I used to think that There are no dumb SEO questions, just questions. No More.

Maddox Cohen: I think there are loads every day

Daniella Yates: Its not smart to feel smarter. Knowing more than another about random things is inevitable, not a big deal.

Danna Oliver: Ive come to the conclusion that they arent dumb questions, just lazy people who want to be spoon fed rather than take a few minutes to do a little research on their own. Its why I left the forums.

Luke Briggs: ^ That!!!

Maddox Cohen: Exactly

Giselle Lewis: In my books, being too lazy is the same as being dumb 😛 I help a tonne of people on several forums regularly. However some of the questions lately are verging on the insane. The time taken to help someone asking a question that could bee solved if they could be bothered versus helping genuine people is a zero sum game.

Daniella Yates: If you dont know what you dont know, where to start? I think some of the questions asked here are an accolade for us all. An indication that here is an environment that people feel safe in.

Danna Oliver: Nope, just lazy people. If lmgtfy solves the question 100% of the time for a specific question, that person is lazy.

Daniella Yates: Whats the alternative, Steve? Push them to Warrior Forum? …or send them to one of the Google forums where theyll be lied to if their issue is out of policy?

Danna Oliver: The alternative is to not answer lazy questions from lazy people with answers but to point them to where they can find it for themselves. We did that when I was a mod at WPW and a few other places. You got one chance. When you asked the second lazy question, or demanded that people answer your first lazy question you were simply banned and never missed.

Daniella Yates: Not sure if I have a complete grasp but, now that you are a moderator, you can demonstrate the process. 🙂

Aviana Franklin: There are techniques and sometimes the response depends on how the question is asked. If someone shows theyve done some work and made an effort and are stuck, people are more likely to assist. There is zero tolerance in most places for the instances where someone is employed in the work and clearly has no clue and comes to forums to get the answers.

Danna Oliver: Exactly. When their website claims that they are experts but they come to the forums asking dead basic questions for help with a client site, I tend to get a little perturbed.

Ashley Barnett: im so torn… I agree with every comment above… and yes, I know… they all are contrary to each other.I guess it comes down to my personal norms… I want to help, but I also think back to the days when I (and many who have posted above) started in the game of search and the way to learn was by doing… trying… and failing often until the failing lessened and the winning started.With that said I am also pissed off that basics such as actually knowing how to construct some basic HTML seem to have gone the way of the dodo!I guess when all is said and done, Im just a grumpy old SEO man!

Nora Medina: I think the key lies in the definition of help…To me, help means I put forth less than half the effort (sometimes considerably less)… if the person asking for assistance isnt willing to put forth at LEAST 51% of the effort, then they can look elsewhere!

Ashley Barnett: ^^^^ This

Daniella Yates: Grumpy is valid. I am only more humble because I remember so much to be humble about. 🙂

Ashley Barnett: I may get to humble in time… I know I am becoming more so, as I get older, but at the moment…. Im still mostly at grumpy old man 🙂

Aviana Franklin: Cre8asiteforums.com

Aviana Franklin: It is not easy handling the lazy ones. It used to be our motto there. Today there is far less patience for those who come to forums looking for instruction on how to do their jobs. At Cre8, I created a private forum called LABS, out of sight of search …See more

Lainey Abbott: After five years of Answering Dumb SEO question, I personally feel we have helped thousands of confused people, not lazy people.We are not here placing ourselves as a support forum for SEOs but rather for ordinary people / businesses trying to find their way with so much shit information out there online.Most of our users are trying to run their business and squeeze in another hour into 24 to understand the online world. I think we would be the lazy dicks who then said to them, go and read this, read that etc etc.So to all our fans, viewers. Throw those Dumb SEO Questions at us!

Ember Reeves: Help when you can. Dont, when you cant feel it. Everybody gets grumpy sometimes, and sometimes youre insanely generous. Its a good thing there are enough of you (us) to go around.

Julie Weaver: Getting asked silly questions isnt just in the realms of SEO, as a heating engineer they fill my daily life.If everybody knew what I knew though I wouldnt be relevant or needed 😊

Emerson Perry: As a former forum administrator, I answered a lot of dumb SEO questions, often the same ones over and over, and over again.The following document is by an open source software advocate (or, a hacker), and it is somewhat facetious, but worth reading:How To Ask Questions The Smart Way Catb.org

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
catb.org