For this reason, I almost never ask GQ questions. And, no, that’s not a complaint. I’ve never asked questions on a Q/A site except as a last resort.
Then again, I rarely start threads in general. I’ve never been the type to actually start a conversation about a subject. I don’t know why that is, as it’s not like I don’t have a lot to say.
Oh. That explains a lot… 
As for the OP… I freely admit that many times I opened a GQ thread, and noted: Oh, it’s that davidXXXX guy. Click. Close thread. But that’s just me. There are always dozens of people here who will trip over themselves trying to answer anyone’s question, no matter how stupid. That is the nature of this place. If it bothers you, then you’re going to be bothered a lot.
I don’t think he’s as bad as Jinx, for what that’s worth.
It must be bloody discouraging for anyone wanting to ask a question they may not have been able to google to any satisfaction to meet the kind of people like the OP. “Oh, you may have a valid question - but I dislike the quality of the way you phrased the question. We would rather not see that here. This is an exclusive club, and you don’t seem to realize that. Now, piss off. You are not worthy to speak to us.”
To be sure, he asks an extraordinarily wide range of questions. (I fail to see anything wrong with that.) However, I don’t agree that a large proportion can be answered simply by Googling. In fact, in many of his questions he’s already done some significant research, and found some contradictions or other ambiguity in his sources that he’s looking for further input to resolve. He can’t remotely be compared to someone like Jinx.
Wins the thread! 
What tripped me on one of his last threads is that he mentions Conservapedia, the wiki of loons. I suspect he typically hangs out at places like Free Republic and Conservapedia, and sincerely or cynically, is get comparative answers from a perceived left wing source. I think that’s the tone thing: he’s being very restrained in arguing and questioning, ‘just asking questions’, but also dropping little nuggets like ‘Conservapedia says…’ to see what reaction it causes.
How about a link?
I can’t say I’ve ever seen any political agenda in his threads, and in any case any case only a small minority of his threads are on political issues.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17683694&postcount=4
In his question about repayment of the Marshall Plan following WWII, he actually quotes Conservapedia’s page on it to introduce some figures. Not fighty or “but these guys say this…”, just “here’s some numbers I saw”. Earlier he refers to Niall Ferguson’s book Colossus on the same topic, so he’s generally working from right-leaning sources, but he genuinely does seem to want plain input from others, not to dispute it.
I’ve noticed he asks lots of questions, but so what? He’s not trolling, or breaking any rules. He’s polite, and sometimes he comes up with really interesting topics. More power to him.
Oh hell no, he’s not “just asking questions” at all. The JAQs ask offensive questions, ask them at the worst possible time, or in the worst possible way; they ask questions like a drunk tank dances.
To me davidmich sounds like he’s posing his questions very carefully because either English is not his first language or he’s got some other kind of communication problems. He sounds like someone who knows his vocabulary may not be adequate, overcautious - the opposite of a JAQ.
I freely admit this is neither an important or harsh pitting, but to those oh so concerned about poor stragglers asking a question and being derided for it, I have absolutely no problem with someone asking the occasional question in davidmich’s style, I have a problem with someone asking a question every two days in davidmich’s style. He’s a fairly heavy consumer of the varied expertise of the board and it annoys me that his participation offers so few clues as to why.
Curiosity? Do people have to justify to you that they have some legitimate reason for daring to consume of the precious resources we have here. It’s not like people are obliged to reply to him anyway.
In short - I think you are being a petty and small minded asshole about this, and I wish you would just go away. Don’t you have anything useful to do with your life?
As a half-man, half-robot learning how hu-mons work, he’s *just *across the uncanny valley. That’s what makes him so unnerving. He’s not quite human, not quite machine.
Yes, that might explain it. Or perhaps he is a highly advanced alien AI, trying to put together a sophisticated understanding of how humans and human society works, but still only just capable of passing the Turing Test.
I do not buy the idea that English is not his first language. His name is thoroughly Anglo, and there is nothing actually wrong with his grammar or vocabulary. It is just his “tone” that is odd - inoffensive and even rather endearing, but odd.
[QUOTE=naita]
He’s a fairly heavy consumer of the varied expertise of the board and it annoys me that his participation offers so few clues as to why.
[/QUOTE]
Then don’t open his threads. Problem solved.
I respond frequently to his threads, as do others. So long as people are responding, it seems to me that he’s bringing something of value to the boards: he’s sparking discussions.
General Questions is for asking general questions. There’s no obligation to open up about one’s personal life to get a question answered.
Put him on ‘ignore’ then. That’s a whole lot easier than getting him to change his behavior to suit your tastes. Board expertise is not yet suffering due to a surplus of legitimate questions.
In the first 60 threads currently active in GQ, he has precisely three threads: one asking about the status of Northern Ireland (30+ replies, about the same as this thread); one on the Marshall plan (7 replies); and one on priorities in bankruptcy (5 replies).
That doesn’t seem at all excessive to me. It’s not like he’s flooding GQ with frivolous questions. I’ve actually been checking in to each of those threads, since I find them interesting.
Nobody “consumes” the board’s expertise. It’s not as if there is some finite amount. People respond or not as it pleases them. Many people, including myself, enjoy answering, or trying to answer, questions. By providing sometimes rather esoteric questions, davidmich makes his own contribution to the board.
If you’re curious about his reasons for asking particular questions, you could always ask him. However, a check of the last 70 threads he started shows that you haven’t posted to any of them even once. You’re concerned enough to Pit him for not providing more information, but not enough to actually ask. You’re also not making any contribution yourself; you’re just apparently concerned for the sake of other people who have made no complaint themselves. This is just being a busybody.
david just posted a question in GQ that leads me to believe he just might be French-speaking.
But you have to admit, he has a wide range of interests. I kind of admire that. It’s my own inflated ego that keeps me from demanding that all of you educate me. david doesn’t seem to have that handicap.
If he does turn out to be a world-conquering AI, I hope he remembers these supportive words.
For some reason I found writing this weak pitting a less rude outlet for my mild annoyance than starting to pester davidmich for explanations. And the responses here have been very helpful, thank you. 