Is "Don't do it" a valid answer?

Question

If someone asks how to do XYZ, and you think doing XYZ at all is a Bad Idea™, is it valid to post an answer saying so? You aren't answering the question, but instead, arguing the question's validity. You could do this in a comment, but I don't think comments carry enough weight on occasion.

For example, I came across this today SO1176239; for those not wanting to link away:

I would like to build a wiki based website about professors, so that students can share information and check the reputation of the professor before working for him.

and I really wanted to post an answer that said, "I think this is a very bad idea". (In fact I did anyway, despite awareness that it could get myself flamed.)

Was I wrong? What should I have done instead?

Answer 1

I think it's a valid answer, provided that you explain why the OP shouldn't do it (which you did in the question you gave as an example). But I would consider also to answer the actual question, too. As in "Don't do it because of A, B and C. But if you decide to do it anyway, I would follow this approach:..."

I have recieved one or two Don't do it answers on my questions, and I find it very helpful to question my own decisions on how to approach a problem. (It also bruises my ego a tiny bit, but that is outweighted by the benefits).

Answer 2

"Don't do it" is not a useful answer to a question of "How do I do XYZ?", unless it is embedded into a section of your response.

I usually break down my "don't do that" responses like this:

• To answer the question
• Why you should not do it that way

In the past, I was working a personal project just to explore some ideas/concepts. I asked "How do I do X in Y situation?" and received dozens of "Don't Do It!!!!" responses, which then got upvoted (downvoted by me), only one poster actually answered my question.

In my case, I specifically stated that I knew it wasn't best practices, I was just trying to explore. Therefore, the flurry of "Don't Do It!" responses were incredibly unhelpful.

So, because this is a technical Q & A site, you should answer the questions as best you can, to tell the OP "Here's how you do that" or "Here's how you would accomplish that task" maybe with a different approach. THEN, only after you've answered the actual question, should you explain why it is not a good idea. Otherwise, you're just scolding people.

EDIT

In response to RSolbergs comment: "It's acceptable if you are answering "Is it okay to do this?""

If someone is asking "is it okay to do this" then yes, you can say "no" as long as you are backing your answer up. That is not the situation I was referring to. In that situation, it doesn't make sense to have a policy that forbids 50% of the answers.

I'm talking about the situation where someone asks "How do I do XYZ?", if you say "Don't do XYZ" you are literally NOT ANSWERING THE QUESTION!

An analogy. If someone yells at you, "Hey, how do I get out if I'm trapped in a well?" and you yell back "Don't Fall In!"

You can then chuckle at how clever you are, and walk away while that person drowns.

EDIT

In response to Shog9 mention of things which should just not be done.

See "Questions with Nefarious Intent".

Stack Overflow is a technical Q & A site. It is not supposed to be the place for the high and mighty to make judgments on the others. If you feel uncomfortable with the question being asked, then you should not answer it.

I had a discussion with a colleague about whether or not it is possible to create a web page which could access the printer directly and print something. He said it was not, I insisted that it was possible. In a million years, neither of us would ever use this on a production app, it would be DISASTROUS. But, the technical question was intruiging to me, so I put it forth to Stack Overflow. I mentioned that I would obviously never do this, and I still recieved "Don't Do It!" responses. Which were, as I've mentioned over and over, completely useless.

For questions that are concerned with limits of technology, and the possibility of creating some functionality when under severe restraints, I would go to Stack Overflow, because the people there are millions of times smarter than I am. However, once I've laid out the technical question, I am looking for a technical answer, not for someone to preach to me.

I don't mind if someone says "This is a bad idea, I would do this instead, but here is an answer to your question" That is fine, because they have still provided an answer. However, if all they can say is "Don't do that" then I'm exactly where I started.

Technical questions deserve technical answers, and Don't do it does not answer the technical question.

Answer 3

It seems to me that there are gradations to this.

There are cases where the poster is trying to do something he or she really shouldn't, whether illegal or immoral or thoroughly unwise. I tend to mention this in an answer, along with any helpful technical information.

There are cases where the poster is trying to do something impossible, and in that case I usually explain why it's impossible, and often make a guess as to what the poster is trying to accomplish so I can offer suggestions.

There are cases where the poster is asking how to use a tool in a screwy manner (wanting reserved checkouts on SVN, for example), and in that case I explain why this is a bad idea and (if possible) how to do it.

An answer that's just "Don't do that!" is useless, unless the poster is asking whether it's OK, in which case it's just mostly useless. It should always be accompanied by reasons. An answer that doesn't respect the poster is also pretty much useless (just downvote the question and leave if you feel that way). However, an answer that tells the poster how to do something stupid, just to strictly answer the poster's question, is worse than useless.

