I Do not KNOW what you KNOW

I Do not KNOW what you KNOW

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Posted by: Nalora.7964

Nalora.7964

This post will probably be locked, or deleted or incur me an infraction, but I had to get this off my chest.

I am a helpful person. If you ask a question in map chat, and I can answer it, I will, and I will go out of my way to help you, even by doing the busy work of doing a /wiki to make sure the information I give you is correct. I do this especially if I am in an area that is populated by people who could be new to the game, i.e., a starter area or Lion’s Arch.

Today someone mentioned something about the AOE pick up in map chat and I had previously read the bug forum about it, and after the developer clarification in the thread, was able to get mine working correctly. So I answered the questioner with the information I had found out from the forums, and what had worked for me.

Unfortunately the questioner was one of those people who is never satisfied with any answer, and is really just wanting to gripe. To one of my answers (Not to spam the designated key bind button on the new AOE pickup) they said: I KNOW. And I replied “I do not know what you know, I do not read minds, unfortunately.” I realize that sounds mean, but the “I KNOW” statement is kind of a pet peeve of mine. I hear people say this when someone is trying to help by giving information, and it is really quite silly and in the end, transparently childish. “Don’t make me look stupid!” is what is actually being said.

There is no way for someone helping you in game to know your level of knowledge or expertise and to anticipate beforehand what you do and do not know about a subject you have asked a question about, and to edit their responses so that you do not FEEL stupid. (Your feelings are entirely your own, and although I am polite and friendly in game, and go out of my way to help, I cannot also make it so that everything I say is pleasant to YOUR particular ears.)

Personally, I do not think people who ask questions are stupid, in fact quite the opposite, most of the really intelligent people I know, are those who have asked questions all their lives and gotten many answered. It is these same people with the answers that I go to when I have a question! Of course you do not know this about me, either. You may just assume I am another jerk in a video game.

So as I whispered to the guy an apology if he thought I was being blunt or rude, he blocked me. He may have even reported me. So I took a screen shot of the entire conversation. Just in case. (There was nothing that I said that I believe could be construed by Anet as anything other than helpful, but my paranoia lies deep…)

But I still maintain: No one can KNOW what you KNOW unless they are a mind reader, or have known you a long long long time….and not 3 minutes of chat in a video game.

And Anet, if he reported me, I do have screen shots of the conversation. What he said to me in a whisper, I could have reported HIM for.

DEMAND Bunny Slippers and a bathrobe!

(edited by Nalora.7964)

I Do not KNOW what you KNOW

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Posted by: CureForLiving.5360

CureForLiving.5360

I don’t think using a mildly harsh tone with someone is sufficient to get you kicked off the proverbial boat, if it was I’d be rather damp. Nor do I think it really merits a long and detailed post in which you attempt to justify and validate your actions and feelings.

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Posted by: Electro.4173

Electro.4173

It happens. Some people will take any sort of advice that seems simplistic and “obvious” as an insult to their intelligence. I’ve actually had someone go on a long-winded 3-paragraph rant about how I was assuming he was a moron and acting “superior” to him just because he was having a problem and I presented him with a few of the common causes that other people have overlooked in the past that can create that problem. Mind you, that wasn’t for GW2, rather for another game, but still.

Just shrug it off and go on helping people as usual.

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Posted by: ShiningSquirrel.3751

ShiningSquirrel.3751

One of my duties is manning the support help desk where I work.
Welcome to my world.
If you try to speak to them as if they have some knowledge, half of what you say will go right over their head, speak in more simplistic tones assuming they do not know what to do, and they feel you are treating them as a child. It’s a no win situation.

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Posted by: Tolmos.8395

Tolmos.8395

This post will probably be locked, or deleted or incur me an infraction, but I had to get this off my chest.

I am a helpful person. If you ask a question in map chat, and I can answer it, I will, and I will go out of my way to help you, even by doing the busy work of doing a /wiki to make sure the information I give you is correct. I do this especially if I am in an area that is populated by people who could be new to the game, i.e., a starter area or Lion’s Arch.

