this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2024
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No Stupid Questions
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No such thing. Ask away!
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I opened this thread hoping for exactly this, and was not disappointed.
In my just over a year here and using him as my avatar, I think this is the first time I've actually said the line lol.
I thought i remember a thread from when you first created that account where we were all making you say the line.
Oh, yeah. I did, lol. That was fun. Forgot about that.
But that was deliberately in-character. I think this is the first time I just threw it out
People have already correctly answered that in this community there are no stupid questions, you're supposed to be able to ask anything without ridicule. But if you want to permit the general existence of stupid questions, here's the definition I've always used.
A stupid question is one you can easily answer yourself.
As in, any question due to real lack of knowledge is not stupid, but if you can answer your own question just by thinking about it for a second, then it wasn't necessary to ask and therefore "stupid”.
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This is it - the stupid question. It displays a complete lack of understanding and utter laziness.
It's perfect. It screams "I read the name of the community and took no other action to learn more about it before posting."
This is how you do it, folks
Congratulations @frankenswine
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The only stupid questions are the ones you don't ask. The full name of this community should be understood to be "[There are] no stupid questions"
But if that's true, aren't there infinite stupid questions, by definition? Because there are infinite unasked questions.
Yup. So go out there and make the world a smarter place by asking about things you don't know about. Just don't use this as a license to be a JAQ-off
Then we're going to be here a while.
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Obvious bait
but to answer your stupid question: Things that could be easily answered by a google search are pretty stupid to post here. The implied intention of this community, and the subreddit it was inspired by, is to provide a space for people to ask questions that don’t have an immediately identifiable and/or definite answer and require certain social understanding to navigate.
“How many gallons of water to fill a pool?”, for example, is a question that does not belong here because you could easily find that info using a search engine (or even better, your pool’s owner’s manual).
“How do you know when you’ve been swindled?” is something that does belong however, because it’s asking for personal experience to help navigate a situation that cannot be provided by a search engine.
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The name of the community comes from the idiom, "There's no such thing as a stupid question." The idea is that as long as the person asking the question genuinely wants to learn, then there is no question they can ask that would make them stupid because they're trying to educate themselves - one of the least stupid things you can do.
Some people feel shame at not knowing something, so they'll often talk down to themselves and call it a stupid question. This is particularly true if the asker feels it's something that they should already know or everyone around them seems to already know.
This community offers a place where you can ask a question, no matter how small or basic, without fear of being made fun of. In a sense, you might say that the community welcomes stupid questions while at the same time reassuring the questioner that the question is not actually stupid.
Along the same lines, ignorance shouldn't be seen as a negative unless it is willful. There is just so many things that not everyone experiences or has received conflicting information about to say being unaware is a negative until the person refuses to learn.
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I'll have a go at this.
"No stupid questions" is something I think is applicable to any attempt at gaining knowledge, insight or perspective. "How big helicopter would you need to hoist an ice cube to the sun to extinguish it?" Though absurd, there might be a disconnect of knowledge, and the question reveals other things which could be explained.
To me, a stupid question would be some kind of rhetoric which doesn't seek information, but instead attempts to redicule and push own standpoints or beliefs. "Have you gotten over that religious faith yet?" or "Do you realize how dumb your political views are?". These are examples of ineffective and condescending and will likely just leave the other person with reinforced standpoints in addition to annoyance. I find that to be a stupid approach and thus a stupid question.
I don't really know, but it's my gut feeling.
The helicopter example sounds like it would make for a great What If?. There's so many good things in there I want answered.
I'll take this question in the spirit of the community you posted to. "No stupid questions" refers to the saying "there is no such thing as a stupid question," which is an aphorism meant to destigmatize expressing ignorance. This is supposed to be a place to ask the questions you might be afraid to ask because you assume everybody else already knows.
The other posters are responding a bit comedically at the notion that this community is fundamentally opposed to asking "stupid questions" when it's traditionally been a space for "I've been afraid to ask, but are you supposed to use shampoo or conditioner first?" type questions.
which is an aphorism meant to destigmatize expressing ignorance
teacher of mine expressed it in the form of "there are two types of questions - smart ones and those you shouldn't be ashamed to ask".
