I've noticed something related to this when I was studying: No one wanted to appear "stupid" so they were afraid to ask questions or to answer when a teacher asked a question. Which is kinda stupid itself, because the very notion of being a student is direct admission to the fact that you don't know, and that you are willing to learn. But people still keep a low profile in the class, so the you-didn't-know spotlight wouldn't hit them, although no one knows, and that's why they are in the class.. Everyone plays the same game thinking they are the only ones.
I always upvote good questions (and the ones I've wondered myself), whether it is asked here, or some other forums. And you should too, to encourage people to be more inquisitive and curious, it benefits no one in the long run if we all pretended to be smarter than we really are.
You ask questions because you don't know, pretending that you do won't change the fact. And whatever reason you have for not knowing is irrelevant, you are willing to change that; you are still admitting your shortcomings and willing to improve yourself, and that has more value than anything else.
So what if you don't know? Ask and then you'll know, and your lack of knowledge is in the past.. it's so last year. It doesn't matter that you didn't know, your lack of knowledge doesn't affect you anymore after you have asked the question and when you get the answer. Now you know better.
I cite this once more:
"He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever." – Chinese Proverb
I mean what else you are supposed to do? Not ask questions? Then how would you know? "Read a book".. Which one, or is a person even allowed to ask that? "Educate yourself" people asking questions are trying to, that's what reading a book and educating yourself is about: getting knowledge from somewhere or someone else; books are written by people, so getting information by asking people doesn't really differ from that, except it is more efficient and one doesn't have to shift through loads of irrelevant data to get the answer.
But then again one might learn something else on the way by reading a book, it's really about personal preference, so in essence: people read when they want to and ask when they want to, it's their choice how they want to acquire knowledge; whatever works for them. Isn't the overall goal to make people learn, so why does it matter how they choose to do it?
"He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever." – Chinese Proverb
I mean what else you are supposed to do? Not ask questions? Then how would you know? "Read a book".. Which one, or is a person even allowed to ask that? "Educate yourself" people asking questions are trying to, that's what reading a book and educating yourself is about: getting knowledge from somewhere or someone else; books are written by people, so getting information by asking people doesn't really differ from that, except it is more efficient and one doesn't have to shift through loads of irrelevant data to get the answer.
But then again one might learn something else on the way by reading a book, it's really about personal preference, so in essence: people read when they want to and ask when they want to, it's their choice how they want to acquire knowledge; whatever works for them. Isn't the overall goal to make people learn, so why does it matter how they choose to do it?
"Ask stupid questions, get stupid downvotes."
There are no stupid questions, only stupid people who ask them. But the very act of asking the question, makes a stupid person smart enough to change that, smart and wise enough admit to that shortcoming and to change that.
Every question is valid, because everyone has a point in life where they did not know any answer to any question. The willingness to find that out; to ask the question is what makes a person smart, thus knowledgeable, because that's how knowledge accumulates.
Disregard the ego, acquire knowledge.
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