HackerOne users: Testing against this community violates our program's Terms of Service and will result in your bounty being denied.
How to Ask Questions on the Internet
When asking a question on the Internet always assume that someone else has the same question as you. I like to refer to this as the golden rule of asking questions on the Internet.
What does this mean? Well, like all golden rules it can mean many things, but there are two direct implications of this rule.
- Someone may have asked your question before so you may want to search for an answer before asking again.
- Someone may ask your question in the future so you may want to ask your question in a way that will help the next person find it.
Why would you want to ask a good question at all?
When you ask a question on the Internet you are asking people, often complete strangers, to give you help for free. Guess what? This is okay. People should like helping people for free.
However, when you ask a question you can help pay back this free help by putting in a bit of thought into your question.
Things to think about when asking a question
- Try and phrase the title of your question as a complete question. Just reading the title of your question should give people a good idea of what your problem is. There should be little need to read the description except for specifics and clarification. If you phrase your question well, people with expertise will be more likely to click through and answer.
- Put specific error messages in your question. If your application is giving you a specific error message then this is what most people will be searching for when trying to solve their problem. If the error message is long then include a bit of it in the question title and the rest of it in the first paragraph of your full question.
- Ask one question at a time. If you ask a list of questions in one post you may get only partially answered and then have the rest of your questions will get lost.
- If you find the answer to your own question then answer it. When someone else finds your question, there's nothing more frustrating than seeing something like "nevermind, solved it!" The absolute least you can do is answer a question that you once expected someone else to answer.
- Once your question is answered, avoid asking followups. If you have a different, question then ask a new question. Asking it under an already answered question just makes it get lost for other people.
- Have an open mind about your question. You may not get the exact answer you want but it could still be the answer to your question. The goal is getting an acceptable answer to a question and then moving on.
Tagged:
18
Comments
I'll get started.
And time for a bump on this thread!
Also there's two awesome references on the net:
How to Ask Smart Questions by Martin Owens
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way by Eric S. Reymond
Why not a FAQ page containing oft-repeated questions and a "how to ask question" link?!
I somewhat agree, however, when the faq is up, and documentation page is cleaned up. If someone follows the "Golden Corollary of the Internet", we can just point them to the link.
Another "reaction button" or two would be "Faq" or "Docs". Your answer is in the faq. with no points deducted or added - simply a reaction on the question that the answer is in the docs or faq without further need to add a reply.
the first few questions in the faq (even if they are links to other discussions). should be.
If these were answered and conveniently displayed - it would cut down on endless questions of the same nature.
1) What should I backup?
http://vanillaforums.org/docs/installation-upgrade
http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/20866/urgent-help-needed-all-discussions-page-empty/p1
http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/comment/167358/#Comment_167358
http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/comment/166869/#Comment_166869
2) what directories and files need to be writeable (so you don't get bonk answers), when changing theme, config, and uploading files or pics.
http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/22034/folder-permissions#latest
3) step by step instructions for embedding.
search embed and wordpress and read docs.
4) step by step instructions for simple signon and jsconnect.
http://vanillaforums.org/docs/singlesignon
http://vanillaforums.org/docs/jsconnect
5) how to modify your webpage via css.
http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/19915/deploying-a-new-forum-and-adding-a-theme-for-everyone
6) I deleted my forum, how can I recover it.
http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/20866/urgent-help-needed-all-discussions-page-empty/p1
7) Where can I get badges and reactions -
only available on hosted version.
http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/comment/167132/#Comment_167132
8) What do I do if I get a bonk
http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/comment/168676/#Comment_168676
http://vanillaforums.org/docs/errors
9) how to change wording in forum with definitions and locale?
http://vanillaforums.org/docs/localization
I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.
bump
I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.
nudge
make this thread an announcement!
I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.
I wish I could, but I can't. If I could, I would
There was an error rendering this rich post.
lets bookmark these and bump them up every week or 3 times a week and if they fail to read it then just link them to it . I feel this should be part of the terms of use. Too bad people don't read those either, they just click agree.
The hardest are those with language barrier in their own language ! arg!!
❌ ✊ ♥. ¸. ••. ¸♥¸. ••. ¸♥ ✊ ❌
ok.
I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.
time for a bump.
new users and
foreign language speakers might want to read this
write your question in your own language, as well as english, or find someone who can speak english to make your question intelligible,
I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.
Thanks for the bump.
Good read and good reminder!