Have you ever started to ask a question but then backed out because you were afraid how other flutherers would respond?

Plenty of times. Can be such a moody bunch. :-)

All the time. That is why I have multiple accounts.

Yep. And sometimes I start answers and don’t finish for the same rea…

Never
I feel that everyone should get my opinion, whether they agree or not.

@laureth I’ve done that twice just today.

exactly what @ChazMaz said.

I more often do what @laureth is talking about—I start answers and then, sometimes after typing a quite long one, decide not to post it.

But JP has the real solution—if you don’t want anyone to know it is you, make a fake account. No one will know.

Like @johnpowell I have another ID just to ask offbeat stuff. I asked one question that I would have felt silly asking and got some incredible advice. It worked great.

yeah unless your fake account is NewZen instead of Zen
(cause that hasn’t gotten enough press today lol)

Yes I did. On Columbus Day I wanted to start a discussion about the “holiday” and what people thought of it. I then backed out because I thought I would be put in a position of defending people of color and I wasn’t in the mood for it.

Ohh I thought you meant answers
What IS going on with me?

I’m sure I have, though I can’t think of any specific examples. However, the questions that I’ve posted that were received badly were ones I never would’ve guessed would’ve been received badly, so what does that say? Meh. For the most part, I just post what I want and put hundreds of disclaimers and qualifiers to “soften the blow” of some of the things I say and discourage misunderstanding.

Most of the time if I back out of asking the question it’s because it seems too much like a poll or I fear it won’t generate adequate discussion.

Yes (and for answers too), but unlike some of you, I haven’t created another account yet, so they’ve still not been asked or answered. For me it’s mainly about concern that someone I know in real life might figure out I have this account here and then read everything I’ve written and know more than I wanted to share about all sorts of things. I want to be able to discuss things freely and have a sharing identity without publishing to the world everything personal and then possibly having to deal with all the reactions I imagine.

And, I also understand that I’m mostly pretty silly to be trying to manage that. About a year ago, though, I would’ve argued that it wasn’t silly. ;-)

Pobably

This is a stupid question, I can’t believe you asked it.

What @johnpowell said. And as I expected, lots of the responses were not very nice.

@Ivan D:

Yeah, I haven’t asked a half dozen questions because of that (resulting in only 4 questions asked so far). Yet most the questions I want to ask I already know the answer to, sort of disappointing. It would be cool if there was an anonymous question or answer option.

I use alternate accounts for embarrassing questions, or questions that I don’t want to be associated with for whatever reason. I don’t do it very often, and since the new asking system went into effect I haven’t been able to post questions through the proxy servers I have associated with my alternate accounts,

I haven’t avoided asking questions, but sometimes I avoid answering questions because I know I will be going against the flow and it can be scary out there all alone.

Other times I just go ahead and brace myself for the backlash.

The funny part is I don’t see myself as controversial but apparently I have some controversial or un-politically correct ideas.

And like @DominicX said – “I just post what I want and put hundreds of disclaimers and qualifiers” but I still duck and take cover if I am too far out off center according to the masses.

Thanks people! I feel empowered to ask more questions now, knowing that I’m not alone.

Yes. I write out questions and erase them quite often. Not so much with questions, as I’m not a good question-asker so they don’t come to mind often.

What I like about Fluther is the question limit.
It makes you think about your questions more when you can only ask a few of them per day.

@The_Compassionate_Heretic i didn’t know there was one until just now

@The_Compassionate_Heretic

I’ve noticed I go several weeks without asking one. I think part of it is that between all the Q&A sites I’ve been on, I’ve asked over 700 questions.

Very rarely. I too am more likely to begin an answer and not finish. I find it odd that people make alternate (“fake”) accounts to post certain questions. I’ll accept you for who you really are.

I had started typing up a similar question hours ago, went to do other things, and came back just now and canceled. For no good reason but that I didn’t feel like asking it anymore.

Maybe if the mood strikes, I’ll ask it someday…

oh yeah, all the time. Once, I was going to ask why…? Then I realized I’d get my ass jumped all over because people would make untrue assumptions about me concerning the subject matter.

getting your point across to some people on here makes herding cats look easy.

as far as the second part of your question, which i don’t think any of the answers have addressed, when you asked if there has been fear that the question has already been asked, i think that used to be an issue. when i first joined fluther over two years ago, if you asked a question that was asked previously people would provide the link and it was like you were chastised for doing something so stupid like not searching for the question before you asked it. now, however, there have been so many new users and so many questions asked every day that i could ask the same question that i asked (or someone else asked) a year ago and it would have all new members and all new opinions than it did in the past. it’s all part of the evolution of fluther!!

sometimes I see questions that are so anal or absurd Ior super long tomes about some wierd personal thing- I just want to say the craziest or the most blunt answer- but I don’t

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I haven’t ever withheld a question, but I do have an alternate account for answers. Really, the only reason I have one is because two of my teenagers are members, and sometimes I really want to answer a sex question. ;-)

@augustlan LOL!!

This is the reason i’ve asked so few questions in all the time i’ve been here.

Yes

No. But maybe I should.

Yes.

it never occurred to me to have an alternate account. it could be like my alter ego!!

I’ve done this on several occasions.

I don’t think so. The whole point of coming here, for me, was to try to be completely honest with myself. If people don’t like what I’ve done, then I want to hear about it. I try to offer explanations, but not excuses. I want to be the whole me, not the me I imagine is socially acceptable. I don’t want to have secrets other than those I need to protect my anonymity.

I write and I leave it as it comes out. I don’t edit. I just make myself, as best I can, say the things that are on the top of my mind—to say it how I see it. It’s almost as if what people say about me—in a positive way—doesn’t matter. I am comfortable with criticism, because it fits my sense of inadequacy. But when I get a lurve or even a thank you, it’s much harder for me, because it doesn’t fit the me I thought I knew.

It’s what I always wanted, though—to be appreciated because something I said helped someone else. But I am not sure what people will find useful and what they will think is crap. So I just put it out there, even though I know I annoy people with too much writing. I’m sure others find me self-indulgent.

The nice thing is that people don’t have to read what I write. They can skim right on by. And I still got the pleasure of thinking through the question.

[edit]
And the other thing is that it becomes a record of my mental state. I can look back later, and see whether I was coherent or if my thoughts were all over the place. I can look at the topics and see what was concerning me at the time. It’s sort of forensic evidence of my thoughts.

With all do honesty, I do not care how Fluthers would react.

I am much less likely to ask questions, after my prior experiences. Basically my POV is different from the more prevalent, and a reasonable number are unfortunately not that tolerant.

Perhaps that is the function of that meme, to suppress any competing POV.

I have noticed a ripple effect of ideology, however. The world works in such mysterious ways. When I see the spark of enlightnement spread it brings joy.