Research is a skill that requires specialized knowledge and a good deal of practice to do well. Long try did say that “general articles on the net doesn’t satisfy” in their post, and I think we have a responsibility to assume that this represents a good faith effort. After all, the Internet is pretty hit-or-miss at explaining things in an accessible way. Often, explainers are aimed at small children and don’t actually lead to the kinds of questions that would allow one to proceed deeper into a topic. And it can be very discouraging to approach a new topic when you don’t even know what you don’t know.
Criticism without any attempt at education is unhelpful, and there’s no harm in approaching these things with kindness. Builds community, you know, and we could all use a little more of that.
Oh come on, many says one can’t rely on wiki. On higher topics like quantum & maybe electricity, wiki uses high words that confuse the hell out of me. For example, it uses the term “drifting speed” to describe “electrons’ velocity in wires”—how can I know to find it to read in the 1st place?
OTOH, I posted another question here asking where I should ask a question. Some people suggest posting on as many sites as possible, which means LW included. Even the FAQ or some other “official” documents here encourages asking any and all kinds of questions.
If by downvoting you meant the community only accept high-level questions where one must do substantial research (how substantial is defined by those who read the questions) before even considering writing it, then I think you succeeded. I do feel bad seeing my question got downvoted to a rotund 0, and do feel discouraged from asking questions in the future.
You’re right that many people say you can’t rely on wiki. Unfortunately, statements as broad as that are rarely useful. A more nuanced approach would be something like “wiki can often be a good starting point, but don’t stop there”. Check the sources, especially on topics (e.g. drifting speed) that aren’t particularly clear, but really on anything that catches your interest. When you feel like you have enough information to narrow your search terms a bit, do that and see if more sources come up that you weren’t able to access with the more general question.
You won’t be able to keep the whole topic in your head at once. Make brief notes on each source you used and quick summaries of any interesting information you got out of it. Number the notes so you can cross-reference them (any numbering system will do as long as each note has a short but unique identifier). Write down your questions and thoughts as more notes notes as they come to you (maybe set them in a special pile so you can find them easier), then append those notes with answers or partial answers when you find them. Record the full answer in your own words, and link to the notes that helped you write that. Back-link related notes to the question to make it easier to follow your cross-references using that question as an entry point.
If you’re thinking this sounds like a lot of work, it is. Keep a list of sources you want to check out and why, and take on only as much as you’re comfortable doing at a time. Even if you tend to process only one article or chapter per day, you are making progress! And don’t be hard on yourself if you feel like you can’t give the project the time you want to: that only leads to feeling frustrated and spending even less time on it.
On forums, you’re likely to get friendlier results for asking questions like, “I’m curious about [Specific Thing]. [Source] and [Source] seem to suggest [Brief Summary], but I’d like a little clarification on [Even More Specific Thing]. Sources would be appreciated!” than really general questions like “How does [thing] work?”, because you’re giving the community a starting point for the discussion instead of a general topic.
[ETA} From the conversation in the Answers section, it looks like you’re good at asking follow-up questions. That’s a huge help when you’re doing research!
I hope you find these notes useful. If you would like to go deeper into any of them I’d be happy to discuss them with you. :)
My appreciation—that’s really helpful, especially point 2. I was a bit hesitating when I saw the amount of links in cousin_it’s link, but point 3 encourages me to do it, even slowly.
Point 4 is kinda hard from my POV. I admit I’m too lazy to dig all the sources to display in a post. But then, if a question is formatted like that, wouldn’t it be way too long? I thought titles should be concise & provoking.
Remember, you have a title and a body to work with when asking a question. Pithy titles are good for getting attention, and there’s room for a bit more elaboration once people click through. The key is to keep it both open-ended and specific so the conversation has somewhere solid to start from. Otherwise you’ll get a lot more off-topic discussion.
The problem is that you currently lack so much information about the things you are asking about, that no short explanation is possible. The atomic constitution of matter, electromagnetism, electrical engineering. Even to just a high school level, that is a lot of ground to cover. No-one can pour a few paragraphs into your head that will give you all that knowledge.
Downvoted for apparently not even trying to check online sources, like Wikipedia and physics stackexchange.
