Are there writers who can't read?

Sometimes, it's just better to walk away.

I'm an administrator for a writing group on social media. One of our members, a dear friend, posted several new thread in a forum about science. In one, I made the comment, "*in his Spock voice* Fascinating." That gave me the idea to pose a question to the writing group.

At the top, I explained why I asked the question. I've been a fan of the original "Star Trek" series since it was new. At some point, during my teen years while watching reruns, I became enamored with how Spock would say, "fascinating," in some situations. As an adult, I have said that many times. The thing that I haven't mastered is how to raise just one eyebrow.

In the thread, I asked members of the group if any of them have ever taken a trait from a fictional character and made it a part of their lives. I didn't think it was necessary to specify that I meant in a movie or television series they watched, or another author's book. I also thought that with my example in the very first comment, they'd understand what I was getting at.

A simple yes or no would have been okay, although I was hoping for examples. I got neither.

Instead, multiple members told how they incorporated some of their own personalities into their characters. I directly addressed one of those in a reply. I reiterated that I was asking if they ever took anything from a fictional character and used it in their lives. I further said that fiction authors use parts of their own personalities in their characters or events from their lives in story plots. That's not what I was asking about. That member replied to my reply, explaining why he said what he said. Mansplaining? Authorsplaining?

Another member made a comment, saying in different words the same thing the first member said. But rather than reply to him, I made another comment. I prefaced it with this: "It seems from some of the comments that a few of you misunderstood the question." I followed that by repeating what I told the first member, that fiction writers are known to incorporate parts of themselves in their stories. I attempted to simply it, saying that I wanted to know if any of them watched a movie or TV show, or read a book written by another fiction writer, and used something those characters said or did in their own lives. The second guy asked, "Do you mean pop culture?"

Well, technically, it would be pop culture. But, geez, how hard is it to understand this question? "Have you ever incorporated some trait of a fictional character in your daily life?" The responses suggest that members did not read or comprehend what I asked. They clearly didn't read my example.

At that point, I gave up.

It was supposed to be a fun exercise. I didn't want it to devolve in a relentless, back-and-forth between me and those two, or any others. But I believed it would come to that since the original post was not understood, and subsequent attempts to explain it were met with one member wanting to know if were a Jeopardy! category and another responding to my explanation by restating his comment, albeit with different words.

I deleted the thread.

Am I overreacting to think these people, who want to write and sell books, are poor readers?