Why the NaySaying? Debunking Common Naysayer Arguments

[Pattonias]

This is a brief rant for the naysayer...

In my experience researching my next purchases and projects for my computer I have often run into the person who attempts burst my bubble by asking why or explaining how what I want to do doesn't make any sense.


If I want to find or make a 300 DVD changer for my pc so that I can change the DVD's in the drive for my games/DVD's, don't be the first guy to point out that I can just download or rip ISO's to do the same thing. I'm not an idiot or a newbie, I already know I can do that.

If I want to find a quad-core atom processor for my next netbook so I can play games, don't be the first person to tell me that netbooks are not designed for gaming. I know this, but I want one that will play games.

If I want to set-up a voice controlled media center don't ask me why... Who wouldn't want that.

And if you want to respond to all this by being the first person to say all these things that I have said, you are too late as you are not the first to say it.

Rant completed.

 

[NeoDevin]

Why are you wasting your time ranting, when a much better solution is to ignore such people?

 

[DaleSwanson]

People are going to suggest the easiest method first. No one here knows anything about you. There is no reason to assume you are aware of the easier solutions and have a specific reason not to use them. Indeed, most often, when someone asks how to do something in a more complicated way than they need to it is because they aren't aware of the simpler method.

Also, people are curious. They are going to want to know why you aren't doing it the simple way. Many people simply won't be able to give advice until their curiosity is satisfied.

My advice: in the future, provide a simple background that shows you are aware there is simpler method, and provides and explanation for why you aren't using it. You may be annoyed that you have to provide a background before you can get help, but this is simply the nature of asking for help from a group of curious strangers.

 

[Pengwuino]

You sure knocked some people we have no idea are down a few pegs.

 

[Pattonias]

Don't worry, I didn't mean this to be serious. Just venting a little. I'm not really upset at the person who asks why out of curiosity, but the one who will attempt to argue with me instead of offering help. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and one should be prepared to receive it, good or bad, when talking on the internet. For instance here, I really didn't expect anyone to be sympathetic. It is the way of the internet.

 

[Hurkyl]

but the one who will attempt to argue with me instead of offering help.

Sometimes the best way to help someone is to "argue" with them -- human beings are notorious for asking the wrong questions. You'd be surprised how often this happens:

1. I want to do X
2. *brainstorm*
3. Aha, Y might let me do X!
4. *spend a lot of time working on Y*
5. Hey buddy, can you help me do Y?
6. *discussion with buddy*
7. And now that I can do Y, I can do X! Yay!
8. Buddy: Why didn't you do Z? It's a much easier way to do X.
9. D'oh!

I would be unsurprised to find out I've helped people solve more problems by figuring out what question they meant to ask, rather than helping with the question they actually asked.

 

[Mech_Engineer]

I'm going to have to naysay your naysaying of naysaying...

If I want to find or make a 300 DVD changer for my pc so that I can change the DVD's in the drive for my games/DVD's, don't be the first guy to point out that I can just download or rip ISO's to do the same thing. I'm not an idiot or a newbie, I already know I can do that.

Let's be honest, a 300 DVD changer so you don't have to utilize a DVD drive's tray is just a ridiculous undertaking. You can obviously have much more practical and elegant solutions (such as storing ISO files on a hard drive) for a lot less money. If we assume all the DVDs are dual-layer (7.4GB) and completely filled, that's a required space of 2.2TB, easily achieved with a single hard drive these days.

If I want to find a quad-core atom processor for my next netbook so I can play games, don't be the first person to tell me that netbooks are not designed for gaming. I know this, but I want one that will play games.

Atom processors are small horsepower processors for running a web-browser and not much else- I'm not even sure one with 4 cores would be enough for anything but the most simple Flash gaming. If you want more gaming power, it's quite simple to find a laptop with a much more powerful processor. If you want to surf the internet and that's all, get a netbook; if you want to play games get a mini laptop (and guess what, it can surf the internet too!)

If I want to set-up a voice controlled media center don't ask me why... Who wouldn't want that.

I would think it's easy enough to get some voice-recognition software and program some Windows Media Center functions into it. I personally would prefer a remote though.