How to ask smart questions question

[Aahz]

In article <960af9f3-c445-4d6d-b277-76a123ee4dcd at s28g2000vbp.googlegroups.com>,
Carl Banks  <pavlovevidence at gmail.com> wrote:
>On May 26, 7:48=A0am, Gary Herron <gher... at islandtraining.com> wrote:
>>
>> The proper response to a question like this has to be
>> =A0 =A0http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
>> as anything else is complete guesswork.
>
>Is there a Cliff's Notes version of this?
>
>I may be a cynic but I would think the people who ask bad questions
>are the same sort of people who won't have the patience to sit though
>this behemoth of an essay.

Perhaps linking directly to this would help:

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#before

The table of contents contains a good summary for actually asking
questions.  Overall, I'm inclined to agree with people who argue that the
smart questions essay is a good filter; someone unwilling to put in the
work of reading and understanding it is also unwilling to put in the
effort to ask good questions.  I mean, I re-read most of that essay once
every couple of years myself.
-- 
Aahz (aahz at pythoncraft.com)           <*>         http://www.pythoncraft.com/

my-python-code-runs-5x-faster-this-month-thanks-to-dumping-$2K-
    on-a-new-machine-ly y'rs  - tim