Do people ask questions they really want answered?

I ask for real answers, as for anyone else, who knows what evil lurks in the minds of other men?

only the shadow knows, bwa hahahahahahaha!

@justwannaknow do you REALLY want to know?

Yes, brettvdb, I really want to know on this one.

All of the above. Some people are looking for factual knowledge. Some people are looking for people’s opinions. Some people are looking to see how many people agree with them. Some people are looking to start fights. Some people are just bored.

It’s hard to tell sometimes. In this comment for instance, you asked what might have been a sincere question about the nature of evolution. You got some good answers, but it turned out that you weren’t interested in the answers at all, as you said here.

Harp, Did I ask the questions there or was I making comments?

The way I understand Fluther it’s both about legit questions and social questions, i.e. “help me resolve this issue” and “I want to start a thoughtful discussion”.

I really want an answer that comes quick.

@justwannaknow “Why did it take them so long to find the “missing link”. If we evolved from primates then why are there still primates? Did they evolve from humans?”

I like how the site is live.

Harp, Harp ,Harp , I did not ask the ORIGINAL question. The quote you have there is a comment IN QUESTION FORM. Did you not learn the difference in grammar school?

Don’t blame me for the spelling, It is my computers fault! I am perfect.

I really want answers. And why is everyone on this site so obsessed with all sentences being perfect??? who cares as long as u can understand

Thanks harp, I understand where you are coming from. Sometimes my mind is going faster than my fingers and I screw up, sometimes it is deliberate. But you are the only person that has ever pointed it out without belittling me.

It varies. If you read many of the relationship questions, a lot of the people really just want validation in something they’ve already decided to do. Some people just want to argue; other people want a platform for their screeds.

I was just getting ready to say what cwilbur said, sometimes they just want to validate themselves. And some do want answers to valid questions.

Usually, yes
I want the interaction

I like to come up with good, interesting questions that I think people will have fun sinking their teeth into, and that aren’t like all the relationships questions we get. These questions are usually about things I want to think about or am interested in. Very rarely, it’s just a question for question’s sake.

My dad always told me never to ask a question unless I want the answer. I try (notice I put try in bold because sometimes I fail) to hold to that rule.

I think people really are seeking accurate answers to their questions here on Fluther most of the time. I’ve seen the frivolous question and answer routine in the past but it’s rare because the moderators do a good job in keeping the Q&A process within guidelines. For me personally, whenever I ask questions (which isn’t too often), I am seeking a genuine answer or opinion from Jellies and I can’t remember any occasions where I was let down by responses I’ve received. There are a lot of intelligent and worldly people here and they do a fine job in answering all the queries that materialize on Fluther each day.

@Harp uh oh moderated, tsk tsk
@justwannaknow Why did you ask this question? If you know the answer to that, then you know the answer, don’t you.