Respondents' consideration of the level of question

Question

I have noticed that the responses, comments and criticisms (down-voting) of many regular users indicate that they are approaching every question as though it were a postgraduate research topic. Questions on basic Newtonian mechanics are invariably dragged into the realm of relativity. Enquiries into the fundamental characteristics of fluid flow are greeted with equations requiring a thorough understanding of calculus. Any discussion of light or waves is necessarily treated with quantum mechanics.

What is equally concerning, and undoubtedly frustrating for the original posters in these instances, is that the respondents' answers are subsequently up-voted by other users of similar educational level. The more highly educated users are naturally the more frequent ones, so their responses are consequently deemed to be the best answers in each case, but this is clearly incorrect if we value the question of the original poster.

It is not surprising to me, then, that there would appear to be disproportionately little participation from lower level users. I suspect that many arrive and leave in frustration, if not humiliation.

Any presenter, teacher, communicator should always assess his or her audience before formulating an explanation. If the concepts being presented by the original poster are introductory or fundamental, we should respond accordingly. If the original poster is clearly at school or undergraduate level, our response should be congruous with the materials covered at those levels. There is ample opportunity to discuss higher level themes related to the same topic in another post. If a post is not pitched at a level that interests us, it is our prerogative not respond.

I do not mean to suggest that there is no value in introducing more advanced topics related to a post - sometimes it is warranted - but rather that those themes should not be presented as our primary responses. Nor should we up-vote a response as such. We should take care to consider and address each question at its level and context. To use a teaching term, our responses should be learner focused.

Perhaps it is a consequence of its game format, but it would appear that too many of us treat this forum as nothing more than a competition and an opportunity to showcase our brilliance. It is hard to avoid the perception of academic arrogance amongst some of us. But this is not productive, it is not erudite, and it is not positive for the field of physics. First and foremost, we should agree to respect each member of our community by addressing their needs.

Answer 1

One of the interesting feature of Stack Exchange is that answers (and questions) are intended to have a life after the original asker is satisfied and goes their own way. We're building an archive of well-answered, high-quality questions here so having each question answered at a variety of levels is purely a good thing.

Answer 2

I am with knzhou in asking you to provide concrete examples. Although, I appreciate your reluctance to be seen to criticise other users.

I think you are right that there is a tendency in some cases to provide excessively technical Answers. I think the motivation is that Questions (and Answers) are expected to be of benefit not only to the person posting the question but also to the broader community. There is also an innate tendency in our profession to generalise. But this sometimes conflicts with the questioner's need for a simple, specific answer pitched at his/her level.

However, again like knzhou, I don't have the impression that this is widespread or a problem for the question-poster. Regardless of how many up-votes a technical Answer gets, the OP's choice is what really counts as Best Answer to the Question actually posted. And I have seen a few embarrassing comments like "Fine, but can you explain what this means - I'm only in Grade 12."

I too notice quite a lot of abandoned questions, but not because of getting a technical response. Instead, when challenged to "show your attempt" to a bare question. To me this shows the questioner is ill-motivated, and I feel no remorse if my comment and down-vote has discouraged posting further questions.

In the same vein, I come across too many instances of what knzhou cites - lay questions about popular science topics well above the OP's ability to understand, often rather fanciful "What would happen if...?" questions. Suggesting that the OP come back after learning some basic physics may seem rude but is entirely in line with the purpose of this site : to help serious students and researchers become better physicists, not to answer every idle question about physics which anyone can possibly think of.