Search Results: hard questions to answer

Let's assume, here, that it's a date, not a hookup. You're trying to get to know the person.
They're not freshly off a really bad breakup.
They're not angry and ranting.
You're not a rebound person to them.
A decent amount of time has passed since they've been in these relationships, so their emotions are not too heated, but they do have some feelings of love, pain, etc.

Now, do you want, or not want, to hear about their past relationships and people?
Does it make a difference whether it's the first date, or subsequent dates?
If you are answering yes, I assume you want to hear a bit about it, but not take up the whole date. That doesn't need to be specified.

There's no right or wrong answer here. I'm just curious, because I've heard people with strong opinions on this.

My opinion is that I want to know. It's interesting to me, and it's informative.
I would be worried, though, that if I ask, it could open up a whole can of worms, and the person might get in a certain mood, and/or it could be hard to get them off the topic, once started.
So then I have to think, is it worth the risk?
And in most cases, I would probably err on 'yes.' Except if the date was going really, really well, and we were both flirting and having a lot of fun with banter. Then I wouldn't want to talk about anything serious at all. I'd want to live in that moment, and stretch it out as long as possible, no distractions. But if the date was more serious, had more lulls in conversation, I would ask the question.