Pro tip: I had to choose between a deep dive on a single question or a quick answer for the whole thread

Last week, someone posted a complex question about tax implications for freelance income. I could either give a short, general answer to get them started, or write a full guide covering all the possible scenarios. I chose the deep dive. It took me about two hours to write, pulling in specific IRS publication numbers and example calculations. The poster was grateful, but the thread itself died because no one else felt they could add anything after that wall of text. My answer was technically right, but it killed the discussion. I think I should have just given the basics and let others jump in. Has anyone else found that giving too complete an answer can actually hurt the 'ask anything' vibe?

2 comments

2 Comments

rayc384d ago

I get what reese_singh87 is saying about helping the person who asked, but the vibe thing is real. A buddy of mine wrote a super detailed guide on fixing a common car issue, and it was so complete that the whole forum thread just stopped. People would find it later through search, but that live chat where folks share their own quick fixes totally died. Sometimes leaving a little room for others to share their two cents keeps the place feeling alive.

reese_singh874d ago

Honestly, you're overthinking it. A good answer is a good answer. So the thread died. Most threads die anyway. That person got the help they needed, which is the whole point. You didn't hurt anything.