You’re stuck. You’ve been wrestling with a coding problem for hours, and your brain feels like a puddle of lukewarm soup. You do what any sensible person does: you post a polite, well-researched question on a forum like Stack Overflow.
And you wait…
Crickets…
You rephrase the question. You add more detail. You practically beg for help. Nothing.
In a fit of desperation, you try a different tactic. You create a new, anonymous account, go back to the forum, and post a confidently, spectacularly wrong solution to your own problem. You write it with the unearned arrogance of a first-year intern who just discovered a `for` loop.
The response is instantaneous. Within minutes, you are buried under an avalanche of corrections. Programmers from across the globe descend upon your post, not to help, but to tell you, in excruciating detail, exactly why you’re an idiot. They pick apart your terrible code, explain the fundamental concepts you’ve misunderstood, and, in the process, hand you the exact answer you were looking for.
You haven’t just been schooled; you’ve just weaponized a fundamental law of online behavior.
It’s called Cunningham’s Law.
The Origin Story: A Wiki Wizard’s Wisdom
The law is named after Ward Cunningham, the inventor of the very first wiki (the technology that powers Wikipedia). In the early 1980s, a colleague, Steven McGeady, noticed Cunningham’s uncanny ability to get great information from online communities. McGeady observed that Ward’s secret wasn’t asking questions, but gently provoking answers. He summed up the principle, and Cunningham’s Law was born:
“The best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question;
it’s to post the wrong answer.”
Cunningham has attempted to distance himself ownership of the law, calling it a “misquote that disproves itself by propagating through the internet” and by saying that he “never suggested asking questions by posting wrong answers”. Regardless, he’s earned the credit.
This isn’t a new idea. The French have a saying that dates back to the 1700s: “prêcher le faux pour savoir le vrai”, preach the false to know the true. But Cunningham’s Law gave this old trick a name for the digital age.
The Basic Explanation
Cunningham’s Law works because it exploits a fundamental bug in the human psyche: the desire to correct is often stronger than the desire to help.
Asking a question puts you in a position of need. It requires someone to be generous with their time and expertise. People are busy. They might help, or they might just scroll past.
Posting a wrong answer triggers a completely different response. It’s a challenge. It’s a red flag to every expert, pedant, and know-it-all in a fifty-mile radius. Their brain screams, “Someone is WRONG on the internet!” They are not helping you; they are defending the integrity of the truth and, more importantly, demonstrating their own superior knowledge.
You’re not asking for a favor. You’re offering them a chance to feel smart. And that’s an offer very few people can refuse.
Cunningham’s Law in the Wild
Once you have a name for it, you see this law as the invisible engine behind some of the internet’s most useful (and most infuriating) interactions.
Stack Overflow & Reddit: This is the law’s natural habitat. A polite question might get lost in the noise. A confidently incorrect statement will get a detailed, peer-reviewed, and passive aggressively condescending correct answer.
Wikipedia: The entire encyclopedia is a monument to Cunningham’s Law. It’s a global, slow-motion argument where thousands of volunteers are driven by the relentless need to correct inaccuracies, big and small. The result is the most comprehensive repository of human knowledge ever created.
Learning a New Subject: Want to understand a complex topic? Don’t just ask, “Can someone explain quantum physics to me?” Instead, post a slightly flawed summary. The resulting thread of corrections and clarifications will be more educational than any textbook.
How to Use This Law (Ethically... Mostly)
Cunningham’s Law is a powerful tool, but like any power, it can be used for good or for trolling. Here’s how to use it wisely.
Step 1: Frame Your “Wrong” Answer.
Don’t just be wrong; be plausibly wrong. Your incorrect answer should look like a genuine attempt that just missed the mark. This makes the correction feel more satisfying for the person providing it.
Step 2: Target the Right Community.
This works best in communities of experts who pride themselves on their knowledge, programmers, engineers, scientists, and hardcore hobbyists. They are the guardians of their domain, and they hate seeing it misrepresented.
Step 3: Prepare for the Backlash.
You’re going to get called an idiot. You might get downvoted into oblivion. That’s the price of admission. Check your ego at the door, thank everyone for their “helpful” corrections, and walk away with the answer you needed.
Step 4: Use It for Good.
Don’t use this to spread misinformation or to start flame wars. Use it as a clever tool to bypass apathy. It’s a social hack for extracting knowledge from people who are too busy to answer a simple question but never too busy to correct a wrong one.
The Bottom Line
Cunningham’s Law is a cynical but brutally effective principle for navigating the internet. It reveals a fundamental truth about human nature: we are often more motivated by the need to be right than the desire to be helpful.
It’s a reminder that sometimes, the smartest way to get an answer isn’t to ask for help, but to offer a target. Just be prepared to take a few hits in the process.
Named Law: Cunningham’s Law
Simple Definition: The best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it’s to post the wrong answer.
Origin: In the early 1980’s it was coined by Steven McGeady and attributed to Ward Cunningham, the inventor of the wiki.
Wikipedia: Ward Cunningham
Category: Human Behavior & Psychology
Subcategory: Social Dynamics & Group Behavior