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This isn’t really a guess vs ask distinction, this is you just not understanding people. Those initial questions you asked are:

1. Often an implicit call to action from the person asking the question. Maybe YOU don’t mean it that way, but people have learned to be cautious

2. A distraction from actual work, and not worth it personally for a public discussion. Maybe the answer is “I don’t know” or “This is the fastest good-enough thing I could build to satisfy a dumb requirement”. But no one wants to say those things publicly, so they are cautious before answering

It’s especially aggravating when you get those questions from someone new in authority