Especially in my early days venturing into Python (with which I am still only casually acquainted), I’d google a problem and end up on an SO question outlining my exact problem, only see “closed as duplicate” or a bunch of snarky comments about how the questioner didn’t RTFM or whatever.
Why do they hate people asking questions on this site specifically about asking questions? Part of being a noob is not just about not knowing the bare facts of a thing, but not knowing where to look for answers or even what to ask.
While I’m on this soapbox, I hate it when people say “just google it.” because most of the time I see that phrase it’s because that forum post is the first google result.
Never understood the issue with “closed as duplicate”, it always links to the original question so you get your answer there. And for most things even the duplicate has a solid accepted answer too. Maybe I visit a different part of the site through my questions?
In my experience the question is either not actually a duplicate or the answer is no longer valid.
What turned me off of SO entirely is when you actually do google it and the results are all SO posts with “closed as duplicate” and no actual answers :(
The snake fully ate itself.
if it was actually a duplicate, that would be perfect but it seems the majority of the time, its just a question similar and in some cases I’ve even seen them link a question that if you knew anything about it, wouldn’t have been even remotely related.
I’ve also usually done OK when i come across these types of answers. I mean when I see it as answer to other people’s questions. I have never needed to actually ask my own question in about 15 years of using it - which is testament to how many answers are already on there somewhere. It’s very much not evidence that I know stuff.
I think sometimes it takes lateral thinking or jargon translation to interpret the old answer in context of the new question - which could make the old answer inaccessible to the new person - however technically applicable it might be.