I had read the opposite somewhere and cannot now find where, which tells me something.
0 likes 23d
Start Here · How to Ask · continued
How to ask a question when you cannot say why you are asking it posts 31–54
This is a continuation of a long topic, addressed by post number rather than by page. Start at post 1 · go to the accepted answer.
"Has anyone had this happen" gets you anecdotes. "What would cause this, and what would distinguish the causes" gets you an explanation. The second question is almost always the one you wanted.
Flagging that the sources on this are thinner than the confidence in the thread suggests.
30 likes 22d
b.demir, post #21: Five questions in one post gets you one answer: the easiest one, usually not the one you needed most. Post them separately or pick the one that depends on the others least and ask that one first. I have left out the parts I could not verify. Go to post
A photograph of a vial is rarely useful and a photograph of a document usually is. Redact the identifiers before you post either.
Taking post #33 at face value and following it one step further.
Asking a follow-up: new topic or reply in the old one? If the answer depends on the previous post, reply. If it is a question that makes sense without the previous post, new topic. The second gets faster answers.
The strength of my opinion here exceeds the strength of my evidence.
5 likes 20d
Coming back to post #33, because the follow-up matters more than the original answer.
Do not apologise in the first line. It costs you the space where the question should be, and nobody here thinks a question is an imposition.
If that is already documented somewhere, ignore me and link it.
1 like 19d
Post #33 is right about the mechanism and I think understates the practical bit.
Speaking as somebody who asked badly last month and got a polite request for four missing details: writing the question properly the first time takes ten minutes and saves two days. Learn from me.
I am confident about the direction and much less about the magnitude.
0 likes 18d
i.grimaldi, post #20: Avoid "any advice?" at the end. It is so generic that people do not know which part of the post it refers to. Pick the specific part and ask that specific question instead. The general case is well covered; this is the awkward specific one. Go to post
Context that matters: compound, how long in, current dose, relevant history. Context that does not matter: how you feel, your hopes for the outcome, your medical history beyond what affects this specific question. The first set gets you answered. The second set makes the reply longer without making it better.
Collapsed as off-topic by two members at trust level 3 or above
A photograph of a vial is rarely useful and a photograph of a document usually is. Redact the identifiers before you post either.
Grateful for the specificity. Vague answers to this question are what sent me looking.
0 likes 14d
Disagreeing with an answer you got: cite what you disagree with, say what contradicts it, and ask which one holds. Do not open with "I think you are wrong". Lead with the evidence.
Adding the caveat now so it does not have to be extracted later.
0 likes 13d
Collapsed as off-topic by two members at trust level 3 or above
A question about somebody else's post should be a reply to that post, not a new topic. A question the post happened to raise should be a new topic linking back to it. The difference is whether the answer is useful without the original.
Noting that I have skin in this question and have tried to discount for it.
s.bruun, post #22: I had written a reply contradicting post #19 and deleted it. Here is what survived. Context that matters: compound, how long in, current dose, relevant history. Context that does not matter: how you feel, your hopes for the outcome, your medical history beyond what affects this specific question. The first set gets you answered. The… Go to post
Say what you want out of the answer. "I want to know whether to accept this delivery" and "I want to understand the chemistry" get very different and equally valid replies.
A photograph of a vial is rarely useful and a photograph of a document usually is. Redact the identifiers before you post either.
Not the whole picture, but the part of it I can speak to.
0 likes 9d
c.inglethorpe, post #29: Chromatography questions need the method before anything else: column, gradient, wavelength, injection volume. A purity figure with no method attached cannot be discussed, only repeated. Go to post
Post #46 is the version of this I will quote in future. One addition.
Units. Everything needs units. This is why we ask every single time. I have seen the same arithmetic done three different ways depending on whether the person was thinking mg/mL or mg/dose or something else entirely. Stating the units makes that impossible.
Where I part company with post #45, and it is a narrow parting.
Timeline questions need the timeline. Dates, in order, with what happened on each. "A while ago" and "recently" are the two least useful words in a question of this kind.
That matches what I was told, which is not the same as knowing it.
29 likes 6d
Collapsed as off-topic by two members at trust level 3 or above
Post #46 is right about the mechanism and I think understates the practical bit.
If the answer you got does not fit your case, say which part does not fit rather than restating the question. Otherwise the next reply is the same as the last one.
i.grimaldi, post #20: Avoid "any advice?" at the end. It is so generic that people do not know which part of the post it refers to. Pick the specific part and ask that specific question instead. The general case is well covered; this is the awkward specific one. Go to post
Coming back to post #48, because the follow-up matters more than the original answer.
Questions you cannot explain: "I cannot say why I am asking this, but is this compound stable at room temperature?" is more productive than no question at all. People here know that some questions cannot be asked in public and they will work with that constraint.
Post #47 describes the usual case. This is about the unusual one.
When you quote a figure from somewhere else, say where from. Not as a formality — the answer frequently depends on whether the number came from a certificate, an independent report or a forum post.
This is the sort of thing that ought to be settled and apparently is not.
0 likes 3d
taper_file, post #7: Questions you cannot explain: "I cannot say why I am asking this, but is this compound stable at room temperature?" is more productive than no question at all. People here know that some questions cannot be asked in public and they will work with that constraint. It is one reading of the data and not the only reasonable one. Go to post
Nobody minds being asked to explain a term. The people who use them most are the quickest to define them, and a question that stops to ask is usually a question that gets a better answer.
e.halonen, post #48: Where I part company with post #45, and it is a narrow parting. Timeline questions need the timeline. Dates, in order, with what happened on each. "A while ago" and "recently" are the two least useful words in a question of this kind. That matches what I was told, which is not the same as knowing it. Go to post
Avoid "any advice?" at the end. It is so generic that people do not know which part of the post it refers to. Pick the specific part and ask that specific question instead.
This topic was referenced in
- Rewriting my first post: a before-and-after, with commentaryStart Here › How to Ask · 3 replies
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