Why don't people just say "I don't know"

[ghostjmf]

when they don't know.


This is mostly sparked by the vituperation that got dumped on my head recently here when I kept saying that there's no way to turn off the "wifi-seeker" function on my tablet. And yes, I know it has a supposed "off" switch, but it just goes ahead & turns itself back on if it can find any unsecured wifi in the area. If someone owns the exact same tablet, running the same version of Android, & can show me where, great. Otherwise, all bets are off. Likewise for how to get to places on the tablet to shut off stuff that eats up data-connectivity. Some of the suggestions here & from on-line fora were useful, but mostly in that they told me what to look for; where to find the "off" switches for the offending stuff depends on, you guessed it, the exact tablet, exact OS.


And it doesn't help that devices come today with all kinds of bells & whistles, sometimes literal bells & whistles, turned on. You have to search various menus, on-line tutorials for the exact device, etc, to get them turned off. I had someone come over during the applause at a concert & tell me how much the typing noise my tablet made when I tapped each letter, which I only did during applause! was bothering them.



After T-Mobile sold me the crap replacement phone for my dearly beloved cellphone, a used exact replacement model of which that I hope I can use is due today, they had to show me how to get to "how many minutes do I have left on my phone". This is because, unlike every other function they'd showed me, that function requires making a phone call (they claim I'm not charged for it).

[tlynn78]

I don't know.

(couldn't resist)

[Jeemie]

The wifi on my S4 just recently started doing that- I would turn it off, and then about 30 seconds later, it would turn itself back on. If I deactivated it a second time, it would stay turned off.

Then...a couple of days later, it stopped doing that. Now I can turn it on and off at will again.

So I really don't know...

[Jeemie]

Here's all I could find regarding the different kinds of wifi settings.

http://www.whistleout.com/CellPhones/Gu ... or-Android

if you have an advanced setting saying "Scanning Always Available", you can turn that off and see what happens.

[ghostjmf]

Jeemie:


Thanks, but I don't have "scanning always available" as a turn-off option.


I do have an "Advanced" menu when in "wifi"; for anyone else with an Alcatel Pop 7, you get it by touching the 3 vertical dots at the far upper right of the screen, not exactly an intuitive move to begin with. But it doesn't have that option.

[Bob Juch]

I can turn that off on my Windows Phone.

I once worked with a guy who always said, "I can't tell you," instead of "I don't know." That drove me up the wall. Finally I started asking, "Why? Do you not know or are you prevented from telling me?" That stopped it.

[SpacemanSpiff]

I can turn that off on my Windows Phone.

I once worked with a guy who always said, "I can't tell you," instead of "I don't know." That drove me up the wall. Finally I started asking, "Why? Do you not know or are you prevented from telling me?" That stopped it.

Maybe he couldn't tell you.

[themanintheseersuckersuit]

male answer syndrome


Noun
male answer syndrome (

(sometimes capitalized, derogatory) A male compulsion to answer questions regardless of whether one knows the answer.
2002 June 27, Lori Kendall, Hanging Out in the Virtual Pub: Masculinities and Relationships Online, University of California Press, ISBN 9780520230385, OL 7711254M, page 76:
Like most statements on BlueSky that call attention to norms of masculinity, accusations of male answer syndrome tend to be offered and taken in good humor.
2p

[Jeemie]