Is this website assuming you take 5 minutes to type 7 words and that typing “hi” takes the same time?
You’re never just on chat. You’re always doing something else. The constant distraction and context switching is mentally expensive.
Do people type “hi” and then go do something else instead of typing the question?
Yes, that’s exactly what happens and what the page is about. People often type hi, and if they don’t an answer right away, they get distracted with something else. Then I reply hi back, and the same happens again on my side. Maybe the delay is just the 30s each time, maybe is 2 mimutes. Sometimes this cycle repeats again because they ask how I’m doing! And each time I need to interrupt what I’m doing and state at the screen waiting. Instead of just quickly reading and immediately replying. There’s literally no advantage to separate pleasantries in chat.
Same as “don’t ask if you can ask a question, just ask directly”
I had never articulated this before, but this is good.
It’s a very common issue among programming/tech help communities.
Similarly, the XY problem: https://xyproblem.info/
The worst part of the XY problem is that it destroys searchability. If drag googles X and finds a thread where the gurus are answering Y, that’s great for the noob who asked the wrong question, and bad for everyone else. That noob didn’t need X, but someone else will probably need X sooner or later, and now the search results for X are full of Y.
Worse, if someone who needs X asks for X on stackoverflow, it could be closed as a duplicate, despite the fact that all the answers in the original thread are Y. Now it’s impossible to answer X.
