>> You could refuse to answer Alec until it seems like he’s acting like his own boss.
Alternative suggestion: do not make your help conditional on Alec’s ability to phrase his questions exactly the right way or follow some secret rule he’s not aware of.
Just figure out what information is useful for newcomers, and share it. Explain what kinds of help and support are available and explain the limits of your own knowledge. The third answer gets this right.
The third answer gets it wrong if Alec takes it as an order as opposed to potentially useful information.
>Just figure out what information is useful for newcomers, and share it.
Yes, but this only makes sense if your statements are taken as information. If they aren’t, then the useful information is the fact that your statements aren’t being taken as information.
>> You could refuse to answer Alec until it seems like he’s acting like his own boss.
Alternative suggestion: do not make your help conditional on Alec’s ability to phrase his questions exactly the right way or follow some secret rule he’s not aware of.
Just figure out what information is useful for newcomers, and share it. Explain what kinds of help and support are available and explain the limits of your own knowledge. The third answer gets this right.
> secret rule
It shouldn’t be secret.
The third answer gets it wrong if Alec takes it as an order as opposed to potentially useful information.
>Just figure out what information is useful for newcomers, and share it.
Yes, but this only makes sense if your statements are taken as information. If they aren’t, then the useful information is the fact that your statements aren’t being taken as information.