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The Problem

I've posted a few questions on Stack Overflow recently that haven't got many views or answers. I'm trying to identify why that is.

I've provided lots of detail in my questions, and I've stated what I want to achieve as well as my specific problem. I've also read this post.

I'm starting to think I'm being too detailed in my question and that's putting people off. Of course, it could just be that my questions are so narrow in scope and specific that no-one has an answer for me.

My Question

Am I being too detailed in my questions? Or is what I'm doing total information overload?

Should I make them briefer, easier to scan and have more of a "progressive reveal" so that as I get responses I reveal more detail about my issue?

I'd really appreciate any feedback people have on the formatting and style of my questions.


This question has had three upvotes so far, so I guess in this case I must be doing something right. I'll leave it for a few days and see if I get any answers.

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1 Answer 1

up vote 7 down vote accepted

Do not intentionally engage in a progressive reveal please. I find that strategy rude. It comes down to "I'm going to ask the wrong question in hopes of trapping an audience for the right questions.".

Looking at your questions I see

  • They are addressed to a medium-small community on Stack Overflow. I feel your pain on that but it does mean they will take longer to get answer
  • That is a lot of information. You're probably suffering a lot of "tl;dr" If you can isolate the problem--even a little bit--you may get a better response.
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All great points. You confirm what I instinctively feel - my questions have too much information, but I should find ways of being more succinct, not deleting vital parts of my question. I feel like I have isolated the problem as much as I can in my most recent question, but in other questions, maybe I'm being a bit too general. Thanks! –  John Gallagher Oct 18 '10 at 13:45

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