Don't Ask to Ask

Every so often someone comes into the inventor discord server and says something along the lines of,

Discord User

Anyone available?

This is bad form, for several reasons. What the user is actually asking here is,

Discord User

Anyone available to commit to helping me with my issue (whatever that may turn out to be) even if it’s not actually related to Inventor or if someone who doesn’t know anything about Inventor could actually answer my question?

There are plenty of reasons why people who DO have the knowledge would not admit to it. You’re asking more than what you think you’re asking.

You’re asking people to take responsibility. You’re questioning people’s confidence in their abilities. You’re also unnecessarily preventing support members from being able to quickly answer your question, instead they must confirm that they are, in fact, available and then try to fish the actual question out.

Alternatively, it can be seen as…

Discord User

I have a question about Inventor, but I’m too lazy to actually formalize it in words unless there’s someone in the server who might be able to answer it

…which is just lazy. If you’re not willing to do the work to solve your problem, why should we?

The solution is to not ask to ask—just to ask. Someone who is idling on the channel and only occasionally glances at what’s going on is unlikely to answer to your “asking to ask” question, but your actual problem description may pique their interest and get them to answer.

So to summarize: Don’t ask “Anyone Available?” but rather ask “How do I [problem] with Inventor and [other relevant info]?”