How to help programmers who don't understand geomatics?

Question

I'm getting frustrated. I see many questions like this one from someone who appears to

• be a programmer (and thus presumably quite technically able)
• know enough "to be dangerous" (in this case he knows about affine and polynomial transformations)
• know nothing about (or doesn't appear to wish to discuss) map projections (the real issue in this case)

and thus asks the wrong question or a very confusing one. We all want to help but it is often very difficult to get to the real issue. We can dance around the exact question asked, slowly teasing out extra information to help us answer the real problem, but this is a lot of work. Not wishing to come across as unfriendly or unaccommodating, do either of these sound like the beginnings of a reasonable standard comment?

• You appear not to know enough about GIS to ask a clear question. We suggest you study more about geodesy/cartography/GIS [insert appropriate topic] before re-wording the question.

• You appear not to know enough about GIS to ask a clear question. We suggest you consult someone expert in geodesy/cartography/GIS [insert appropriate topic] before re-wording the question.

Maybe we already have such a mechanism within our flagging/closing system?

Maybe the situation doesn't bother anyone else?

Answer 1

This situation can be problematic but the proposed comments could backfire for the simple reason that they attack the person asking the question rather than addressing the question itself. That would be viewed by many as being unaccommodating and less than friendly. I think we can do better.

You are correct that engaging the OP ("original poster") and ferreting out the real question they need to ask can take effort, time, and patience, as well as a good listening attitude and genuine knowledge of the subject. But it can be done: a very large number of the posts on the stats site are of this nature, for instance, because it seems many people who post a statistics question know nothing about stats :-). Maybe we should take the appearance on our site of smart people who are otherwise uninformed about GIS as evidence of the increased perception that GIS is a field with worthwhile techniques to offer.

When the OP appears recalcitrant, uninformed, or lacks understanding, then it can help to direct them to useful resources, including related threads on our site. But please, continue to refrain from calling out their apparent lack of knowledge in public. Be as tactful as you can about your recommendations.

If, despite your best efforts to help improve a question, it remains too vague, broad, or unintelligible to be answered, then vote to close it: but first give the OP a chance to learn from you and change the question themselves.

Answer 2

I'm probably an example of the kind of programmer without a real GIS background that asks questions here. I try to be sensitive to the community, but it can be quite hard to even phrase a sensible a question without knowing the right concepts - and they're hard to google. A response like "go away and learn some geomatics" is obviously not helpful.

The kinds of responses that people in my situation probably do value:

• "The concepts you're looking for are X and Y. Here's a site explaining X and Y."
• "It sounds like the issue you're having is to do with Z. Here's a couple of questions related to Z - do any of those help?"
• "What are you actually trying to achieve at the end of all this? Are you just trying to Z? The easiest way to do that these days is ..."

Or even: * "In order for us to help you, it would be really good if you could read this FAQ and express your question in terms of the concepts listed there."

Obviously I (and presumably others without a GIS background) don't want to frustrate the community here or try wear out its patience. What can we do in return to help make gis.stackexchange awesome?