[kstenerud]

So then say "Do x, y, and z. But this is usually the wrong approach. Tell me what you're trying to do."

Don't be their babysitter. There's nothing more infuriating than "I know how, but I'm not going to tell you for your own good."

[dozzie]

> So then say "Do x, y, and z. But this is usually the wrong approach. Tell me what you're trying to do."

And never hear from them again, but later hit the shitty code you have just helped to producfe.

[WalterGR]

If we continue a bit further down that path we come to:

Well, you never know if they're skilled or unskilled hackers, but they're probably not very skilled. Or at the least not as skilled as I am. So no matter what you tell them, they're probably going to write shitty code I helped produce. Even if they have some skill, why take that risk?

So it's better to not bother even with the initial "Why do you want to do that?" gatekeeping and to just ignore questions entirely. They're just going to screw it up anyway.