Absurdist humour in comments

Question

I have a very vague memory of a discussion about comments with links to pages of http://idownvotedbecau.se . It might not even have been about U&L; currently that site appears to only refer to Stack Overflow. My vague memory is that valid criticisms were raised about how this was being used, and the text of those pages at the time.

Relatedly, I have an opinion about a link that I've seen used a couple of times here. I'd like to suggest that starting an otherwise constructive comment with

Put down the chocolate covered banana and step away from the European currency systems.

is more confusing than entertaining. It seems unfortunate when the reason it is posted is because the situation is already confusing, and there are communication difficulties :-).

• Is there a way to point out an "XY problem" without a citation title with chocolate covered bananas and European currency systems, which (I assume as part of the joke) sounds completely disconnected from whatever the question was?
• Is it preferable to do so?
• Is it reasonable to ask that it be done?

(and if so, can we persuade JdeBP of this?)

Answer 1

Is there a way to point out an "XY problem" without a citation title with [bananas etc.]

Sure. One could say, for example: "What are you trying to achieve in the end? Are you sure that this is the best way to do it? I'm asking because this seems like an XY question." or something to that effect.

Here's a sample comment text you can copy and paste when required:

What are you trying to achieve in the end? I'm asking because this seems
like [an XY question](http://mywiki.wooledge.org/XyProblem).

Is it preferable to do so?

Definitely. Even if the linked-to page is sensible, the nonsensical link text does absolutely nothing to transmit the information, or even the point of the subject. It only works to confuse.

Is it reasonable to ask that it be done?

Definitely. See above.

I'd suggest flagging and deleting such comments. There's no distinct flag reason for "not useful", so "Something else" may need to be used. To be honest, a comment like that is even borderline unkind, in my opinion.

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That said, I'm not entirely opposed to absurdist jokes in general, but they only work when there's no actual information to convey.

Answer 2

The best explanation of the X-Y problem I have seen is the one on the Wooledge Wiki:

The X-Y Problem, as it is sometimes called, is a mental block which leads to enormous amounts of wasted time and energy, both on the part of people asking for help, and on the part of those providing help. It often goes something like this:

• User wants to do X.
• User doesn't know how to do X, but thinks they can fumble their way to a solution if they can just manage to do Y.
• User doesn't know how to do Y either.
• User asks for help with Y.
• Others try to help user with Y, but are confused because Y seems like a strange problem to want to solve.
• After much interaction and wasted time, it finally becomes clear that the user really wants help with X, and that Y wasn't even a suitable solution for X.

The problem occurs when people get their train of thought stuck on one approach and become unable to take a step back. Remaining open to having a new look at the bigger picture, these people might find their way back to X and continue searching for alternative solutions.

This seems a much better explanation to me than the banana one because it is a) more succinct and, b) it avoids attempts at humour which can be lost on non-native speakers or those who are unfamiliar with the puckish tradition in Unix history.