How to tell a good question (was: how to tell a wizard)

[Dave Mankins]

I once had a co-worker who would pop into my office several times a day
with utterly inane questions about the system.  Finally, after having had
my train of thought derailed one too many times one afternoon, when he
walked into my office again, I said, ``Let me warn you: if I think your
question is one you could have answered with a few minutes thought, or a
few moments spent poking around in the manual, I'm going to charge you a
quarter, but if it's a GOOD question, I'll answer it for free.''

It worked.
david mankins (dm at think.com)