@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org
Post #3427644
2026-06-27 11:44 UTC
Replies (36)
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@drahflow@infosec.exchange 2026-06-27 13:44
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org I like when people guess(timate) answers to questions I post. Maybe I learn something new anyway, maybe I learn a neat new way to make educated guesses. Many questions I have don't have only one right answer, and getting more viewpoints and ideas is valuable. And yes, sometimes I learn whom to mute.
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@macumbamacaca@mastodon.nl 2026-06-27 14:21
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org okay, sorry, we won't try being social on social media again. Sorry!
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@ainmosni@social.ainmosni.eu 2026-06-27 11:57
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org And for the love of god, don't "ask" the slop extruder and paste that in.
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@coreysnipes@hachyderm.io 2026-06-27 12:00
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org This is such a plague IRL also :/
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@divVerent@social.vivaldi.net 2026-06-27 12:01
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org Precisely. For "helpful guessing" we already have LLMs.
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@rozeboosje@masto.ai 2026-06-27 13:49
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org Agree about the "helpful guessing". Don't present anything as "the answer" unless you're sure. The internet *is* a very large place though and there is a pretty good chance that a question might get lost in the noise. Boosting is of course a great way of helping a person's question get exposure. You could also ask questions. The dialogue may help a person see their own question from a different angle, "explain it to the teddybear" or "rubber duck debugging" style.
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@pecet@f3d1.eu 2026-06-27 14:24
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org I would rather have helpful guess that no answer.
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@reallylazybear@mastodon.social 2026-06-27 14:44
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org I mean, setting aside Mastodon, even if I had the actual right answer, it's a PITA to make an account on the platform the question was asked on so I just go on my way and hope someone else answers it. A bonus if somebody provides a better answer. I used to see a lot of unanswered questions prior to chatgpt becoming a thing. I don't see it as frequently but now I see more people just trolling or arguing unrelated nonsense or both. Idk.
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@thegrumpyenby@tenforward.social 2026-06-27 15:05
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org but how will people know they’re down a well, actually, and send Lassie to save them? 😆
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@cy@fedicy.us.to 2026-06-27 15:32
And for that matter not boosting it, when you can't answer the question, is not being helpful to your friend. Be helpful to your friends.
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@Dryoo@mastodon.social 2026-06-27 15:55
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org ok i will
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@MonniauxD@social.sciences.re 2026-06-27 16:09
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org It's interesting - I sometimes post question and append something like "please do not answer unless you know specifically about X and Y", and still some people answer with "helpful guesses".
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@catsalad@infosec.exchange 2026-06-28 02:31
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org @AdaraAstin@supervolcano.angryshark.eu I use arch btw ☝️🤓
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@flux@mastodon.unwi.re 2026-06-28 03:37
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org isn’t the problem here more that some people treat the fediverse like Google? What kind of questions are appropriate for fediverse that can’t be googled?
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@Ann_Effes@berlin.social 2026-06-27 16:31
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org AAIIIIiiii don't know. You never know the extend of "not knowing" of the person asking and therefore guessing sometimes does help. I recently asked right here what linux may run on a Mac which supports the build in Broadcom WLAN Chipset "out of the box". Nobody had a devinitive answer, but I got some guesses which in the end did help. (Granted: Some guesses where quite useless, nevertheless ...) Boosting is always good though and happened also.
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@jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com 2026-06-27 16:45
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org What about those Dunning-Krugered[1] into thinking they understand something because they know just enough to be dangerous? They get a free pass to spout proof of their lack of nous, right? [1] Yes, I verbed that. I'm writing English. I get to verb or adverb anything I want.
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@Zergling_man@sacred.harpy.faith 2026-06-27 16:55
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org If you want to get an answer to a question, it's faster to just post a wrong answer than the question. People want to correct things more than they want to answer things, it's called Godwin's Law.
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@Kuchenschwarte@fnordon.de 2026-06-27 17:13
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org "Look what I found on $$search engine when I typed your $$thing" and (relatively new) "I asked $$AI about it and it said..." Go away.
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@guyjantic@infosec.exchange 2026-06-27 17:34
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org [deleted b/c someone else said it better and first]
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@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io 2026-06-27 18:19
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org very true, I’d add that sometimes questions are also just rhetorical and people aren’t looking for answers just for sympathy and commiseration (“why does my fucking printer not print?”)
