Forum tip: Better questions get better answers.

[MJ DeMarco]

I recently had to delete the account from someone who was upset by the response his thread received, or I should say, lack of response.

Instead of receiving help, his post was responded with sarcasm and memes.

In review of his thread, I could see why. The post lacked any detail whatsoever, and made it impossible to respond intelligently.

You see, if you want good answers to your problems, you need to ask good questions surrounded by good detail.

How do I scale my business? is not a good question by itself.
What business do I start? is not a good question by itself.

Better questions? Better answers.
Better details? Better answers.

Furthermore, on a scale of 1 to 10, if the effort you put into your thread/post is a 1 or 2, how on earth can you expect a 10 response?

Hopefully I can use this as a teaching moment. This was my response to the individual:

Spoiler: Response

Sorry for the reception you received.

However, the response you received was due to the low-effort / low-value thread you posted - it had nothing to do with grammar or spelling errors. (Quite common in forum communications)

In your post, I didn’t read anything substantive. There is no information about your business or details about your challenges or problems.

Absolutely nothing.

These are things that would help people help you. Not even I could respond, especially with something helpful.

The response you received is because you expected people to be mind-readers, and in some aspects, people wonder if this is the effort you put into your post; why should they put an effort into a response? A response that will definitely miss the mark?

In effect, you went to a health forum and asked, “I think I have a disease; help me find the cure”

Oh really? What disease? What symptoms? When did it start? This? That?

Better questions get better answers. If you want people to be professionals, you have to start professional.

Oddly, your email below is well detailed — thank you — however, if your original post spoke to such detail, the outcome might have been different and to your liking.

Sorry, your post (or the forum) didn’t meet your expectations.

Your account has been deleted.

Good luck on your journey and much success to you,
MJ

 

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[Andy Black]

I recently had to delete the account from someone who was upset by the response his thread received, or I should say, lack of response.

Instead of receiving help, his post was responded with sarcasm and memes.

In review of his thread, I could see why. The post lacked any detail whatsoever, and made it impossible to respond intelligently.

You see, if you want good answers to your problems, you need to ask good questions surrounded by good detail.

How do I scale my business? is not a good question by itself.
What business do I start? is not a good question by itself.

Better questions? Better answers.
Better details? Better answers.

Furthermore, on a scale of 1 to 10, if the effort you put into your thread/post is a 1 or 2, how on earth can you expect a 10 response?

Hopefully I can use this as a teaching moment. This was my response to the individual:

Spoiler: Response

Sorry for the reception you received.

However, the response you received was due to the low-effort / low-value thread you posted - it had nothing to do with grammar or spelling errors. (Quite common in forum communications)

In your post, I didn’t read anything substantive. There is no information about your business or details about your challenges or problems.

Absolutely nothing.

These are things that would help people help you. Not even I could respond, especially with something helpful.

The response you received is because you expected people to be mind-readers, and in some aspects, people wonder if this is the effort you put into your post; why should they put an effort into a response? A response that will definitely miss the mark?

In effect, you went to a health forum and asked, “I think I have a disease; help me find the cure”

Oh really? What disease? What symptoms? When did it start? This? That?

Better questions get better answers. If you want people to be professionals, you have to start professional.

Oddly, your email below is well detailed — thank you — however, if your original post spoke to such detail, the outcome might have been different and to your liking.

Sorry, your post (or the forum) didn’t meet your expectations.

Your account has been deleted.

Good luck on your journey and much success to you,
MJ

ChatGPT should be teaching the world their response is only as good as their question.

I didn't see the particular thread in question.

I find it a shame when people ask dumb questions and aren't coached into seeing the errors of their ways. I see that as a missed opportunity for us to step up and lead.

Now if it's persistent dumb questions or they don't take the hint then I'm out, but that's the extent of it.

 

[Jrjohnny]

How it should be:

1. New people see a thread

2. Read thread and notice how OP asks a real question

3. In return, the OP gets a bunch of real answers

4. The new person creates a good question and put time into writing the post.

5. Repeat

How it actually works

1.New person joins

Either:

Read a thread,

Or

Post a random thread

3. Put 0 effort into the question

4. Get laughed at

5. Throw tantrum and leave acting like your the only person who has done that.

 

[ZF Lee]

ChatGPT should be teaching the world their response is only as good as their question.

I didn't see the particular thread in question, and don't mean to speak out of turn.

