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> Is being surprised somebody doesn't know something putting them down

Yes.

> is being unsurprised they are ignorant putting them down

Again, the whole reason to just declare this as a rule is so that you’re not put in a position to try to decide if somebody is ignorant or not. You set a social guideline, and if people break it, you point it out, and it doesn’t matter why they did it.

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By demonstrating an assumption that everybody knows nothing? I fail to see how that is beneficial. It is rude to everybody.

You're the one who's extrapolated that the rule asks you to assume ignorance. The post, and the Recurse Center guidelines it's built on top of, don't make that claim.

If I say it's a social guideline to not tell somebody about something wrong with their outfit unless they can fix it in under 5 minutes, I'm not suggesting you go around assuming that everybody knows they have a stain on their shirt. I'm telling you it's net-negative to point it out to them.

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