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What is a stupid question?
(lemmy.world)
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”.
I always thought as tho the meaning of the sub name is to make fun of people who do not awnser "stupid questions" by saying that they are forbidden from the sub.
Maybe I'm just stupid lol
This is the safe space to ask a question you have that you are afraid other people would find stupid.
It's especially good for things some people feel are common sense, but that others just managed to miss growing up.
Here's an example. My husband is really smart. But he moved schools a lot over a 3 year period. He managed to completely miss kids being taught 1 is January, 2 is February, etc for dates. He just never learned it.
He knows his birthday in number form. But if he needs, say May 23rd in number form, he'll look it up or ask me which number May is.
Some people would classify that as a stupid question and be a dick about it. I just answer him. I know he's tried to learn it, he's just never sure if he's right and knows I know.
This sub operates under the good faith that there are no stupid questions, just people who legit missed something along the way.
In life, I would argue, there are stupid questions. But for me, it's only in situations where someone is clearly just asking questions to make you break, or clearly not listening and asking the same questions over and over without even trying to pay attention, and lastly, weaponized incompetence where people are acting like that because they don't want to do something and won't just say no. Basically questions that are exclusively to waste someone else's time are the only really stupid questions irl imho
But here, you get the benefit of the doubt if you don't know how to properly brush your teeth, or why May is 5 and July is 7.
I believe the name originated on reddit, and an accurate name would be "thereAreNoStupidQuestionsHere" but the shorter version is what got the brand recognition, but the confusion is understandable
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.
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.
sometimes it is very clear they fucked up, many times not. existing while black is a serious issue that cops use against citizens all the time.
I recently got pulled over for flipping off a cop for blaring his horn at me when I changed lanes, with plenty of time and space and blinker. he drove past and then stopped when I flipped him off on the highway and backed up to get off the exit to follow me. there were no lights, just a crazy man yelling at me through his passenger side window, driving a Kia minivan. I told him to fuck off and kept going. he follow me into a parking lot and THEN put on lights.
I got out expecting to defend myself from a road rager. he made up some shit about me not obeying his right of way and made up a ticket, when in reality his ego was bruised for getting flipped off. I got it all on dashcam and phone. but there will be no punishment for him being an ass hole to citizens, he probably won't even come to court which is next month.
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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
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.
Am a Stephen. No, pronounced the other way
What's up Stevfen!
There’s no such thing as a stupid question.
Just a lot of inquisitive idiots.
A stupid question is something like "why can't we just follow the teachings of Ayn Rand and live in a libertarian utopia?" because everyone with a brain knows she is just a bad romance writer without a grip on reality and a basic understanding of how government is necessary to do things like safely build a skyscraper or acquire enough continuous land for a railroad. We don't want stupid questions like that because obnoxious Ayn Rand followers will start spouting off nonsense.
A miserable little pile of secrets. But enough talk, have at you!
You're thinking of a man.
[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.
They dont exist
I have one for those that worked at Disney World. "What time is the 3 o'clock parade?"
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A stupid question is anything you already know the answer to
"Huh?"
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.
"Is that a real gun?"
A stupid question is a question directed at stupid, or about stupid, or referring to stupid.
So please, no stupid questions.
followup question: how is it different from AskLemmy community? (is this question stupid?)
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this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2024
216 points (100.0% liked)
No Stupid Questions
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No such thing. Ask away!
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