Here's a thing that happens sometimes: Person A: I'm trying to get Y to work. help Person B: sure. have you tried... // many messages Person A: that didn't work. I'm actually trying to do X. Person B: Y wasn't a good way to do X. I could have given you the right answer at the beginning if you'd just said you really wanted X. what you need to do is... Don't be Person A. Pause for a minute and state your actual, final, top-level goal before talking about ways you think you can accomplish it. It'll save a lot of time and frustration.