Are some bad practices within answers acceptable? Specifically SELECT *

Question

We know that in production code SELECT * is bad.

However, I will often write SELECT * in my SQL answers when

• The OP failed to include their SQL (so I've got nothing to copy and paste)
• The OP's question is really answered with the JOIN or WHERE
• There's no syntax in my answer like GROUP BY that SELECT * can easily conflict with. [A]

Recently someone thought an answer of mine would be improved if I removed the SELECT *. Obviously, I think it is acceptable to answer with SELECT * but I can't say why.

_{[A] I'm pretending that MySQL and its treatment of GROUP BY don't exist}

Answer 1

Just change it to

SELECT [your fields here] FROM

Or remind the OP to replace the asterisk with actual fields.

Answer 2

Bad practices are OK as long as you note that they are bad practices. If you say something like "I'm doing this because it's shorter/unimportant/a placeholder", then it is clear to anyone reading your answer that they shouldn't copy that code directly into their finished product. However, if you don't have a disclaimer of some sort, an inexperienced programmer may believe that it is OK to use your code as-is, which could lead to future problems and them citing your answer as to why they thought it should work.

Answer 3

I generally leave some kind of "please don't be as lazy as me" note at my own answers every time I use SELECT *, empty catch blocks and any other kind of dangerous stuff :D. This generally avoids both bad practices dissemination and "please don't do that" comments.