How to ask questions in the smart way.docx
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How to ask questions in the smart way.docx
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Howtoaskquestionsinthesmartway
Thebestwaytogetarapidandresponsiveansweristoaskitlikeapersonwithsmarts,confidence,andclueswhojusthappenstoneedhelpononeparticularproblem.
BeforeYouAsk
Beforeaskingatechnicalquestionbye-mail,orphonecalls,oronawebsitechatboard,dothefollowing:
1.Trytofindananswerbysearchingthearchivesoftheforumyouplantopostto.
2.TrytofindananswerbysearchingtheWeb.
3.Trytofindananswerbyreadingthemanual.
4.TrytofindananswerbyreadingaFAQ.
5.Trytofindananswerbyinspectionorexperimentation.
6.Trytofindananswerbyaskingaskilledfriend.
7.Ifyou'reaprogrammer,trytofindananswerbyreadingthesourcecode.
Whenyouaskyourquestion,displaythefactthatyouhavedonethesethingsfirst;thiswillhelpestablishthatyou'renotbeingalazyspongeandwastingpeople'stime.Betteryet,displaywhatyouhavelearnedfromdoingthesethings.Welikeansweringquestionsforpeoplewhohavedemonstratedtheycanlearnfromtheanswers.
UsetacticslikedoingaGooglesearchonthetextofwhatevererrormessageyouget(searchingGooglegroupsaswellasWebpages).Thismightwelltakeyoustraighttofixdocumentationoramailinglistthreadansweringyourquestion.Evenifitdoesn't,saying“Igoogledonthefollowingphrasebutdidn'tgetanythingthatlookedpromising”isagoodthingtodoine-mailornewspostingsrequestinghelp,ifonlybecauseitrecordswhatsearcheswon'thelp.Itwillalsohelptodirectotherpeoplewithsimilarproblemstoyourthreadbylinkingthesearchtermstowhatwillhopefullybeyourproblemandresolutionthread.
Takeyourtime.DonotexpecttobeabletosolveacomplicatedproblemwithafewsecondsofGoogling.ReadandunderstandtheFAQs,sitback,relaxandgivetheproblemsomethoughtbeforeapproachingexperts.Trustus,theywillbeabletotellfromyourquestionshowmuchreadingandthinkingyoudid,andwillbemorewillingtohelpifyoucomeprepared.Don'tinstantlyfireyourwholearsenalofquestionsjustbecauseyourfirstsearchturnedupnoanswers(ortoomany).
Prepareyourquestion.Thinkitthrough.Hasty-soundingquestionsgethastyanswers,ornoneatall.Themoreyoudotodemonstratethathavingputthoughtandeffortintosolvingyourproblembeforeseekinghelp,themorelikelyyouaretoactuallygethelp.
Bewareofaskingthewrongquestion.Ifyouaskonethatisbasedonfaultyassumptions,J.RandomHackerisquitelikelytoreplywithauselesslyliteralanswerwhilethinking“Stupidquestion...”,andhopingtheexperienceofgettingwhatyouaskedforratherthanwhatyouneededwillteachyoualesson.
Neverassumeyouareentitledtoananswer.Youarenot;youaren't,afterall,payingfortheservice.Youwillearnananswer,ifyouearnit,byaskingasubstantial,interesting,andthought-provokingquestion—onethatimplicitlycontributestotheexperienceofthecommunityratherthanmerelypassivelydemandingknowledgefromothers.
Ontheotherhand,makingitclearthatyouareableandwillingtohelpintheprocessofdevelopingthesolutionisaverygoodstart.“Wouldsomeoneprovideapointer?
”,“Whatismyexamplemissing?
”,and“WhatsiteshouldIhavechecked?
”aremorelikelytogetansweredthan“PleaseposttheexactprocedureIshoulduse.”becauseyou'remakingitclearthatyou'retrulywillingtocompletetheprocessifsomeonecanjustpointyouintherightdirection.
WhenYouAsk
Chooseyourforumcarefully
Besensitiveinchoosingwhereyouaskyourquestion.Youarelikelytobeignored,orwrittenoffasaloser,ifyou:
∙postyourquestiontoaforumwhereit'sofftopic
∙postaveryelementaryquestiontoaforumwhereadvancedtechnicalquestionsareexpected,orvice-versa
∙cross-posttotoomanydifferentnewsgroups
∙postapersonale-mailtosomebodywhoisneitheranacquaintanceofyoursnorpersonallyresponsibleforsolvingyourproblem
Hackersblowoffquestionsthatareinappropriatelytargetedinordertotrytoprotecttheircommunicationschannelsfrombeingdrownedinirrelevance.Youdon'twantthistohappentoyou.
Thefirststep,therefore,istofindtherightforum.Again,GoogleandotherWeb-searchingmethodsareyourfriend.Usethemtofindtheprojectwebpagemostcloselyassociatedwiththehardwareorsoftwaregivingyoudifficulties.UsuallyitwillhavelinkstoaFAQ(FrequentlyAskedQuestions)list,andtoprojectmailinglistsandtheirarchives.Thesemailinglistsarethefinalplacestogoforhelp,ifyourownefforts(includingreadingthoseFAQsyoufound)donotfindyouasolution.Theprojectpagemayalsodescribeabug-reportingprocedure,orhavealinktoone;ifso,followit.
