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Something that got me wondering. I have answered a couple of questions on the sites. At times giving more information to the question than what was asked for. This is also information that is readily available if you use some hardy Google skills.

This has led to a couple of comments where, users has stated that "This is not what was asked" or "To much information". What if the more information enables the OP to make a better decision regarding the question that he had or shows the OP another way of doing something.

Do one give more information or do you stick to the problem at hand?

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  • More is better than less - at least that's what I think... But I don't really see in your answers that much information at all - have you deleted them?
    – Qantas 94 Heavy
    Commented Oct 26, 2013 at 13:15
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    This is also information that is readily available if you use some hardy Google skills. So is the answer to a very large percentage of the questions asked, but users don't bother. The big difference is the quality of answers - here they are judged by peers, whereas on Google they're judged by, well, Google juice or something.
    – Aaron Bertrand Staff
    Commented Oct 26, 2013 at 21:41
  • @AaronBertrand. Google juice...Love that one!!!
    – StBlade
    Commented Oct 27, 2013 at 20:57

3 Answers 3

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You give extra information where it is practical and pertains to the problem. This could be what changes your answer from an okay one into a great one.

This is also information that is readily available if you use some hardy Google skills.

This in itself doesn't matter, what does matter is how your answer is constructed.

users has stated that "This is not what was asked" or "To much information".

I've never had this myself, nor have I seen it. This would make me wonder if you are starting to deviate from the question, so the extra information adds clutter or complexity rather than value. You should also consider whether it's just your style of replying (your "speaking" style) that is turning people off your answers - if you waffle or are not clear then people lose interest very quickly.

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If you feel you need to add extra relevant information to provide the correct context to your answer, do so, by all means.

In the same way, if you think that the OP needs to provide more context, you are advised to ask for more details in a comment.

The key is trying to be great communicators.

Finally, remember that you are answering the OP, but your answer should be useful to a hundred users that will read it coming from a search engine with a similar question. In this sense a bit of generality and context is indeed something we want in the answers.

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As long as it's on topic, more detail is useful. When someone comes searching for a particular answer, the solution is often seen in posts that go into detail.

I believe that each thread should be a collection of answers because there are always more than one way of doing things...just as in coding: there are fast solutions, neat and easy to read solutions and the typical one liner.

There is no such thing as detail, everything is information.

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  • more detail is not always useful. When comparing performance, it is useful to mention the issue of cache misses or branch misprediction. If you decide to explain why this happens, you must delve into the realms of CPU design. Then you might want to explain why accessing an external RAM is slower than accessing an on-chip gate. At this point you touch the subject of the finite speed of light. The detailist school might want to include a description about some experiment proving that, and also touch on the subject of light speed constancy, and thus the galilean transformation.
    – John Dvorak
    Commented Oct 26, 2013 at 15:31
  • Do you think the exact form of the galilean transformation is useful for a person trying to determine why an if-less code is always faster?
    – John Dvorak
    Commented Oct 26, 2013 at 15:31
  • For such cases it's better to include a link with [more information] that points to a relevant page. Nobody wants to read an 20 page essay to a simple question, but some prefer clicking a link to satisfy their curiosity.
    – Arnold
    Commented Oct 26, 2013 at 15:44

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