Answer 4

It depends on the context.

A considered response to a question that is asking for help to something that could be hazardous or illegal (and the latter is a minefield because of the global nature of the forum) would seem helpful to me. A comment should suffice in many cases but an answer may be appropriate on occasions to make the point more clearly or to layout supporting materials and references. More rarely, flagging the post may be appropriate if it is clearly a very bad thing that is proposed.

On the other hand an answer of 'You'd be better off buying a MAC' to a question that asks how to do something on MS Vista would seem wholly inappropriate (I don't use either of those platforms so can remain neutral on such technical matters).

Answer 5

Generally speaking, if someone asks how to do something and you think it's a bad idea, give them some kind of answer to what they want and then explain why you think it's a bad idea (or just what the downsides are) and how they might do it better.

One should avoid preaching one's views. Your answer and your tone should reflect thoughtfulness and consideration.

Answer 6

Personally, my most common experience with this is dynamic SQL vs query parameters. If you see someone using dynamic SQL in their question, it's definitely appropriate to assume they don't have a good reason until they tell you otherwise. You may have a different experience, but I at least am not going to let an obvious security issue go unchallenged.

Now, I recognize that not all instances of this issue rise to the level of security problems. For less severe problems it might be better to just let it slide. But even here, I feel that even if the OP knows what they're doing, someone else who reads the question later might not, and it's important to have a well-voted post with the question mentioning that something may not be appropriate most of the time.

Answer 7

I think that in general it is not okay¹, here's why:

People searching for the same problem in future will find the question -- but it won't have any useful answers. They might have subtly different circumstances that make the "don't do it" answers incorrect, but if they try to open a new question then it would likely be closed as a duplicate.

Would the Right thing to do in those circumstances be to edit the original question to make it more general, and add a bounty?

If people have to describe the minutiae of circumstance justifying their questions then it could easily make them much longer, harder to read, and less general.

¹_{At least, not without also providing the desired answer}

Answer 8

You can net over 2600 votes that way. The <center> cannot hold it is too late.

Answer 9

YES. If it answers the question. May also give a suggestion on what to do!

Some may say "Dont do it" to this post, oh well.

Answer 10

As my previous, deleted answer to the current question clearly illustrates, "Don't do it, it's a bad idea." by itself certainly isn't a valid answer, and will be deleted immediately. This would indicate that the current community consensus is NO, its not a valid answer.

A complete and/or well-crafted answer will make clear whether or not something is a bad idea. Adding "don't do it" to such an answer would not only be superfluous, but also condescending as it assumes the question asker could not make up his own mind even when spoon fed all the relevant information.

Even with support, as How to disable kill command on Linux illustrates, the community appears to concur with the opinion that it just isn't a good answer. An answer to that question is cited as supporting the validity of "don't do it" as an answer, yet neither the accepted answer nor the highest voted answer to the question actually say "don't do it". They have also been voted up (collectively) 15 times for each vote an on the answer which actually does. Furthermore, it is an incomplete answer, as it does not directly answer the question at all.

"Don't do it, it's a bad idea" is not a valid answer. It is, at best, a superfluous component of a possibly otherwise good answer.

Answer 11

Late answer, but pure logic tells, that given question pairs only with given TYPE of answer:

• would you...? --> yes/no
• is it...? --> yes/no
• how/why...? --> explanation

So answering your question:

I really wanted to post an answer that said "I think this is a very bad idea". Was I wrong?

• No, if the question was "is this a bad idea?"
• Yes, if the question was "how to do this?"

In the latter case, your "it is a bad idea" is technically not a answer at all, so you wouldn't be posting any answer just your thought.

Answer 12

No. It is nearly never a valid answer, not even for questions like

How can I do <...surreal, meaningless, harmful crap...>?

The reason is, that if a question asks for some bad thing, then a valid answer explains, how can the OP do that bad thing.

What they name the so-named "XY problem". The real cause of the so-named "XY problem" that sometimes our community wants to answer a different question and they enforce the OP to ask that question.

The correct behavior in this case:

1. Explain to the OP, how can he do the crap what he wants, if it is possible.
2. If it is impossible, then explain to the OP, why it is.
3. Explain the OP, what will be the disadvantages.
4. Optionally, you can explain to the OP, what would be the correct or better solutions to his problem.

The so-named "XY problem" and the "don't do it" answers are resulted by that the community wants to say only (4), instead of (1)-(3), extending it optionally with (4).