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@philnelson@xoxo.zone 2026-06-27 19:25
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org I can hear jwz twitching
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@anomalocaris@oldbytes.space 2026-06-27 21:52
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org Q: I'm looking for a FOSS alternative to this app that includes features x and y. I've tried searching and couldn't find anything so would appreciate some personal experiences A: I did a Google search and here's a link to an app that looks like it could be what you're looking for, anyway I haven't tried it, it's not FOSS and I don't know if it has the features you need
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@starsider@valenciapa.ws 2026-06-27 21:59
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org Sometimes I search myself and I do some light research, but only actually reply if I feel like I really have something to contribute, otherwise I close the reply box and move on. I think that some people just feel like the (very small) effort spent should not be "wasted", no matter how useless (or even annoying) the result is.
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@ignova@sunny.garden 2026-06-27 22:16
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org so many reply guys here who are in this picture, and can't accept it. elementary social skills lesson: it's not enough to just treat people the way you want to be treated. you have to treat people the way *they* want to be treated. so if people keep telling you that your unhelpful input is annoying and worthless, stop giving it ffs
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@humanhorseshoes@mastodon.world 2026-06-27 22:21
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org Pretty much everyone in every Apple help forum
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@ginoputrino@mastodon.social 2026-06-27 22:34
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org Ah, but have you tried doing this semi-related thing which is easier but won't meet your requirements?
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@bastardsheep@aus.social 2026-06-28 00:39
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org @ghost_shit@aus.social Heh. What gets me are "google it" responses. The person is probably doing that too at the same time. Or wants real person opinions not SEO'd / paid reviewer opinions / (these days) genAI generated opinions. Or "go to your local professional". The person probably wants some level of info ao they don't sound too ignorant when they do that.
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@oldmankris@mastodon.xyz 2026-06-28 00:47
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org Also “Why don’t you just …” is never a helpful answer.
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@WesternInfidels@mefi.social 2026-06-28 01:09
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org Everything you said makes perfect sense to me. That's the way things _should_ work. But it's not how I've seen things work. It's the threads full of clueless guessers and cranky "that's not helpful" comments that (eventually) attract enough attention to produce a good answer. The helpfully-boosted questions just get radiated into the ether and eventually disappear.
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@mancube@pnw.zone 2026-06-28 06:13
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org i pretty much never ask questions that i actually want the real answer to when men are around because of this unless i know they aren't the type to just wing it with bullshit rather than admit they don't know something
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@sigmasternchen@comfy.social 2026-06-28 06:30
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org hmm… I’m not sure about this to be honest. First of all, the XY problem is a thing that happens - everybody sometimes just asks the wrong questions. And secondly, even if people don’t know the answer, stuff like guesses, hints or just intuition often feel helpful for me because they sometimes point me into the right direction for my own research. As for "someone will know the answer": Maybe. But the amount of unanswered questions I have posted to fedi kinda makes me think that my posts don’t reach the people who know the answer. So I very much would rather have guesses than nothing. But I guess that’s a personal thing. Or I’m just weird. ^^"
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@larsmb@mastodon.online 2026-06-28 06:30
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org Yes. I hate this. People's desire to feel helpful trumps their willingness to judge whether they *are*. And so they create *more* load in a situation when I'm likely already slightly stressed. If you thank them, others might think your issue is answered. If you say it doesn't work, they start arguing. If you don't reply, it's rude. And it takes up space, with fewer people replying. I now only ask if it's really really unavoidable.
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@failedLyndonLaRouchite@mas.to 2026-06-28 13:21
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org Is it always guys ? that might be true, or it might not be my anecdotal impression is that it is not true, you are just not looking at the right questions eg does anyone know of a good source of wool yarn for knitting socks ? right ?
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@failedLyndonLaRouchite@mas.to 2026-06-28 13:32
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org not quite on topic, but this blog post https://www.londoncentric.media/p/london-heat-heatwave-record-highs is about the historic london heat wave and this part is sort of relevant to your post: As refuse collectors have no choice but to work outdoors, councils are temporarily asking residents to put their bins out earlier, so that crews can avoid the worst of the sun. One refuse collector, who asked to remain anonymous, told London Centric: “This week, a lady came out of her house and said that we’d missed her bins. I kexplained that because of the weather, we were working earlier so we could finish before the heat gets to its peak. She said ‘That’s a poor excuse.’”
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@6@possum.city 2026-06-28 15:09
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org I think guessing is fine, IF it's obviously guessing, and not sounding authoritative then you can easily ignore the guesses if you want an actual answer but..a lot of the time there can't be an exact answer without a bit of messing around ANYWAY while you wait, you can try, or consider, the guesses also, better a guess than no clue whatsoever, even if it's wrong, it's good to know "well it's not that!" that said, even a guess, should probably have a glance that other people haven't already suggested it, re-suggesting the same thing is just a waste of time and energy
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@jonathankoren@sfba.social 2026-06-29 05:23
@splitbrain@fedi.splitbrain.org Last time this happened to me, this was my response. And fun fact, this actually a woman https://sfba.social/@jonathankoren/116554395820474733