Shootingoffane-mailtoapersonorforumwhichyouarenotfamiliarwithisriskyatbest.Forexample,donotassumethattheauthorofaninformativewebpagewantstobeyourfreeconsultant.Donotmakeoptimisticguessesaboutwhetheryourquestionwillbewelcome—ifyou'reunsure,senditelsewhere,orrefrainfromsendingitatall.
WhenselectingaWebforum,newsgroupormailinglist,don'ttrustthenamebyitselftoofar;lookforaFAQorchartertoverifyyourquestionison-topic.Readsomeofthebacktrafficbeforepostingsoyou'llgetafeelforhowthingsaredonethere.Infact,it'saverygoodideatodoakeywordsearchforwordsrelatingtoyourproblemonthenewsgroupormailinglistarchivesbeforeyoupost.Itmayfindyouananswer,andifnotitwillhelpyouformulateabetterquestion.
Don'tshotgun-blastalltheavailablehelpchannelsatonce,that'slikeyellingandirritatespeople.Stepthroughthemsoftly.
Knowwhatyourtopicis!
OneoftheclassicmistakesisaskingquestionsabouttheUnixorWindowsprogramminginterfaceinaforumdevotedtoalanguageorlibraryortoolportableacrossboth.Ifyoudon'tunderstandwhythisisablunder,you'dbebestoffnotaskinganyquestionsatalluntilyougetit.
Ingeneral,questionstoawell-selectedpublicforumaremorelikelytogetusefulanswersthanequivalentquestionstoaprivateone.Therearemultiplereasonsforthis.Oneissimplythesizeofthepoolofpotentialrespondents.Anotheristhesizeoftheaudience;hackerswouldratheranswerquestionsthateducatemanypeoplethanquestionsservingonlyafew.
Understandably,skilledhackersandauthorsofpopularsoftwarearealreadyreceivingmorethantheirfairshareofmis-targetedmessages.Byaddingtotheflood,youcouldinextremecasesevenbethestrawthatbreaksthecamel'sback—quiteafewtimes,contributorstopopularprojectshavewithdrawntheirsupportbecausecollateraldamageintheformofuselesse-mailtraffictotheirpersonalaccountsbecameunbearable.
WebandIRCforumsdirectedtowardsnewbiesoftengivethequickestresponse
Yourlocalusergroup,oryourLinuxdistribution,mayadvertiseaWebforumorIRCchannelwherenewbiescangethelp.(Innon-English-speakingcountriesnewbieforumsarestillmorelikelytobemailinglists.)Thesearegoodfirstplacestoask,especiallyifyouthinkyoumayhavetrippedoverarelativelysimpleorcommonproblem.AnadvertisedIRCchannelisanopeninvitationtoaskquestionsthereandoftengetanswersinrealtime.
Infact,ifyougottheprogramthatisgivingyouproblemsfromaLinuxdistribution(asiscommontoday),itmaybebettertoaskinthedistro'sforum/listbeforetryingtheprogram'sprojectforum/list.Theproject'shackersmayjustsay,“useourbuild”.
BeforepostingtoanyWebforum,checkifithasaSearchfeature.Ifitdoes,tryacoupleofkeywordsearchesforsomethinglikeyourproblem;itjustmighthelp.IfyoudidageneralWebsearchbefore(asyoushouldhave),searchtheforumanyway;yourWeb-widesearchenginemightnothaveallofthisforumindexedrecently.
ThereisanincreasingtendencyforprojectstodousersupportoveraWebforumorIRCchannel,withe-mailreservedmorefordevelopmenttraffic.Solookforthosechannelsfirstwhenseekingproject-specifichelp.
Asasecondstep,useprojectmailinglists
Whenaprojecthasadevelopmentmailinglist,writetothemailinglist,nottoindividualdevelopers,evenifyoubelieveyouknowwhocanbestansweryourquestion.Checkthedocumentationoftheprojectanditshomepagefortheaddressofaprojectmailinglist,anduseit.Thereareseveralgoodreasonsforthispolicy:
∙Anyquestiongoodenoughtobeaskedofonedeveloperwillalsobeofvaluetothewholegroup.Contrariwise,ifyoususpectyourquestionistoodumbforamailinglist,it'snotanexcusetoharassindividualdevelopers.
∙Askingquestionsonthelistdistributesloadamongdevelopers.Theindividualdeveloper(especiallyifhe'stheprojectleader)maybetoobusytoansweryourquestions.
∙Mostmailinglistsarearchivedandthearchivesareindexedbysearchengines.Ifyouaskyourquestionon-listanditisanswered,afuturequerentcouldfindyourquestionandtheanswerontheWebinsteadofaskingitagain.
∙Ifcertainquestionsareseentobeaskedoften,developerscanusethatinformationtoimprovethedocumentationorthesoftwareitselftobelessconfusing.Butifthosequestionsareaskedinprivate,nobodyhasthecompletepictureofwhatquestionsareaskedmostoften.
Ifaprojecthasbotha“user”anda“developer”(or“hacker”)mailinglistorWebforum,andyouarenothackingonthecode,askinthe“user”list/forum.Donotassumethatyouwillbewelcomeonthedeveloperlist,wherethey'relikelytoexperienceyourquestionasnoisedisruptingtheirdevelopertraffic.
However,ifyouaresureyourquestionisnon-trivial,andyougetnoanswerinthe“user”list/forumfor
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