Today someone mentioned something about the AOE pick up in map chat and I had previously read the bug forum about it, and after the developer clarification in the thread, was able to get mine working correctly. So I answered the questioner with the information I had found out from the forums, and what had worked for me.

Unfortunately the questioner was one of those people who is never satisfied with any answer, and is really just wanting to gripe. To one of my answers (Not to spam the designated key bind button on the new AOE pickup) they said: I KNOW. And I replied “I do not know what you know, I do not read minds, unfortunately.” I realize that sounds mean, but the “I KNOW” statement is kind of a pet peeve of mine. I hear people say this when someone is trying to help by giving information, and it is really quite silly and in the end, transparently childish. “Don’t make me look stupid!” is what is actually being said.

There is no way for someone helping you in game to know your level of knowledge or expertise and to anticipate beforehand what you do and do not know about a subject you have asked a question about, and to edit their responses so that you do not FEEL stupid. (Your feelings are entirely your own, and although I am polite and friendly in game, and go out of my way to help, I cannot also make it so that everything I say is pleasant to YOUR particular ears.)

Personally, I do not think people who ask questions are stupid, in fact quite the opposite, most of the really intelligent people I know, are those who have asked questions all their lives and gotten many answered. It is these same people with the answers that I go to when I have a question! Of course you do not know this about me, either. You may just assume I am another jerk in a video game.

So as I whispered to the guy an apology if he thought I was being blunt or rude, he blocked me. He may have even reported me. So I took a screen shot of the entire conversation. Just in case. (There was nothing that I said that I believe could be construed by Anet as anything other than helpful, but my paranoia lies deep…)

But I still maintain: No one can KNOW what you KNOW unless they are a mind reader, or have known you a long long long time….and not 3 minutes of chat in a video game.

And Anet, if he reported me, I do have screen shots of the conversation. What he said to me in a whisper, I could have reported HIM for.

As someone who works in IT, I’ve been trying to tell people this for years.

If you do not work in computers, I don’t expect you to know as much about them as I do. I deal with them all day at work, and most nights I go home and play with them all night at home. They are my hobby and my profession. If I don’t know more than someone who doesn’t use them nearly that much, then what in the world is the point of me? lol

So, that said, when I explain something computer related to a non-IT person, I do it on a relatively high level explanation- keep it simple, stupid sort of thing. The reason is that I don’t know how much knowledge you have. You may be surprised at how little some people can know, even down to basic tasks like browsing the net. So rather than make the assumption that you know something, only to find out that you don’t later and half my explanation was wasted, I’ll start from the highest level and work my way down.

I explain computers to people the way I would expect a car mechanic to explain an engine to me.

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Posted by: Baladir.2736

Baladir.2736

It’s amazing to me how two words, “I know”, can be taken in only the way the OP describes. I can think of dozens of states of mind one can convey to another thru intonation and expression using just those two words. So, how can one attruibute one of those to another based on map chat. No amount of cap lock etiquette and emoticons can simulate true communication, if someone is even aware that is neccessary.

They can convey a simple acknowledgement, a frustration with ones self, a frustration with another. They can be used to end a point in a conversation that has been repeated too often, used to affirm anothers expression of understanding of what we just said, and the list goes on.

I never realized it could also mean, ’Don’t make me feel stupid.", but I’ll buy that for the sake of argument. That could be accomplished by the way the information was transmitted and or received yet still have different meanings than the OP describes. Such as a parent talking down to a child and emphasizing the same point over and over over again and the child wanting to put an end to the conversion. Or, conversely, an adult feeling that they were being talked to as a child and putting, similarly, an end to the conversation. But the conversation did not end, and the OP was blocked. One possible senario anyway. We have no way of knowing.

I Do not KNOW what you KNOW

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Posted by: Eladriel.7295

Eladriel.7295

This post will probably be locked, or deleted or incur me an infraction, but I had to get this off my chest.

I am a helpful person. If you ask a question in map chat, and I can answer it, I will, and I will go out of my way to help you, even by doing the busy work of doing a /wiki to make sure the information I give you is correct. I do this especially if I am in an area that is populated by people who could be new to the game, i.e., a starter area or Lion’s Arch.