Research is a skill that requires specialized knowledge and a good deal of practice to do well. Long try did say that “general articles on the net doesn’t satisfy” in their post, and I think we have a responsibility to assume that this represents a good faith effort. After all, the Internet is pretty hit-or-miss at explaining things in an accessible way. Often, explainers are aimed at small children and don’t actually lead to the kinds of questions that would allow one to proceed deeper into a topic. And it can be very discouraging to approach a new topic when you don’t even know what you don’t know.
Criticism without any attempt at education is unhelpful, and there’s no harm in approaching these things with kindness. Builds community, you know, and we could all use a little more of that.
Oh come on, many says one can’t rely on wiki. On higher topics like quantum & maybe electricity, wiki uses high words that confuse the hell out of me. For example, it uses the term “drifting speed” to describe “electrons’ velocity in wires”—how can I know to find it to read in the 1st place?
OTOH, I posted another question here asking where I should ask a question. Some people suggest posting on as many sites as possible, which means LW included. Even the FAQ or some other “official” documents here encourages asking any and all kinds of questions.
If by downvoting you meant the community only accept high-level questions where one must do substantial research (how substantial is defined by those who read the questions) before even considering writing it, then I think you succeeded. I do feel bad seeing my question got downvoted to a rotund 0, and do feel discouraged from asking questions in the future.
Some notes on researching new topics:
You’re right that many people say you can’t rely on wiki. Unfortunately, statements as broad as that are rarely useful. A more nuanced approach would be something like “wiki can often be a good starting point, but don’t stop there”. Check the sources, especially on topics (e.g. drifting speed) that aren’t particularly clear, but really on anything that catches your interest. When you feel like you have enough information to narrow your search terms a bit, do that and see if more sources come up that you weren’t able to access with the more general question.
You won’t be able to keep the whole topic in your head at once. Make brief notes on each source you used and quick summaries of any interesting information you got out of it. Number the notes so you can cross-reference them (any numbering system will do as long as each note has a short but unique identifier). Write down your questions and thoughts as more notes notes as they come to you (maybe set them in a special pile so you can find them easier), then append those notes with answers or partial answers when you find them. Record the full answer in your own words, and link to the notes that helped you write that. Back-link related notes to the question to make it easier to follow your cross-references using that question as an entry point.
If you’re thinking this sounds like a lot of work, it is. Keep a list of sources you want to check out and why, and take on only as much as you’re comfortable doing at a time. Even if you tend to process only one article or chapter per day, you are making progress! And don’t be hard on yourself if you feel like you can’t give the project the time you want to: that only leads to feeling frustrated and spending even less time on it.
On forums, you’re likely to get friendlier results for asking questions like, “I’m curious about [Specific Thing]. [Source] and [Source] seem to suggest [Brief Summary], but I’d like a little clarification on [Even More Specific Thing]. Sources would be appreciated!” than really general questions like “How does [thing] work?”, because you’re giving the community a starting point for the discussion instead of a general topic.
[ETA} From the conversation in the Answers section, it looks like you’re good at asking follow-up questions. That’s a huge help when you’re doing research!
I hope you find these notes useful. If you would like to go deeper into any of them I’d be happy to discuss them with you. :)
My appreciation—that’s really helpful, especially point 2. I was a bit hesitating when I saw the amount of links in cousin_it’s link, but point 3 encourages me to do it, even slowly.
Point 4 is kinda hard from my POV. I admit I’m too lazy to dig all the sources to display in a post. But then, if a question is formatted like that, wouldn’t it be way too long? I thought titles should be concise & provoking.
Remember, you have a title and a body to work with when asking a question. Pithy titles are good for getting attention, and there’s room for a bit more elaboration once people click through. The key is to keep it both open-ended and specific so the conversation has somewhere solid to start from. Otherwise you’ll get a lot more off-topic discussion.
I’m glad you found my notes helpful!
The problem is that you currently lack so much information about the things you are asking about, that no short explanation is possible. The atomic constitution of matter, electromagnetism, electrical engineering. Even to just a high school level, that is a lot of ground to cover. No-one can pour a few paragraphs into your head that will give you all that knowledge.