Primarily opinion based questions

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#1
the ones in development support

You will see these almost every day in the Development Support category of the forums.

What is a primarily opinion based question?

A question, not even a question, instead a discussion, a discussion about something that is focused on pure opinion. These questions are generally ones that ask “What is the [insert positive adjective here] way to do X?”.

Why is it an issue

These are an issue as the solution is always up to the person who is answering their question. People can think differently so one person might see Y as the best way to do X whilst another sees Z as the best way.

An example

user 1: What is the best way to save player inventory?

user 2: The best way is X.

user 3: The best way is Y.

Some people might think the same but also some people won’t. It’s always what’s reasonable for them.

You can search “what is the best way to …” or “most efficient way to …” and ect. to find a much more detailed example.

How to avoid

Askers should ask “What is a way to do X?” instead of asking for the “best way” and not ask “Should I use X over Y?” questions. The latter is what is most appropriate for them.

Conclusion

Primarily opinion based questions are a problem because the “most reasonable solution” is always up to the person answering the asker’s question and not all people think alike. So different responses an asker can (and most likely will) receive.

This is my first topic on the inception forum. It can always be improved. Let me know what you think about these types of questions.

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#2

I think you have a point, but asking what the “best” way to do something isn’t problematic (in my mind) because it gives the asker many options to select from. One thing may work for one person, but someone else might have a better way to do it.

#4

That thread is a completely different topic…?

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#5

Personally, I think that this is an example of what a forum is for. These people ask questions knowing they have some of the best developers on the platform are present (which they are). And if someone wants to find out something, wouldn’t you rather do it the best way rather than just any way. I feel that this topic is useful for people responding to questions, but for people writing them who want the best outcome, it’s not very convenient.
Hope this helps!

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#6

People ask these questions because they want to gain insight on the matter (my personal interpretation). Developers would always do what seems best and achievable to them. I ask these kind of questions because I am unable to decide whether X or Y would do a better job when both have the exact same result.

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#7

Still primarily opinion based.

Fame doesn’t make you better at coding/building/ whatever your expertise is. You can be a very very very famous programmer and write poor quality code.

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#8

@RedDuck765 I’d assume the difference between my thread and this one is that mine is related to an improper way to ask questions, whereas this one seems to be related to opinion-oriented questions.

I can’t really discern the purpose of this thread because all it says is that discussion-esque questions appear in Development Support. Some more depth and context into the issue you want to address would be more appreciated - with these kinds of things, you need to be very explicit.

Discussions in Development Support are fine - that’s part of what the category is for, since support also pertains to outside opinions (there’s also Development Discussion, but that’s a locked category for New Members). A discussion can also lead to a real solution sometimes.

Eventually yes, the solution is up to the OP. This is the case whether an opinion-oriented thread spawns or not. Everyone has a different interpretation of how they’d like to do things or how they think things should be done. Really, there’s any number of ways to achieve something. Generally when it comes to this, you’ll see other users correct flaws in another’s implementation or one solution will be picked over another due to its usefulness to the OP.

I’d personally say that asking “What is a way” and “What is the best way” are fairly the same questions, since the meaning of “best” is fairly moot. With or without that phrase being explicitly used, responses usually come in as what individuals believe is an appropriate answer for the thread.

Something I’d like to call out though:

I would not exclusively discourage this kind of question-asking. There are some scenarios wherein these kinds of things might be a legitimate concern. For example, I posted a thread asking whether I should use a singleton OOP pattern or a table with methods and data and if there was any difference in performance, efficiency or organisation.

Opinion-based questions aren’t much of a pain and they can actually be beneficial at times. What’s a real pain is when viewpoints are not respected, discussion gets out of hand or the thread gets derailed. For example, a specific unnamed thread on practices to combat exploiters has turned into discussions about Lua VM and technical details about Lua, rather than a discussion related to what the OP asked.

Remember that you always have the ability to flag or message users about their posts if you think there is an issue with it.

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#9

I don’t think opinion driven threads are a problem, but there is a problem related to them.

I think the problem arises when people responding forget that the purpose of their reply isn’t to convince everyone that their idea is the best way to solve the problem. The purpose is to share what, to their knowledge, is the best way to solve the problem, then through civil and rational discussion of everyone’s bests, the true best way to solve OP’s problem can be discovered.

It’s unfortunate that instead, we see people arguing back and forth and going in circles.

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#10

That’s not true at all. Any smart and/or logical person would rather choose the quickest and efficient route towards a solution rather than beating around the bush, which is inefficient.

And no, fame doesn’t make you better at developing, but here on the DevForum we have the best on the platform, and generalising the whole community as only being “famous yet lacking development skills” is not correct and the vast majority would disagree as well.

The “Dev” Forum is called that for a reason. We have our famous members who as you pointed out may or may not have good development skill. But the vast, vast majority are hard working developers who are here to lend a hand to those who need it, I mean it’s a forum after all.

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#11

Quicker doesn’t necessarily mean better, and efficiency is a whole other topic.

I never said the whole community is famous yet lacking development skills? I just said it’s definitely possible for someone to be famous programmer/whatever and do poor quality work.

#12

If a developer is well known there is usually a reason for it.

But, experience does Not count for fame.

I have several years experience in this platform and I’d say I’m fairly decent at problem solving, but I’m not famous.

To be honest I wouldn’t consider anyone else here particularly famous. We’re all developers of one fashion or another, and we all give our best when supporting others.

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#13

Sorry, looks like I got confused. It looks very similar with all of the X and Y variables everyone keeps using :smile:

#14

I’ve done this multiple times. It can really go anywhere.

If you want to read my favorite, here’s the link: Breaking Development Fatigue