Real Riddles Philosophy
Types of Email Responses to the Riddle Page
I get several kinds of email about the Riddle Page.
- "Pleeeeeeeese. You just gotta tell me the answers! I‘m
dying here!! Pretty pleeeese! I‘ll be, like, you know,
like, reeeeally grateful and stuff."
aka "The Young and the Thoughtless" too young to vote.
- "I‘m a kind-hearted person tirelessly working for
justice and kindness in the world and I kindly need you to
help me help these poor starving children in this children‘s
home/elementary school/high school/college where I‘m a
teacher/administrator/ceo/goofball and it would mean soooo
much to these children/kids/students/dipstick-coworkers if I
knew the answers."
aka "The Touchy Feely Type" voted for Hillary, got Bill by accident.
- "I know you said to use your answer format for River
City, but it‘s like waaaay too complicated and like my
solution like totally works. The answer to River City is
just to weigh 6 against six and that‘ll show you the heavier
side, then just weigh 3 against 3 of that side and then 1
against 1. Like DUH! Like I totally hate it when people
like yourself makes stuff seem harder than it really is."
aka "The Won‘t Bother to Read Type" can‘t find voting booth.
- "Thanks. Fun riddles."
aka "Folks who know the value of brevity" voted for Ross
Perot.
- "I agree that you shouldn‘t give out answers - it ruins
the riddles."
aka "Folks who get it" voted Libertarian.
- "I know you don‘t give answers, but I think you should.
It‘s frustrating to work on a hard riddle and not be able
to check your solution."
"Folks who might come around..." voted for... hard to tell!
The Purpose of Riddles
So except for the stupid stuff shown above, (have I
mentioned I get tons of stupid stuff?) here‘s my reason for
not posting answers to riddles.
The value of a riddle lies in it‘s solving.
There is no other value.
If you cannot tell whether an answer is correct, then you
don‘t understand the riddle, and therefore haven‘t solved it.
happy riddling,
-brent
p.s: And as Bill Clinton so clearly explains, "I suppose
it depends on what your definition of "is" is."
p.p.s: And as Vice Perpetrator Al Gore so believably
explains, "I believed him."