Not Every Question is a Smart One.
08 Sep 2022
Stack Overflow
On Stack Overflow, there are hundreds of thousands of questions asked all the time. However, not all of them are created equally, some questions are more defined than others and provide more context of their situation and their problem(s). On the other hand, there is a plethora of questions that go unanswered but not because there is not a single person in the entire world that can solve any problem. But because the question at hand was not asked properly.
Questions can be smart?
Smart questions are essential for software engineers, but why? Smart questions will provide greater context for the question answerer which in turn, will allow for better feedback and guidance on your problem. However, making a question smart is the main part. In order to ask these questions there are certain steps to ensure that you are being efficient with your readers attention. Some examples include having small texts of your code rather than pasting your entire program, describing your problem step by step, and explaining what you are looking to get out of this question. Including these components is what makes a question more susceptible to being answered.
Okay…What does a smart one look like?
While on Stack Overflow, I came across a question from user johnstok. This user asked “How do I remove a property from a JavaScript object?”. While this may not have been the most complex of questions or required the smartest of coders, the user provided sufficient context to his problem while including relevant code. This user made it clear what he wanted to get done and simply asked how to get there. Since the question he had was smart, he was able to receive a simple but detailed response which provided him with a clear answer to his problem with textual evidence.
What about a not so smart one?
Trying to find a not so smart question was pretty difficult. While many software engineers are aware of making questions smart before asking them, this does not always apply. The user ajaysingh posted a question asking “Why Order Failed to Avatax in magento 2?”. While this question may not be related to Javascript, smart questions are universal and apply even outside of software engineering. The user seemed to not have grammatically checked his writing prior to submitting which makes his title/question not comprehensible. Something else that this user needs to improve on is providing context to his issue. He initially claims that “‘The AvaTax Queue has 492 document(s) that failed during processing and were not successfully sent to AvaTax’.” then asks how to fix the issue without saying what he is looking to get out of someones help.
From now on…
By looking at each question, you can clearly tell which one is well thought out and which will receive an answer that will solve their problem. Not only have I learned that asking smart questions is crucial for asking the internet for advice but also on how to ask the right questions with the right attachments. Asking the right questions while including the right context works hand in hand and will not always be applicable alone. From now on, I will only be asking questions smartly through this format and will apply this to any subject which I am unsure about.