Lessons Learned

Question

Often one will attempt to learn / familiarize with a subject matter. For example, planning a trip to visit the Washington Monument in DC. I like to ask a specific questions and cap it with a request for lessons-learned. There is no substitute for experience: is request for lessons learned (understanding what behaviors to avoid and how to properly prepare), out of scope?

Some stackexchange communities are quick on the trigger to banish questions that are perceived as not specific enough and \ or disapprove of personal experience

Answer 1

The problem with a question like that, or at least in the form that you have previously asked them, is that it appears to be calling for everyone who has been there to give their experiences in an answer.

This creates a huge string of answers, of which to get a good picture you need to read many of them. It's more akin to a review site (and you should consider checking them out) than suitable for SE's Question and Answer format.

Realistically, you have to have some idea of what it is you want to know, so you can ask a question that could hopefully be answered in its totality by one person. So, you could ask about queues - where, how much, what times they are busiest etc. Or you could ask about personal comfort - temperature, bathroom facilities, availability of seating/food/drink etc.

Asking about "best things to see" or "hidden/underappreciated sections" etc is probably always going to closed as opinion based. Similarly, requests for exactly how you should do things are going to be WANTA or opinion based. Check out guide books/websites, travel blogs, and review sites for that sort of thing.