Do you read the question's details before answering?

Yes.

Most of the time. But if I’m tired, I sometimes skim through and may misinterpret the question.

No.
Why do you ask?

Most of the time but if it gets into a lengthy anecdote about family members and such, I’ll usually skim or pass on the question entirely. I also get lost in the “let’s call him “A”, then “B”, “C” and “X”” relationship sagas that are written all in one paragraph with very little punctuation.

I sure try to, but as soon as I say “Yes, I do!” I know that I’ll screw up magnificently. I do get a bit kerflummoxed when the main Q (bold, in red) at the top isn’t what they seem to be asking in the details. Or, as @janbb says, the long sagas and anecdotes kind of turn me off the Q altogether. I sometimes feel that the asker is using the site as a blog.

It’s a funny one, the site claims the details are important & many a time questions are pulled to editing so the details can be refined & yet quite a lot recently are left untouched with no more than a pitiful As asked as their content.

I do and I like when the questions are a little mysterious and require me to click on them and read the details.
It keeps me interested.

I do, usually. Sometimes the actual question indicates one thing and the details are different. If there are lots of details and no paragraphs, just one big blob, I may not, and I may skip the question. If someone posts paragraph after paragraph about their family stories, especially with lots of quotes, I really don’t care to read those details so I will 99% of the time skip the whole thing. I don’t care to read story after story about grandchildren. I’m sure they’re precious but so is my time.

Shoot, half the time I don’t even finish reading the topic question. I had been here for four years before I even realized there were details.

And another two after that before I started to read ‘em.

Not always. I tend to skip them if:

1) the question is simple and straightforward
2) I’m pressed for time
3) the details are reader-unfriendly (too long, too convoluted, too personal, too poorly written)
4) the person writes (DETAILS. READ THE DETAILS!!!) in the question

I don’t know how many times I have seen this kind of questions so far ~

Yes, unless I’m in one of the following circumstances:
– After about 10 lines the details don’t give me any new information apart from the endless story about the OP’s life or rant about how the world is coming to an end. I’m perfectly fine with rants as long as you vent to me in PM or the chatroom, but not in a question.
– The details turn out to be repeating the question and add no more new information for the community to help the OP Some new users do this literally, by copy-pasting the entire questions onto the details.
– The details become a mess of hard-to-understand wall of text of horrible grammar.
– As the details go on, it becomes clearer that the answer is screaming by itself This is the most common among questions that ask for confirmation.

I have a confession. I was one of those assholes that used the details as the shouting box about my “hard” life before coming to the actual question. I don’t know what I was thinking. I came for help, but then used the question to vent.

I always skim them, but I probably don’t give them enough attention. Consequently, I often miss the ‘do not answer if’ or ‘I’m not looking for ,.,’ type details.

Sometimes, if it’s not too long.

TL; DR.

Yes!

I enjoyed rollercoasters when I was young, but I no longer enjoy the disorientation.

Yes, sometimes multiple times if the details seem convoluted or different from the Q itself.