Cunningham's law
/KUN-ing-hamz law/ · noun · Hacker Culture · Origin: 2010
Definitions
The observation that the best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question, but to post the wrong answer. Attributed to Ward Cunningham, the creator of the first wiki, and named by former Intel executive Steven McGeady. The principle exploits the human compulsion to correct errors and has been observed across forums, social media, and collaborative platforms.
In plain English: The trick that posting a wrong answer online gets you the right answer faster than asking a question, because people love to correct mistakes.
Example: "I couldn't get anyone to answer my Stack Overflow question, so I posted a confidently wrong answer from an alt account. Three correct explanations appeared within an hour. Cunningham's law never fails."
Origin Story
The best way to get the right answer on the internet is to post the wrong one
**Cunningham's Law** states: 'The best way to get the right answer on the Internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer.' It's attributed to Ward Cunningham, the inventor of the wiki, though he says the formulation came from Steven McGeady.
The insight is about human psychology: people are more motivated to correct errors than to answer questions. Post a question on a forum and you might wait days. Post a confident but wrong answer and corrections will arrive in minutes.
The law has been observed on Wikipedia, Stack Overflow, Reddit, and every technical forum. It explains why wikis work -- the wrong information attracts editors who fix it. Some people deliberately exploit Cunningham's Law by posting intentionally wrong answers to get expert responses.
Coined by: Steven McGeady (attributed to Ward Cunningham)
Context: Early internet culture, formalized ~2010
Fun fact: Cunningham himself has said he's not sure he ever actually stated the law. The irony that Cunningham's Law might itself be incorrectly attributed -- and that this very discussion proves the law -- has not been lost on the internet.