Why it's important to read the entire question.

Have you ever asked someone something through a text/email/IM and they only answered part of your question? Or worse, they decided that the background info wasn't important and so they give you an answer that you already know isn't correct? I, for one, find this VERY annoying. When a person asks a question they want an answer, yes, but they also want a correct answer. You can't give a correct answer if you don't take the time to read all of the details.

The most recent example I've come across was in a forum for a game...Ok, I might as well say it: The Sims 3. The asker wanted to know if they could find an item from one of the expansion packs WITHOUT said expansion. This was clearly stated in their original post. And then someone tells them "Oh, you can find that item in buydebug mode." Yeah, they could, if they had the expansion for it. Now I don't know if this person truly thought that the asker had access to the item even without the expansion, or if they were just too lazy to actually read the post. But I'm betting they were too lazy to read the post.

Ok, now for those of you who the above example made absolutely no sense to:

"Hey, I'm trying to find a new book and I've looked EVERYWHERE for it. I've checked Walmart, Target, Borders, Barns and Noble, Hastings, EVERYWHERE. Do you have any idea who might be carrying it? It's already been released. It's called Kaps in Kopper*."

Bad answer: "Have you checked Walmart?"
Really bad answer: "Haven't heard of it but I know that Borders has like every book ever made."

Now why are these bad answers? Hm, lets see. "I've checked Walmart, Target, Borders, Barns and Noble, Hastings..." See it now? The asker already stated that they checked those two places. So you are just being annoying and wasting their time.
But what happens if you HAVE seen it at one of those places? Just say "I saw it at Target, maybe they sold out. I would check back again next week." What makes this a good answer? Because you SAW the book there. You KNOW that it was there at one point.
What happens if you have no idea what they're talking about? Don't be annoying and comment on something that you don't know anything about. Saying things like "What's that?" or "Huh?" just make you sound idiotic and kind of rude. Just say "Haven't seen it anywhere." Or if you want to be nice you could say "Haven't seen it yet, but I'll keep an eye out for you."


Maybe some stupid answer givers will see this and learn, READ THE WHOLE QUESTION FIRST. Or face looking like an idiot.



*Not a real book.