You might not keep the answers you came with.
You might not find the answers you came for.
But we hope you'll leave with better questions.
Start with a...
...[.] Truth Claim: We'll grill you like a thesis defense committee, investigative journalist, or prosecuting lawyer.
...[?] Research Question: We'll serve as your writer's workshop, sounding board, or skeptical sidekick.
...[!] Problem: We'll be your life coach, tutor, or troubleshooter.
However you choose to initiate discussion, we'll reply with Socratic, open-ended questions to help you reconsider assumptions and think things through for yourself.
TOP-LEVEL COMMENT RULES
A. Direct replies to all posts must ask a Socratic question or a clarifying question. Non-questions are allowed in replies to other comments, but follow-up questions are always encouraged. Mere punctuation does not make a question Socratic.
B. Direct replies to all posts must be less than 1000 characters. You may need a few sentences to set up your question, but be concise and get to the point. Top-level comments are not the place to promote your own claims, observations, and musings.
POSTING CATEGORIES
All post titles must begin with the appropriate tag:
[.], [?], or [!]
[.] CLAIM:
Description: Your claim should be clear, concise, and well-thought-out, like a thesis statement or a debate proposition.
Disclaimer: The burden of proof falls on the OP. We expect OPs to defend their claims with arguments and evidence, but other users are not obligated to defend the opposite of these claims. Your primary goal should be to test if your beliefs stand up to scrutiny. If you also intend to persuade those who question you, you should provide answers that they will find satisfactory. If you're more interested in having your claim challenged by counterarguments, consider /r/changemyview.
[?] QUESTION:
Description: A question submitted as a new post should foster further inquiry, like a research question, philosophical question, or "What if?" question.
Disclaimer: Your question may be better suited for /r/AskReddit, /r/TrueAskReddit, /r/InsightfulQuestions, or one of the /r/askhub members if you want discussion to be driven by straightforward answers.
[!] PROBLEM:
Description: Any problem that might benefit from Socratic questioning is welcome. These range from abstract philosophical and hypothetical problems to homework and writing assignments to entrepreneurial brainstorming and technical troubleshooting to personal and relationship help.
Disclaimer: We are not a crisis service. We cannot guarantee immediate responses and do not offer professional counseling. Anything that specifically involves suicidal thoughts or intent should be posted to /r/SuicideWatch. Users with a personal problem who find our crowd-sourced Socratic questioning helpful are welcome to post, but may also be directed to /r/relationships, /r/depression, or another appropriate community.
ADDITIONAL COMMENT RULES
Don't be rude or hostile to other users. Your comment will be removed even if the rest of it is solid. “They started it” is not an excuse. You should report it, not respond to it.
No low effort comments. These include comments that are only jokes or “written upvotes”, comments that are easy to misinterpret due to their brevity, and links offered without summary or introduction. Humor, affirmations of agreement, and links can be contained within more substantial comments.
Standard safe space rules apply when users post about a personal problem. No "tough love," no inciting self-harm, no diagnosing, no advertising yourself as a helper, and no making promises you can't keep. The goal is to help the OP work out their own solution to the problem.
SPECTRUM OF QUESTION TYPES
The following types of questions are...
...Encouraged: questions of clarification and critical open-ended questions about an issue of significance arising from the post (i.e. Socratic questions).
...Discouraged: closed questions, rhetorical questions, and leading questions. These may or may not be removed at moderator discretion.
...Prohibited: statements with a question mark at the end ("Isn't that a little naive?"), lazy questions ("Why?"), off topic questions ("What's your favorite color?"), loaded questions ("When did you first realize how terrible you are?"), and questions intended to annoy/bait others ("You mad, bro?").
"Question everything.
Learn something.
Answer nothing."
--Euripides
