My favorite has always been me working on problems that have no practical application, but I'm working on them to gain understanding of how or why something works the way it does, only to get several "don't do that" replies

There are a ton of people asking questions who genuinely don't know why what they're asking to do is a bad idea. If you assume that they just weren't aware of the better way, you'll be right about 99% of the time. It's not a reflection on you, it's a reflection of the cluelessness of the general population. If you really just want to know about the internal workings of something, perhaps stating so up front would get some sympathy - but no guarantees.

> Moderators assuming you are asking a question for a school assignment

It's pretty obvious when that's the case. Ironically, using SO for work assignments is OK, but that's probably because the questions are more interesting, esoteric, or have longer term value than a question about while loops.

Yes, it's pretty obvious when that's the case. It's not obvious when that's not the case though.Too many false assumptions.