alt Hacker News> By "stupid questions", I don't mean "basic but obviously important questions". I mean questions that reveal that you don't know something that other people expect you to know, that signal to them (rightly or wrongly) that they may have overestimated you.
Ok but you didn’t bring up the phrase “stupid questions” so it’s less about how you define it, and more about a best effort interpretation of how it was originally meant.
I think the person who initially did bring up the phrase must have meant it the way I did, because if they didn't -- if in fact all they meant by it was "basic but obviously important questions" -- then there would be no reason for them to bring it up at all, since 100% of people already agree that you should never be afraid to ask basic but obviously important questions.