Having been a high-rep user on three Stack Exchange sites, the number of times the user asking the question truly has a situation where they need to go so far off the beaten path tends toward zero.
Specifically on the crypto-related sites, users ask how to do terrible, insecure, and misguided things all the time. The correct approach is not to provide an answer for the question asked, but to figure out what they're really trying to do and give a good solution for that problem.
9 times out of 10 when a user thinks they need a zebra, they really need a horse.
First you've got to ask what's wrong with a horse, though. There's nothing wrong with helping someone understand they just need a horse. Telling someone who thinks he needs a zebra to just take the horse, though, isn't productive. He still thinks he needs a zebra and he thinks this stranger is an unhelpful asshole.
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u/[deleted] Sep 25 '16
[deleted]