Tips on Posting Forum Questions
I have been hanging out on forums a lot this year, rainbow forums, asp.net forums, and a littl eon the msdn forums, as well as a few other places, and I am noticing a few things. Mainly, most people do not put any thouht into posting their forum questions. It is almost like the forums have become an "easy" way to get some homework done for you.
So.....
1) Search for you question in the forum. If you don't find your exact title, try a few of the key words to see what comes up.
2) Do your best to post in proper forums, so if your question is about Javascritpt, try to look for the client side or javascript forums, not the ado.net forum for example.
3) The title of your post is very important.... do not say things like "help needed". Instead do your best to summarize the proplem or key words as consicely as possiblt. This will have the effect of people answering your question more likley, also being looked at by people who are more likley to be able to give you fuller answers, as they "noticed" something they may be able to help with in the tile. Lastly, it helps things like #1 return better results for you and others.
4) When you post a question, especially with regards to a code issue you are having, please post a code snippet, error message, something that will help us debug/diagnose and help you. If not... we spend the first few postings back and forth trying to get that information from you.
5) When you get an answer that satisifes you and helps, please make a final post to acknoledget that, so that people arent left wondering if it's an open issue.
Keep in mind, people on the forums are taking time out of ther day to VOLUNTEER and help other people out. This is one of the great things about communities, but the kindness of people is often abused or mishandled. Please be aware and conciderate, and try to "help others help you", and not make them work to help you.