01-21-04 @ 11:07 am EST

Why is it that every time I seek information on a particular subject, and offer to outline the exact situation once I'm certain I'm asking in the right place, I am brushed off with something like "Learn more yourself" or "Look inside yourself" or "Find out on your own" or some such? Twice so far I have sought some particular insight on a certain matter, in different locations, and the "answers" I've gotten have amounted to little more than this. "Find your own answers."

Excuse me, but if I COULD find the answers myself, I wouldn't be wasting mine or anyone else's time by asking anyone else. I KNOW what I already know, I know where to look for information (I asked in the right locations, didn't I?) and didn't find what I wanted, and sometimes, even if we possess everything we need to find the answers for ourselves, we really just want an outsider's perspective on things. Is this so much to ask? Apparently so. I've been pondering this issue for weeks, and still have no clear outsider's opinion.

Remember my old entry on asking for favors? How when you ask for even a little one, more often than not nowadays you're just going to get a bunch of lazy people telling you to resolve it on your own? That entry was in response to my request for some different users on this site to merely click on the print version link on several journal entries in a row just to see if it brought up any errors or not. That was all I wanted. Just a few clicks, so I could determine if the error was on my end or the site's. I had tried it myself, and had no other way to tell if it was my problem alone or not; I NEEDED someone else to help me find out. What was I told? "Maybe you should try again later." "Maybe you should do something else." "Maybe you should just quit doing it."

Nobody, that is, even bothered clicking.

It would have taken them about the SAME amount of time and effort to click on those links as it did for them to post their "replies." Results? None. I still can't use the print version function around here with any success, and I still don't even know if it's my problem alone or a problem with the site. I never will know; rather than seek more information on my own, I have just given up.

Is that what I am expected to do whenever I seek more knowledge, then? Give up? Because nobody is willing to provide their insight, even when politely asked? I thought people JUMPED at the chance to share their knowledge on things, but I guess I was wrong about that too. Everybody just wants to say, "Look for yourself. Nothing I tell you will help. Don't ask me, ask yourself."

I HAVE asked myself. I wouldn't be wasting anyone's time asking THEM if I felt it was useless. Where are all the wisdom-sharers of old? Not on the Net, it seems.

For some reason when I ask for insight on a topic which admittedly has no real right or wrong, I am made to feel like an idiot for even asking. "We can't answer you, only you can." "Learn for yourself." "Trust your own insight." HelLO! Everybody has opinions and insight--I never said I would AGREE with it, I just want to hear it so I know more. I never said I DIDN'T try to learn for myself. (Why else would I be ASKING for insight if I wasn't trying to learn? Doesn't every good student ask questions?) I never even said I didn't trust my own insight. It's just that sometimes, you need a second opinion. And a third, and a fourth--as many as you can get. That's HOW you learn. By seeking knowledge within yourself, AND elsewhere. By asking questions, and looking for answers from others. There's only so much a student can teach THEMSELVES before they need a teacher's help.

But no, every time I ask, I am told to just find out for myself. And do you know what was worst this time? I didn't even get to ask my question. I just stated I HAD one, that I was willing to learn and was looking for information, and...was pretty much brushed off with "Find out for yourself." I didn't even ask the question yet, and was told to look elsewhere!

This severely frustrates me. I'll check back in that place later on to see if anyone else has replied, and if they have not, I am really leaning toward letting this respondent know that I have ALREADY looked inside myself (my longwinded entries in here are proof!)...and now I just want to know what someone BESIDES me thinks. I used to think there was nothing wrong with seeking additional opinions, with expanding your horizons and seeking insight from others...after all, that's what all the more social people have been urging me to do all along...but as with asking for favors, it's really starting to look like I was wrong.

Either that, or everyone is just lazy.

Tar...