Well…
“Do women also shake off the fuel hose after they’re done or is it just male habit?”
- would be a stupid question
Yes, I shake the fuel nozzle. After dribbling gasoline down the car's paint more than once, I always tap tap before I pull it completely out.
- source, am woman
But do they also unzip before?
You unzip? Maybe that's why I go through so many pants every day.
There are no stupid questions. Only stupid people.
Thanks dad.
I miss you. Is hell as bad as you said it was?
"Why am I being arrested?" from a lot of people on police bodycam videos on YouTube. In almost every single case, it's been explained to them multiple times and they're actually just angry as opposed to not understanding. Especially the DUIs.
But you see it's perfectly acceptable to drive into a lamppost and have a blood alcohol level of 0.7. The police have just been unreasonable.
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I don't think this is stupid. cops overstep their authority a lot, saw a video yesterday where a cop arrested a woman for not allowing him to test her tint. in the USA, you are not required to provide assistance to the police in an investigation against yourself, it's the 5th amendment. they arrested her for "obstruction", which directly violated her 5th amendment right to not incriminate herself.
you'll see many where cops overextend their power and try to bully citizens into following non lawful commands just because the cop feels like bossing people around.
https://youtu.be/Yj6YXF5qh7w?si=SNZVn9Jkgp_MoNZ4
so I don't feel it's a stupid question whatsoever, if your freedom is being jeopardized with the threat of being placed in a cage, that arresting officer better damn sure know wtf he's talking about and not basing all this off feelings. cops like to do what they want, even when proven wrong, and they get away with it without consequences, so why would they care about actual law when they can make shit up and later go "oops", while leaving people in their wake with lots jobs, children taken from them, property damaged, etc.
just because the cop said you were being arrested for panhandling, that's not the correct punishment for that. cops just threaten with arrest to get what they want. there is a reason the phrase "you can beat the ticket but not the ride" exists. people don't want to spend a night in jail because a cops ego was bruised, but happens.
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Good joke, you made me laugh!
I've often wondered, and occasionally asked people:
Is this question, as I'm asking now with this sent~~a~~ence, a stupid question?
Yes, because you misspelled sentence
What about now?
Perfekt
There’s no such thing as a stupid question.
Just a lot of inquisitive idiots.
In general, a stupid question is a question is one that allows a group to shame whomever asked it, often for wasting most people's time and mental energy either by distracting the group or for asking something that was just explicitly answered. For example, if someone asked, "What does this community have to do with stupid questions?" as a response to my comment. That's an example of asking something that was answered. Another stupid question in response to this comment could be, "Whhy do men have nipples?" It would be distracting because it is irrelevant to the topic at hand.
Thus, I think the way it is used in this community, "no stupid questions" means that no question will be considered stupid. In other words, users are to feel free to ask anything without fear of being ridiculed for asking it as long as it was in good faith. Moderators will be especially vigilant for anyone shaming an OP for asking a question. Users that subscribe to this community will be extra accepting of all questions.
They dont exist
A miserable little pile of secrets. But enough talk, have at you!
You're thinking of a man.
Once someone asked if Stephen and Stephen were pronounced the same. Presumably they meant "Steven" for one of those, but the question as written was dumb.
A stupid question is a question directed at stupid, or about stupid, or referring to stupid.
So please, no stupid questions.
[Personal view] A stupid question is typically one that has a built-in assumption or fallacy. For example, your question in the title isn't stupid, until we include the body of the post; the body of the post contains an assumption (that this comm is against stupid questions, when the name of the comm instead conveys "no questions are stupid"), so it makes the question stupid.
So, oddly enough, the part of the question that might make it stupid is not the question itself.
Side note every bloody body does some damn stupid questions once in a while. So don't take this "you're question is of stupid!" as personal criticism. i.e. I could be the one asking the stupid question instead and I'm aware of this.
I have one for those that worked at Disney World. "What time is the 3 o'clock parade?"
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"Huh?"
A stupid question is anything you already know the answer to
"Is that a real gun?"
I don't think there are any stupid questions ... from the time we are children who learn to speak, we will ask millions of questions about everything because that's how we learn.
The problem is not in asking stupid questions or the right questions but in receiving absolutely dumb answers.
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