Ok, wow. Drama. That was fun.
I'm gonna have to agree, though, that the writers are pouncing a bit too defensively on this one. ([shields head] Don't hate me! Let's still be friends! No tomatoes!) Perhaps because Board drama is lacking lately?
Though, to be fair, I still don't really understand the basis behind the drama here. So, promise, I'm not trying to provoke anything here, but ahem., could you please help me out here? This is what I understand you meant. Correct me if I'm wrong here. You felt that Espionage asked for details that Hypatia didn't give. Rather, Hypatia saw, "I need to lose weight" and quickly just wrote up a basic Weight Loss 101 plan so that she could mark the answer complete and move on with life, without actually trying to figure out what Espionage was actually asking for. Yes?
Cuz if that's right, I disagree. I could see how you could think that. And I'll be honest, I've definitely asked some questions that when I got the answer back I was disappointed and thought, "Yeah, good enough answer, but it didn't actually answer my question." And maybe that's what Espionage is thinking, too. But we don't know that. Part of being a writer is trying to read the questioners' minds and figure out what they were really trying to ask. And there have been questions that even the writers answering the question disagree on what the reader was actually asking. It's a perspective thing. I often read questions and get something totally different out of it than what the writer answering the question thought they meant.
Ok, maybe Hypatia did miss the mark. I don't know. You'd have to ask Espionage. But I don't think she did it out of laziness. I don't think she didn't fully read the question. I think she read the question completely, then, based on her experience and thus perspective, answered the question how she thought Espionage needed to hear it. She read (from what I understood from her answer), "Person who is overweight and trying to lose weight and after 2 months hasn't is wanting to know how to lose weight." So she answered with the very basic, time tested answer. Consume less calories than you burn. Because, let's be honest, even if it's Weight Loss 101, it's the basic truth. And if you're dieting for two months and haven't lost any weight, then you're breaking that basic rule.
I've been trying to lose baby weight ever since Dragon Baby was born. Let me tell you, my diet is ridiculously healthier. And I haven't lost any weight in months and months. Despite my diet, I haven't lost any weight. Why? Because I don't exercise. I know that's my problem. I could have easily have asked that question (except I'm not 270 lbs. and I don't think I've killed any weight loss trigger). And had I asked that question, Hypatia's answer is exactly what I would have needed to hear. I probably would have been annoyed because, yes, I
already know that. But that doesn't mean I'm living it. To me it sounded like Espionage wanted a magic fix. (Heck, I know I'd love one.) Hypatia knew there wasn't one. So she told her what she thought she needed to hear. (Ack! Pronoun murder!)
On the other hand, you read the question differently. If you had asked the question, you would have been looking for specific tips like cardio vs. stretching. So that's what you were expecting to read in the answer, so you were disappointed. Which is totally understandable! You already know about Weight Loss 101. You want Weight Loss 201. You expected to get WL 201. And then you didn't. And you were like, "Boring! This is just a review! I WANT MORE!" Which is totally fair.
My point is that people's perspectives and knowledge bases are different. Thus, when we read a question we might see something that someone else totally missed. You might interpret it to mean one thing while someone else interprets something completely opposite. (Don't believe me? Look at all the different ways Christians interpret the Bible.) So when Hypatia interpreted it differently than you did, you read it as a cop-out answer where she honestly thought that's what Espionage needed to hear. That doesn't make her a bad writer. That doesn't mean her answer is crap. It simply means she sees the world differently than you do.
I'd suggest in future that if you disagree with an answer because you expected to hear something different, write in another question and say, "I read this answer and felt I already knew that. Could you expound upon that with specific tips and tricks that I should know? What kind of exercises are better for weight loss, for example." Because then the writers can see more specifically what kind of answer you're looking for.
(Though, that's fair, because often readers all get grouped together in writers' minds, too.))