In general, I find it a shame when people ask dumb questions and aren't coached into seeing the errors of their ways. I see that as a missed opportunity for us to step up and lead.

Now if it's persistent dumb questions or they don't take the hint then I'm out, but that's the extent of it.

You echoed my thoughts...I was wondering if we COULD have asked better questions ourselves to help OP find some direction in further conversation.

The hard truth is that putting together the right questions to ask is HARD work.

Or is it?

 

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[SEBASTlAN]

What's most frustrating is knowing they will not implement the advice they were given 99.9% of the time.

They usually come back a few months later with another thread about a new business idea and repeat the process.

My take: give them one small task; see if they even manage to do that before giving them any more time and effort in a response.

 

[Antifragile]

ChatGPT should be teaching the world their response is only as good as their question.

I didn't see the particular thread in question, and don't mean to speak out of turn.

In general, I find it a shame when people ask dumb questions and aren't coached into seeing the errors of their ways. I see that as a missed opportunity for us to step up and lead.

Now if it's persistent dumb questions or they don't take the hint then I'm out, but that's the extent of it.

I try

Post in thread 'Sources for Funding?'
INVESTING - QUESTION - Sources for Funding?

Other times, I get fed up or don’t have the energy to educate.

This is a problem that’s not just for the forum. For anyone running a larger business with many employees, it’s the same thing with why juniors… yet there we coach them because business depends on good employees… internet isn’t typically that kind!

If you are young, understand this: it’s more than just an Internet forum thing. It’s actually a secret to success in life as a whole. The quality of questions you ask yourself daily will determine the quality of your life. Yes, I said it. Brain is like a supercomputer: it’ll answer any question. Bad questions get bad answers:

Bad question: why am I fat? Because you eat like a pig.

Good question: what can I do today to lose 100g of weight? Answer: eliminate sugar intake, exercise, fast … etc.

This may be a whole new thread altogether…

 

[Albert KOUADJA]

Really Hein, a badly posed problem will never find a solution.Thanks dad MJ for noticing that. Every problem has a solution, but you have to know how to ask the right question to find that solution.

But let's also have good manners to point out this lack of good questioning. Because maybe this one is the best one he's asked. Thanks for understanding.

 

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[Black_Dragon43]

I recently had to delete the account from someone who was upset by the response his thread received, or I should say, lack of response.

Instead of receiving help, his post was responded with sarcasm and memes.

In review of his thread, I could see why. The post lacked any detail whatsoever, and made it impossible to respond intelligently.

You see, if you want good answers to your problems, you need to ask good questions surrounded by good detail.

How do I scale my business? is not a good question by itself.
What business do I start? is not a good question by itself.

Better questions? Better answers.
Better details? Better answers.

Furthermore, on a scale of 1 to 10, if the effort you put into your thread/post is a 1 or 2, how on earth can you expect a 10 response?

Hopefully I can use this as a teaching moment. This was my response to the individual:

Spoiler: Response

Sorry for the reception you received.

However, the response you received was due to the low-effort / low-value thread you posted - it had nothing to do with grammar or spelling errors. (Quite common in forum communications)

In your post, I didn’t read anything substantive. There is no information about your business or details about your challenges or problems.

Absolutely nothing.

These are things that would help people help you. Not even I could respond, especially with something helpful.

The response you received is because you expected people to be mind-readers, and in some aspects, people wonder if this is the effort you put into your post; why should they put an effort into a response? A response that will definitely miss the mark?

In effect, you went to a health forum and asked, “I think I have a disease; help me find the cure”

Oh really? What disease? What symptoms? When did it start? This? That?

Better questions get better answers. If you want people to be professionals, you have to start professional.

Oddly, your email below is well detailed — thank you — however, if your original post spoke to such detail, the outcome might have been different and to your liking.

Sorry, your post (or the forum) didn’t meet your expectations.

Your account has been deleted.

Good luck on your journey and much success to you,
MJ

All true, however another reason is that it’s very difficult to receive meaningful advice from people who aren’t in the same industry as you. They are less aware of the challenges and the context of what you’re dealing with. So often the advice will end up being general even if your question is specific and it will be up to you to see if anything can be applied to your situation.

It’s why I rarely post about my business or ask for advice here. I much prefer to DM a specific person who I think may be able and willing to help.

My advice to everyone is to seek someone doing the same business you want to do, but who is more advanced than you, and ask them.