There are people that make their skills very clear, and I have a lot of time for people seeking honest help, but honestly, after some years here, you become pretty good at spotting yet another routine question being asked. That’s when many give the RTFM answer.
The issue comes in when a new person from the outset critises anything that doesn’t work the way they assumed (because they couldn’t be bothered) and punt their incredible expertise and skills in other or related domains.
In other cases, simple questions are asked, and they get simple answers, only to reject the answer and changing the requirement.
These are the behaviours that makes it very tedious to help.
What often goes with this is a question to the OP to explain why that solution would be less than ideal for them. It’s not always to say it’s the most optimal solution, but it’s at least something. Often (if it’s an FR), you may wait forever to see it implemented (unless you dive in yourself, if possible, which is something many don’t want to hear either), so having something in the meantime is in my view more useful than nothing.
Amazing reponse here by Petro – all of it, even though I’m not quoting it all.
I just want to add that How to help us help you - or How to ask a good question has existed for a long time, but more recently How to help us help them - or How to give a good answer has been added too (and the whole creation of the cookbook was a great idea). I think this shows really positive intent.