That's terrific value, isn't it?
Sometimes. But sometimes people are too eager to answer the meta-question that they can't distinguish the core issue of the question from context.

Example: some time ago, someone asked help with processing command line arguments. He had posted some code that looped over @ARGV, but he didn't get the results he expected. He got several answers that he should be using one of the Getopt:: modules. "Terrific value"? No. The answer "Just use a module" didn't teach *anything* to the poster. Sure, it might have solved the immediate problem, but it's like a doctor prescribing pain-killers for a broken bone. It takes away the pain - but it doesn't cure the cause. In this case, the OP had an off-by-one error in processing the array. If people had taken the time of looking at the code instead of pointing to a module, the OP had learned something.

I usually try to avoid answering the meta question. Instead, I might answer the question with another question, trying to make the OP think what (s)he really wants to do.

Abigail

In reply to Re: Answering questions and questioning questions by Abigail-II
in thread Answering questions and questioning questions by talexb

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