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Vent: I saw a huge change in how people ask questions here over the last year or so.
It used to feel like a place where you could ask anything, no matter how small or weird, and get a real answer from someone who just knew their stuff. Now, half the posts I see are these long, over-thought things that read like a school paper, with links and citations. I'm talking about a real shift I noticed starting maybe 8 months back. The vibe changed from 'hey, how does this work?' to 'here is my thesis on this topic, please critique.' I think it's because some folks are trying too hard to sound smart, maybe for online points, and it scares off the simple, honest questions. It makes the whole thing feel less helpful and more like a competition. Has anyone else felt this shift, or is it just me?
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ellis.nina2mo agoMost Upvoted
Wait, what if people are just trying to be more helpful? Maybe those links and longer posts come from a place of wanting to give a full answer so someone doesn't have to go looking elsewhere. Could be that the simple questions moved to other apps, and what's left are the tricky ones that need more detail. I don't see it as showing off, I see it as putting in the work.
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hannaht912mo ago
Yeah, I see that same performative energy everywhere now, even in my dog park chats.
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emma_hart1d ago
Oh, the dog park chats comment got me. My local neighborhood group went through the same thing. What actually helped for us was just setting up a simple shared document with all the basic info like vet recommendations and walking routes. That way when someone asks a simple question again, we can just point to the doc instead of typing out a whole essay every time. It cut down on the showing off a ton.
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