There have been times when people asked what they thought was a "dumb" question, answered themselves, and asked to have the thread deleted. I've encouraged them not to because as far as I can tell, if one person asks a question, there are other people who have the same question.
Then again it's possible to ask questions that seem dumb, but then they open up a discussion that provides all kinds of useful information.
As to the smarta** answers, I don't think they were mean-spirited. The OP and post #2 seemed to indicate a sense of humor and people picked up on that.
If you want to recalibrate the bar for "stupid," by all means watch the movie
Idiocracy. You'll
never think a question is stupid again.