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Thread: How to ask questions in a forum!! Newbees and exp. people pay attention!

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
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    How to ask questions in a forum!!

    Newbie’s and exp. but lazy people pay attention!

    Considering all the laconic answers and grunts that the newbie’s and lazy people had to face from the seasoned dbasupport.com members. I thought all the newbie’s and others alike must take a good look at this…

    Because I'm sure you'll be redirected to it should you get lazy or clumsy.

    Some Important issues for you all....

    USE SEARCH FIRST

    90% chance is that the problem that you need to have solved is already solved somewhere on this forum or on the net. Do search this forum first and then recommended is to search www.google.com. Pretty good chances are that you'll find your answers. Don’t start posts where you discuss…

    1. Codd’s model.
    2. RDBMS
    3. Dataware Housing
    4. Databases comparison’s
    5. Ay other hugely broad topic’s which are endless and are already being discussed/or fought over by software vendor’s/pundits!

    Like I said, Just search the … Web.

    BE DESCRIPTIVE PLEASE

    This can't be stressed any more than it already gets when you have a senior member grunting or giving you one liners which apparently seem sarcastic to you. And all you do is cut and paste and yell "Help me".

    Note!

    1. Tell us what your script does and what it should have done.

    2. Post the error message and not just that "I get an error!"

    3. Remember that you know a lot more about your script than we do. Don't assume we know just what it does.

    DON'T USE IDIOTIC TOPIC NAMES!

    Post a descriptive topic name! Give a short summary of your problem in the subject. Don't use attention getting subjects, they're not fair to other users! Things like "PLEASE HELP!" or "URGENT" make your post unfairly look like a priority over other users post who need help just as much as you. Posting non-descriptive leading in topic names just to get more reads will not be tolerated. And besides our so called “URGENT” posts will soon be ignored.

    Here's a great list of topic subjects YOU SHOULD NOT POST by freebsd:

    1) Help me
    2) Hello
    3) You must know the answer
    4) Please help this newbie
    5) Something wrong
    6) Come on Oracle gurus
    7) This one for you
    8) Just wondering
    9) This is too complicated for me
    10) possible?
    11) Very urgent
    12) I have a question
    13) Stupid question
    14) Newbie needs help
    15) pulling my hair out
    16) this is driving me nuts
    17) WHAT THE?!?!

    Generally anything similar to those is unacceptable. Just post your problem.



    These are bad examples:

    "I can't figure this out!"
    "Stupid question..."
    "Help me! Urgent!"

    ONLY POST THE PART OF YOUR SCRIPT THAT HAS PROBLEMS

    Please do not post your entire script in a message. To get help faster, post only the code most related to the problem you are experiencing - really try to single it out. If you have to use 2 or more posts just to fit your code in, that is probably a good clue that you are posting way too much of it and it's not going to be easy for anyone to help you pinpoint the problem, especially not having run the script themselves.
    That meaning that you did try to look at the problem yourself and not just threw it into the forum.




    IF YOU GET AN ERROR ON A CERTAIN LINE, GIVE US CODES ABOVE AND BELOW AS WELL

    It's not too helpful when you mention an error on a certain line but don't tell us what code is on that line. Because errors can sometimes be caused by lines of code above or below the one the error is mentioned on, please post those lines as well. Very often you se that the error in a simple pl/sql code happens to be in the declarative section and you keep pondering over the pls error which gives you the lines which threw the exception or were thrown in the “show err” etc.

    ONLY YOU KNOW WHAT "CODE DOESN'T WORK" MEANS

    Please tell us what your script is supposed to do and why it "doesn't work". Or if you don't feel like explaining what the whole script is, at least tell us what the troublesome code is supposed to do. When you come in and say "it doesn't work" or just "it has errors", that means nothing. There could be a million things wrong and no one will know where to look!

    IF YOU DON’T WANT, DON'T ASK FOR HELP

    Often times, people post questions about their script with the wrong mindset from the very beginning. Soon they are receiving replies, and silently debugging their code, making no effort to even acknowledge the people helping them! It becomes one sided, and the poster isn't aware that many of the people helping them hope to learn something as well! Letting people know of your progress and how their suggestions apply (or do not apply) will not only help you figure out your problem quicker, but you'll be returning the favor to those of us who learn more by helping.


    And if people post code that is over your head, ask them for an explanation. Too many times I see great solutions posted, then the original poster doesn't understand it and goes hunting somewhere else. So just ask again and this time for explanation.

    Just like the question I saw in a developer forum a few days back a guy asking how to display os files using pl/sql code on the NT. I checked some sources/ adapted it/ modified it/ worked it out on my machine but gave him only the steps of how it could be done but not the copy paste , well he didn’t even bother to ask back , so the bottom line is look first. “HOW TO’S” are not hard to find, like I said in the beginning 90% of the “HOW TO’S” will probably be already solved somewhere, “THE WHY’S” are the one that will need a…
    1. Nice clear topic/header
    2. A concise but yet descriptive explanation with piece’s of your suspicious code.
    3. Your efforts to solve it.


    REMEMBER THIS IS AN OPEN FORUM, YOU’RE GETTING HELP FREE OF COST SO DUMP THAT EGO!

    Regardless of how big your ego is, somebody else is taking his time out to help you, he/she is in no way obliged to do that. Remember that when people help you they are doing you a favor. You are not doing them a favor by letting them see your great long cool descriptive code/ cool application.(For all you know you’ll get a nice lecture from someone like Chris point by point, all what you did wrong!). Be patient, help people out by posting good descriptions of what you need help with, and not snapping at people with garbage like "if you aren't going to help don't waste my time replying”.

    Edited the text which I found on a furum
    Also take a few minutes of your time and read this as well...

    http://munk.nu/www.tuxedo.org/esr/fa...questions.html


    Cheers!

    Tarry
    Last edited by Tarry; 05-15-2003 at 04:42 PM.
    Tarry Singh
    I'm a JOLE(JavaOracleLinuxEnthusiast)
    TarryBlogging
    --- Everything was meant to be---

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2000
    Location
    greenwich.ct.us
    Posts
    9,092
    Excellent information. You can comment on this thread in the "How To" forum.
    Jeff Hunter

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