The XY Problem - Ask about your actual problem, not your attempted solution

The XY Problem

The XY problem is asking about your attempted solution rather than your actual problem. This leads to enormous amounts of wasted time and energy, both on the part of people asking for help, and on the part of those providing help.

How It Happens

Here's the typical flow:

1. User wants to do X
2. User doesn't know how to do X, but thinks they can fumble their way to a solution if they can just manage to do Y
3. User doesn't know how to do Y either
4. User asks for help with Y
5. Others try to help user with Y, but are confused because Y seems like a strange problem to want to solve
6. After much interaction and wasted time, it finally becomes clear that the user really wants help with X, and that Y wasn't even a suitable solution for X

The problem occurs when people get stuck on what they believe is the solution and are unable to step back and explain the issue in full.

Real Examples

Example 1: The Filename Extension Problem

Bob: How can I echo the last three characters in a filename?

Feline: If they're in a variable:

echo ${foo: -3}

Feline: Why 3 characters? What do you REALLY want?

Feline: Do you want the extension?

Bob: Yes.

Feline: There's no guarantee that every filename will have a three-letter extension, so blindly grabbing three characters does not solve the problem.

Feline:

echo ${foo##*.}

The Issue: Bob didn't actually want the last 3 characters in a filename - he wanted the file extension! By asking about his attempted solution (getting 3 characters) instead of his actual problem (getting file extensions), he almost got a solution that wouldn't work for files like

document.html

or

script.js

.

Example 2: The OS Detection Problem

Angela: 'nmap -O -A 127.0.0.1' returns some lines starting with 'OS:'. How to change it?

Obama: Look in the sourcecode for nmap, find how it figures out the Linux part, then rewrite your TCP/IP stack to not operate in a way nmap can detect.

Angela: Yeah, but I don't know about linux system api at all.

Obama: Well, nmap's fingerprint is based on the way the TCP/IP stack works, there's no real way except to rewrite the appropriate parts of said stack.

Angela: I really need to avoid these messages. Can iptables do this work?

Obama: Well, don't use OS detection or version scanning

Angela: I want to prevent others from knowing the type of my OS

The Issue: If Angela had just started by explaining she wants to prevent others from detecting her OS, this could have been a much shorter and more productive discussion. Instead, she asked about changing nmap output, leading to complex suggestions about rewriting TCP/IP stacks!

What to Do About It

For Help Seekers:

• Always include information about the broader picture along with any attempted solution
• If someone asks for more information, provide details - they're trying to understand your real problem
• Share why you've ruled out other solutions - this gives more information about your requirements
• Remember: If your diagnostic theories were accurate, you wouldn't be asking for help, right?

Better Question Format:

Instead of: "How do I get the last 3 characters of a filename?"

Try: "I need to extract file extensions from filenames. I thought about getting the last 3 characters, but I'm not sure if that's the right approach. What's the best way to do this?"

Why This Matters

The XY Problem wastes everyone's time:

• Help seekers get solutions that don't actually solve their real problem
• Helpers spend time solving the wrong problem
• Communities get cluttered with confusing questions and answers
• Future readers find misleading information when searching

The Fix is Simple

Start with your goal, not your attempted solution.

• ✅ "I want to prevent others from detecting my OS type"

• ❌ "How do I change nmap output?"

• ✅ "I need to extract file extensions from various filenames"

• ❌ "How do I get the last 3 characters of a string?"

In Programming Context

This happens constantly in programming:

Bad: "How do I convert a string to an array in JavaScript?" Better: "I have a comma-separated string of user IDs and need to process each ID individually. What's the best approach?"

The second version reveals that you might need

.split(',')

, but also opens up discussions about data validation, edge cases, and alternative approaches.

Remember

When you're stuck, take a step back and ask yourself: "What am I actually trying to accomplish?" Then ask about that, not about the specific technical hurdle you've encountered while trying to accomplish it.

Your helpers will thank you, and you'll get better solutions faster.