text: why do people use question marks when they aren't asking a question? appropriately, this is my first-ever question for y. a.... and (i just realized) i should add it has nothing to do with my name.  :-)  i keep seeing people do this? or saying, "tell me what you think about so and so?" or, "i need your opinion?"  i'm tempted to answer, "i don't know, *do* you need my opinion?"  a ? isn't mandated on every sentence just because you are seeking information.  its purpose is to show when a sentence is a question.    like other rules of grammar, it's to clarify your message!  don't even get me started on other common mis-use online, such as capitalization, and periods where ?'s should be used.  as an example, "i was wondering what you think about this..." is not a question.  it is a statement, telling us you were wondering.  a ? is therefore not the right punctuation mark; a period is.  i'm not an english teacher or student, but i have a strong urge to smack each of you on the back of the hand with a ruler.  grammar police!  there's a riot on yahoo! answers! yahoo puts a "?" in automatically for every question whether it is a question or a statement.  however, there is a bug that doesn't put it in when you type a certain number of characters.  i found these random ones as rare examples:    http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=apvn_7.mq6qiech9t_55g3vzy6ix?qid=20060616112837aaihpzh  http://answers.yahoo.com/question/;_ylt=amwe9dp_uftzvbclvgxbg4mjzkix?qid=1006051219439