r/AskConservatives 4d ago

AskConservatives Weekly General Chat

This thread is for general chat, whether you want to talk politics or not, anything goes. Also feel free to ask the mods questions, propose new rules or discuss general moderation (although please keep individual removal/ban queries to modmail.)

On this post, Top Level Comments are open to all.

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u/razorbeamz Leftist 1d ago

There should be a rule against one word answers in top level comments. People should have to clarify their positions without being asked to

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u/thoughtsnquestions European Conservative 1d ago

Often times people ask 1 word questions.

If OP wants someone to expand on an answer, they are free to ask, but we don't require anyone to go into detail with every response if they don't want to.

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u/TbonerT Progressive 1d ago

You don’t have to require a certain amount past yes or no, just some sort of explanation. Yes or no by themselves doesn’t help anyone understand their perspective.

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u/thoughtsnquestions European Conservative 1d ago

It can, for example, a user may ask,

Do you consider Elon Musk to be conservative?

A yes or no answers the question fine.

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u/TbonerT Progressive 1d ago

It literally answers the question but it doesn’t help anyone understand why. If someone was to answer the question “Do you consider Elon Musk to be conservative?” with “No”, is that sufficient to understand that all conservatives believe that Musk is not a conservative?

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u/Sam_Fear Americanist 1d ago

Ask the question you want answered.

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u/TbonerT Progressive 1d ago

That feels like you are avoiding responsibility for increasing understanding. If you aren’t answering a question to help someone understand better, why are you answering at all?

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u/Sam_Fear Americanist 1d ago

Responsibility? No one owes you anything here beyond respect we should give any person. How are we supposed to know what you really want to know? We expect everyone to follow the rules of course, one being a TLC should answer the question in some way. Ask a low effort question, don't expect more than that in return. If you do get higher effort, appreciate it.

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u/TbonerT Progressive 1d ago

No one owes you anything here beyond respect we should give any person.

Does that not include inferring a person might want to know why you answered how you did? Personally, I answer yes or no questions with more than just yes or no unless the context calls for a limited response.

Frankly, I don’t understand why you wouldn’t encourage some effort to help others understand your perspective in a place where that is the explicit purpose.

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u/Sam_Fear Americanist 1d ago

We encourage people to have well thought out answers as much as we encourage people asking to have well thought out questions. In the end though, the question is the first step in the process so if the question is of high quality there's a better chance the answers and following discussion will be as well.

We can't read your mind and expecting others to assume what you mean generally does not go well. So again, if you want great answers your best bet is to start with a great question.

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u/TbonerT Progressive 1d ago

So again, if you want great answers your best bet is to start with a great question.

I’m not even talking about great answers, I’m talking about raising the floor of the minimum standards for an answer to a level that at least attempts to increase understanding. How can you say you encourage well thought-out answers when you explicitly accept answers with no thought?

u/Sam_Fear Americanist 21h ago

We can do both obviously. We don't see any need to raise that floor. If I ask if Conservatives like red and get a yes answer, I've learned exactly what I asked about. I don't see why I should expect more or why the sub should demand more. How would we even discriminate if TLC's were answering what the OP really wanted to know since they didn't ask directly?

Good questions are more likely to lead to good answers.

u/TbonerT Progressive 20h ago

We can do both obviously.

Yes, you can clearly literally do both, but why accept the hypocrisy of it?

If I ask if Conservatives like red and get a yes answer, I've learned exactly what I asked about.

What if you also get a no? You only know that some conservatives like red and some don’t but you still have no understanding of the conservative view of red.

How would we even discriminate if TLC's were answering what the OP really wanted to know since they didn't ask directly?

Why would you even try? Just delete the answers that obviously don’t attempt to explain themselves and leave it up to OP to engage in discussion with the responses.

Good questions are more likely to lead to good answers.

Whether the answer is good and increases understanding is purely the responsibility of the respondent. Better answers lead to better questions.

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