://i.imgflip.com/8zsijl.jpg) > [@](#): > > The correct answer is on the first page. Scroll, and use your 🧠. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2024, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/26 "2024-08-10T01:29:25Z")
In fewer words than that, you could just spell out the meaning of the acronym. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2024, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/27 "2024-08-10T01:32:44Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > you could just spell out the meaning of the acronym. And let them WIN?!?! ETA: more seriously, popping into a thread like that to ask about the acronym is effectively a threadshit. As stated in the OP, if you don’t already know, you aren’t going to bring anything to the thread. It’s equivalent to popping into a soccer thread and scolding people for using the term ‘Offside’ without defining it, or popping into a football thread to ask “Why are they all running around with a pointy ball? What are they trying to accomplish?”. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2024, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/28 "2024-08-10T01:36:58Z")
WIN🧐? What’s In Noggin? Where I Negate? What If Nothing? Who’s In North? When Is Noon? Nope, not getting it. 😀 Oh, I know Who is Nuts?, right? I’m right ain’t I? ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2024, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/29 "2024-08-10T01:38:00Z")
I like the incredibly obvious terms that the guy from Vice Grip Garage on You Tube comes up with such as “fuel-make-it-happener” and “lightning whirler”. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2024, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/30 "2024-08-10T12:25:50Z")
I have a little bit of sympathy for the OP’s point of view. But I think some good objections have been raised. If you’re asking a question, please make it clear what your question is about. As noted, even those who might not have enough knowledge to answer it correctly still might want to follow the discussion and have our ignorance fought. We’ve had similar discussions in the context of Cafe Society threads, when someone asks a question or makes a comment about some character or element from a TV show (for example) without identifying where it’s from. Sure, people who are familiar with the show will understand the reference, and people who aren’t may not be interested or able to contribute, but it’s still helpful to give some context so that more than just a few of us have a clue WTF you’re talking about. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2024, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/31 "2024-08-10T14:00:12Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I may still want to follow along the discussion even if I have nothing valuable to contribute. I understand every word of this post, but I can’t make the sentence mean anything in the context. What are you trying to assert here? I’m not disagreeing with you, I’m just baffled. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2024, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/32 "2024-08-10T14:02:41Z")
It reads to me that posters will read threads even if they know very little on the topic. It counters the rant of the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2024, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/33 "2024-08-10T14:07:26Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > I may still want to follow along the discussion even if I have nothing valuable to contribute. > > I understand every word of this post, but I can’t make the sentence mean anything in the context. > > What are you trying to assert here? I’m not disagreeing with you, I’m just baffled. And I am honestly baffled at your bafflement. My post seemed obvious; I may have nothing of value to contribute to the discussion but am still interested enough in the subject to want to follow along. Sometimes I’m just curious what movie/TV show/comic strip/novel series/etc is meant by that weird initialism/acronym. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2024, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/34 "2024-08-10T14:13:54Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > It reads to me that posters will read threads even if they know very little on the topic. > > It counters the rant of the OP I don’t agree that it does. If I know nothing about soccer, and want to learn, I may pop into a thread about football and read along. Great. If I pop into the thread to ask “You guys keep talking about “‘Offside’”, what does that mean?” or worse, of I get salty about it - “It would help if you define that term before using it over and over” - I am kinda hijacking the thread. I don’t see much difference between popping into a thread to say “I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS ARE TALKING ABOUT” and popping into a thread to say “I DON’T LIKE BASEBALL IT’S SO BORING SO MUCH WAITING AROUND”. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2024, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/35 "2024-08-10T14:20:15Z")
The getting salty part is BS and on the scale of threadshitting. Politely asking “What does offsides mean in American Football?” is perfectly fine in most NFL/NCAA football threads. > [@Babale](#): > > “I DON’T LIKE BASEBALL IT’S SO BORING SO MUCH WAITING AROUND”. That is a no-brainer, pure threadshit and that crap has been discouraged for years now. It was very common sadly when I first joined back around 2005. Someone asking for help with a Microsoft Product and getting an Apple Fan coming in to tell people to dump Windows for Mac is another classic example that lasted longer for some reason, but is now pretty much gone. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2024, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/36 "2024-08-10T14:22:56Z")
```auto Wut? ``` ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2024, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/37 "2024-08-10T14:24:16Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I still think it’s polite to spell out an acronym on first mention. > [@Odesio](#): > > I think it would be good practice for most any OP to spell something out in full and then switch to the acronym. Even if I’m not replying to the thread, sometimes I’m just curious and this is a great way to fight ignorance. We’ve had some discussions elsewhere about best practices for using acronyms (by which I also mean initialisms), so I’ll say that in general I agree about spelling it out on first use, but it depends. The common wisdom is that the best practice in general discussions is to spell out an acronym in words the first time it’s used, followed by the acronym in parentheses, **unless** the acronym is very common and widely known. But in the context of technical discussions (and context is the key here) there are many acronyms that are also extremely common in the field, and spelling them out would not only be unnecessarily pedantic, but also wouldn’t be very helpful for those not familiar with the subject matter. Anyone even vaguely familiar with the subject of machine intelligence would know what “AGI” is. Those who don’t would not be much enlightened to know that it means “artificial general intelligence” without a mini-tutorial explaining what **that** means. The same is true for just about every technical and scientific field. I hope we don’t get caught up in excessive pedantry about having to explain every acronym that should be very obvious in context. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2024, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/38 "2024-08-10T14:27:11Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > And I am honestly baffled at your bafflement. Ah, OK. I certainly understand _read_ing a thread you (any you, including me) don’t know much / anything about for the purpose of learning / curiosity. I do that all the time. Whether you were responding directly to the OP, to the discussion in general to that point, or specifically to the post directly above yours, It seemed to me that you were saying it was normal / excusable / desirable to _post_ into a thread that you know you know nothing about. Which left me wondering why you thought to make that assertion. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2024, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/39 "2024-08-10T14:30:07Z")
It’s one thing if a discussion of a scientific or technical field is going on in a specialty forum; everyone there is expected to understand certain terms. But this is a general message board, so many, many of us are unfamiliar with the subject, no matter what it is. If you don’t want to define your terms, stay in your private forums. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2024, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/40 "2024-08-10T14:34:35Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > The same is true for just about every technical and scientific field. I hope we don’t get caught up in excessive pedantry about having to explain every acronym that should be very obvious in context. Right. If, for example, I needed tips on editing a css file in an epub, then someone who doesn’t know what a css or epub is _is not someone who can help with my issue_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505.md?page=3)