# "Well thanks for the heads up!" or Why no good deed goes unpunished

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-thanks-for-the-heads-up-or-why-no-good-deed-goes-unpunished/157207>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [February 24, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-thanks-for-the-heads-up-or-why-no-good-deed-goes-unpunished/157207 "2003-02-24T18:38:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2003, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-thanks-for-the-heads-up-or-why-no-good-deed-goes-unpunished/157207/21 "2003-02-25T19:01:25Z")

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Not sure, but some doper has that as a sig.

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**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-thanks-for-the-heads-up-or-why-no-good-deed-goes-unpunished/157207/22 "2003-02-26T19:07:23Z")

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Going in a slightly different direction, in my experience as someone who’s known as a “computer guy”, any time you help someone solve a computer problem out of the goodness of your heart, you’re asking for trouble. You will be supporting that piece of junk for the rest of your life. This is what I thought the title of the OP meant.

For instance, I spent all day reformatting a friend’s drive, installing the OS, drivers, software, etc. Every few days afterward I get a call from him: “Now it’s doing _this_.” And it was always some esoteric thing that took another chunk of my day to figure out: a corrupted driver, bad registry entry, or whatever.

For my own sanity anymore, I just say," Sorry, I have no idea," when presented with some problem.

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**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-thanks-for-the-heads-up-or-why-no-good-deed-goes-unpunished/157207/23 "2003-02-26T19:40:53Z")

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Yorick, I do the same thing, and I think often times they KNOW I’m lying, but don’t persue it. “My printer isn’t printing- the light flashes, but nothing comes out. What’s wrong with it?”

Me: “Hmmm…I’m not familiar with that problem. You know, I don’t deal with computers much any more. Maybe Debbie (neighbor who is taking computer science in college) has an idea?”

Pass the buck, baby, YEAH!

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**Author:** ![emarkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@emarkp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emarkp)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-thanks-for-the-heads-up-or-why-no-good-deed-goes-unpunished/157207/24 "2003-02-26T19:48:28Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by White Lightning \*  
> Good point. Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity. Who said that, anyway?

It’s referred to as [Hanlon’s Razor](http://info.astrian.net/jargon/terms/h/Hanlon_s_Razor.html).

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