Today someone mentioned something about the AOE pick up in map chat and I had previously read the bug forum about it, and after the developer clarification in the thread, was able to get mine working correctly. So I answered the questioner with the information I had found out from the forums, and what had worked for me.

Unfortunately the questioner was one of those people who is never satisfied with any answer, and is really just wanting to gripe. To one of my answers (Not to spam the designated key bind button on the new AOE pickup) they said: I KNOW. And I replied “I do not know what you know, I do not read minds, unfortunately.” I realize that sounds mean, but the “I KNOW” statement is kind of a pet peeve of mine. I hear people say this when someone is trying to help by giving information, and it is really quite silly and in the end, transparently childish. “Don’t make me look stupid!” is what is actually being said.

There is no way for someone helping you in game to know your level of knowledge or expertise and to anticipate beforehand what you do and do not know about a subject you have asked a question about, and to edit their responses so that you do not FEEL stupid. (Your feelings are entirely your own, and although I am polite and friendly in game, and go out of my way to help, I cannot also make it so that everything I say is pleasant to YOUR particular ears.)

Personally, I do not think people who ask questions are stupid, in fact quite the opposite, most of the really intelligent people I know, are those who have asked questions all their lives and gotten many answered. It is these same people with the answers that I go to when I have a question! Of course you do not know this about me, either. You may just assume I am another jerk in a video game.

So as I whispered to the guy an apology if he thought I was being blunt or rude, he blocked me. He may have even reported me. So I took a screen shot of the entire conversation. Just in case. (There was nothing that I said that I believe could be construed by Anet as anything other than helpful, but my paranoia lies deep…)

But I still maintain: No one can KNOW what you KNOW unless they are a mind reader, or have known you a long long long time….and not 3 minutes of chat in a video game.

And Anet, if he reported me, I do have screen shots of the conversation. What he said to me in a whisper, I could have reported HIM for.

Sadly, some people just can’t be helped and usually don’t even deserve the help or the time you wasted giving it after learning what a sorry person he/she was.. But sadly we’ll never know that til you tired helping them. Players like him/her make players like you and I unwilling to help out in the future. It’s really sad to see how helpful you are to be treated so harshly. I really doubt anet will ban you over someone being a jerk. Try not to let it get you down. I like the title to your post by the way. You’ll be surprised on how many people I have met in my lifetime who expect you to read their mind.

Together we stand in the face of evil!

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Posted by: zenleto.6179

zenleto.6179

OP, sounds like someone you don’t want to have dealings with anyway. No great loss to you in the long run. He’ll probably ragequit in a few days anyway because he doesn’t know how to play the game.

Fire up the Hyperbowl ma, we’re going to town!

Would you like some hard cheeze with your sad whine?

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Posted by: SpyderBite.6274

SpyderBite.6274

I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that the OP just needed to vent or was trolling.

Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock.

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Posted by: tolunart.2095

tolunart.2095

When you’re trying to troubleshoot something, especially going into it blind, without any knowledge of what has already been tried, it’s common to start with the most basic problems and work your way up from there. You’ve probably heard some variation of the story about the tech support guy who spends half an hour trying to help someone figure out why the monitor won’t work before finding out the customer hasn’t plugged it in.

On the other side, someone who has already been trying to fix a problem before you came along is frustrated and short-tempered already, and doesn’t want to hear the simple stuff he’s already tried, but is too impatient to go over everything he’s done. So you often get attitudes like this. Just ignore this, and if they keep up the attitude move on.

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Posted by: IndigoSundown.5419

IndigoSundown.5419

Hadn’t thought about it this way, but I realize my rule of thumb is that if I cannot answer a random stranger’s question in one short line, I don’t respond. Chances are the person might not have the patience for a long explanation, or that I will screw up a long explanation by making assumptions about what they know, or that my growing up in an age before texting means that my typing-while-playing skills will make my response time for a long answer glacial.

Anyway, OP, I hope venting your frustration worked.