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ask the question, dangit

if you want to ask a question, ask the question.

and stop where you would put a question mark.

don't give me an "easy out":

how much got done yesterday? i know a few people are off so it might not have been a lot.

my answer was going to be "we did a lot yesterday", but now i'm filled with questions.

did they expect nothing to get done yesterday?
do i have to justify why a lot got done, despite people being off?
does my answer matter? they already half-answered the question.

instead of "we did a lot yesterday", i have to say "oh actually we did a lot yesterday, even though a few people were off".

it's worse if my response was going to be "not a lot got done, because of <some unrelated problem>". now i have to say "not a lot got done, but not because people were off, because of <some unrelated problem>". i have to undo the easy out.

just ask the dang question.

P.S. if the stakes are low and you don't want to interrupt someone, an easy out is fine:

which bit of code validates usernames? if you don't know don't worry, i can go looking for it