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What is wrong with me that I struggle to ask questions?

How I can fix my attitude and get much better responses to my posts?

I haven't posted on here in a long time after getting some negative feedback. At first I thought it was just this site, but encountered the same on Reddit too. I eventually switched to chat rooms once I unlocked them, but people on there will give me a hard time as well. I can't ignore the common factor.

Maybe I need a Bachelors degree in Comp Science in order to gain respect on this site.

In the meantime, I will be trying to focus my attention on answering other people's questions on this site.

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    Your problem is treating SO like it's your own paid private tutor in which you are owed service merely because you've asked for it. You don't earn respect by getting diploma, you earn respect by being respectful of others and by following the site's rules and guidelines. Commented Dec 5, 2017 at 19:39
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    I'm going to say this in good faith. You don't have any bad questions that I see; they're mostly zero-score and not really voted on. That doesn't mean that your questions are bad. I'd say...relax, take a breather, and really take some time off. You don't need to be stressed out here. Commented Dec 5, 2017 at 19:51
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    Wait, so a user comes on here asking how to change in order to be a better person, and we downvote them? Are we really trying to make this a website where people feel welcome? Commented Jun 23, 2018 at 16:38
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    I understand that the post was quite insulting to a lot of people who put in hard work here, and because of that, I understand the downvotes. But at the same time, this is a rare person who sees that they could be better and are asking for help. Chances are, there are many more people like them, and I think it would be best if we could provide a welcoming response that both addresses the issues in this question but also provides advice as to how to improve. Commented Jun 23, 2018 at 16:42

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Ah, the eternal question...

What is wrong with me?

That's a question that only you can answer. Maybe nothing. Maybe everything.

But, chances are, you had a crappy education. Not you specifically; you and millions like you were taught to answer a question by memorizing the answer, but not how to research a question that you hadn't previously seen. And so you never learned how to break down a problem into little pieces, identify which pieces were missing, and seek them out.

...Until you found Stack Overflow. Check this out:

Java: making basic controls

That's a question of yours from a couple of years back. It's broad, rambling, and suggests you're sitting there with a big pile of pieces but no idea which ones are important and which ones are still missing.

How can I position 3D points correctly when behind the camera?

That's a question you asked two years later. You've done quite a bit more research, created test cases and homed in on specific problem.

Looks to me like you got an education, or at least the start of one. Congratulations!

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    On a serious note, thanks to the mods for deleting that edgy impulsive comment I made in response to this question. Commented Dec 5, 2017 at 20:00
  • Does it still count as an education if the student has a breakdown from the result of it? I mean...you're right and all, but I wonder if the pressure and the stigma of the site caused them to crack (just a bit). That's not to say that they're done forever, but they're obviously showing signs of hard stress over the site's numerous standards. Commented Dec 5, 2017 at 20:00
  • A good few of my afternoons in an actual school was spent in the library, hiding between the stacks, shaking uncontrollably while tears of frustration and abject exhaustion ran down my face, @Makoto... So, probably yes? But, ideally, that'd be rare? Commented Dec 5, 2017 at 20:02
  • Oh hey also I hate college and it really sucks and I think this has something to do with it. I guess you're right. I'm not well diciplined in problem solving. I dropped 2 classes and I'm stressed the hell out about staying in. But maybe I will stay in college and just get through it. Yea you're right when you say that my education probably sucked. I also suck at learning and paying attention. Commented Dec 5, 2017 at 20:04
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    Everyone has their own path, @pebble225. Unfortunately, educational institutions are not great at adapting to the individual. This is what makes The Internet so great: you can find information presented in just about any format and style you might wish for; on SO, there's always room for more'n one answer that present the information in different ways. Don't give up. Commented Dec 5, 2017 at 20:06
  • Well...I've had my fair share of those educational experiences before. The one thing I learned was that I don't want to subject anyone else to that kind of experience. This is well out of scope of a few comments, but I wonder if someone could run with this to see if this kind of experience could be patched up somehow. Commented Dec 5, 2017 at 20:15
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    "On a serious note, thanks to the mods for deleting that edgy impulsive comment I made in response to this question."` -- just an observation -- if you've made comments like your deleted answer before in your past questions, then they're guaranteed to antagonize anyone who otherwise would otherwise be helping you turning a cooperative relationship into an antagonistic one. I'm not saying I've seen this in you (other than the deleted answer), but I've seen it a lot in others on this site. This site can be incredibly helpful, and much depends on the approach. Commented Dec 5, 2017 at 21:39
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    "how to research a question that you hadn't previously seen", this is real key to learning, @pebble225. I remember digging forums for hours to find bits of information deep inside giant threads of endless discussion. Having a resource well organized like SO back then would be absurdly productive. Commented Dec 5, 2017 at 23:15
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Thank you for being willing to ask this question. I think there are probably quite a few people who feel similarly, but haven't been willing to ask how to change.

First things first: don't insult people. There are a lot of really hard-working people on this site who work to make it an amazing resource for learning how to program and for fixing programming problems. If you insult people or say things that make them feel bad, they probably aren't going to want to help you.

Second, this site has a really high bar, and it can be really difficult to gain respect here. The moderators spend a lot of time digging through questions and trying to improve the site. Thus, questions that aren't up to standard can get downvoted pretty quickly, and it can be discouraging to have that happen many times. Even people like me who have been on the site a while mess up and post a thing or two that don't meet standards.

Just because your question is downvoted doesn't mean that it isn't valid. It just means that it's not in a good enough form that people here can really help you effectively.

So now to your real question: how can you change?

The biggest thing I've found to be helpful to this site is to ask a single question that can be answered objectively. The format I usually follow is

  1. Give a brief overview of your problem

  2. Pose your question

  3. Explain what you've done to solve the problem (include links to other things you've looked at if possible)

  4. Pose your question again

Step (1) helps people to understand where you're coming from.

Step (2) helps people know what they should be looking for in the rest of your question.

Step (3) shows people that you aren't just using them as an instant resource; that you've done research and come here because you can't find your answer anywhere else and you think that people in this community might be able and willing to help you. If you provide links, those links can also help people who view your question to find solutions to similar problems, even if their problem isn't the exact same as yours.

Step (4) Clarifies what you want and tells people exactly how you'd like help. It needs to be a single question that addresses your core concern. (Sometimes it can be two questions, but they both need to address the exact some concern, just in different ways. For example: Why is <insert problem> happening? What can I do to fix it? Two questions. One core concern.)

I find that the hardest thing to do on this site is to come up with that one question. I thought that @Shog9 pointed out a great example of yours that I think a lot of people struggle with when they come to this site.

A question with multiple questions

This question has too many questions. When I read this question, I find that I could answer What are char variables? (You've heard of them, but do you know what they are?) Or I could answer Do char variables have involvement in testing user input? Or I could answer Is using ActionListener to detect user input necessary? Etc. If you keep your post to one core issue, people are far more likely to be able to help you here because they'll understand what you want.

In the other question @Shog9 mentioned, you do this fairly well. It would be better if you had ended with something extremely clear, such as How can I get the plane to render in the correct position? (instead of So what is going on?).

A better question

Overall, the trick is to ask your questions in such a way that the people here are able to help you effectively and to do research so that people here feel valuable when answering questions instead of feeling like they're just doing your research for you.

Hopefully this helps you and many others feel more welcome here on Stack Overflow. It can be a hard place to start, but once you understand how to phrase your thoughts so people here can help, it can be a wonderful place to learn and exchange ideas. I wish you the best of luck.

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