Search before posting
It is very important to search before posting. Remember that your question or problem may have been asked by someone else already, especially if it is a common or normal question only. No one likes to repeat answering the same question over and over again...
Please be descriptive
Title has to be descriptive even if it looks long. It helps when people browse the forum or when they search.
1 issue, 1 thread
Reasons:
- This helps organization. If you raise multiple problems or ask different kinds of question in one thread, then it makes it hard to categorize.
- This helps search engine and avoid duplication. If you don't ask different kinds of questions in the same thread, you can use a descriptive title for each question you raised. This helps others search and locate easier when they have the same question/problem you had previously, and they don't need to ask the same question again and again.
Note: It is okay to ask supplementary questions
provided that they are related to the main question/issue raised in that thread. Use common sense to judge whether you should split or put them together.
State clearly what your problem is
We cannot read your minds. If you don't tell us what happened exactly, how can we help you? Something like "I encountered an error when I open a new file" does not lead us to nowhere. Thus it is very important that you state clearly what your problem is.
State your specification or situation. OK, very often we need to know what the specification of the things involved in the problem. If your program encountered an error when you open a specific file, it is very important if you leave:
- operating system (eg Windows XP Pro)
- your program (eg Metastock 10 EOD edition)
- information about that file (eg you uploaded that file for us to examine)
State how you encounter the problem, in a step-by-step manner if possible. Try to include all the information that you think would be helpful. Remember that it is always better to provide too much information than too little. The more information you give, the more ideas we can get why you encounter this problem. Some information you think is unimportant may be helpful too.
State what happened. If you received an error message, it is very important to show us the whole message.
State what you expected to happen. This helps everyone understand what your want and will often lead to improvements.
Questioning Technique
- Picture is worth 1000 words. If there is some situation or thing which can't be explained clearly in words only, why not include picutre as well?
- Nice formatting and styling. Break your post into different paragraph instead of lumping all into one. Good post with proper formatting (bold for important words), stlying (use [h=?]...[/h] for headings) help readers to keep reading.
- Be concise. No one likes to read long post.
