Hacker School banning “feigned surprise” is absolutely brilliant
Another way of looking at it is that shame is a good disincentive for ignorance. It <i>shouldn't be OK</i> to ask questions like "what's Lisp?" or "what's synchronization?" (both of which I've heard). We can enforce that norm by rewarding such questions with a grimace. Of course, the absolute most important thing is to make sure that the environment doesn't become toxic with disdain, but I don't think it's <i>in general</i> a sin to "feign surprise" or similar.