Anyone who’s a member of help forum or mailing list know that people ask the dumbest questions. From Java forums to PHP mailing lists to any help-related website — none are safe from stupid questions.

I could very well be the last person to come across this, but I had to post a link to Eric Raymond’s and Rick Moen’s guide on How to Ask Questions the Smart Way. The document is linked to on many forums, websites, and mailing lists as a guide to asking good questions in order to get good answers.

Among the gems in the guide:

  • Choose your forum carefully
  • Use meaningful, specific subject headers
  • Write in clear, grammatical, correctly-spelled language
  • Don’t claim that you have found a bug
  • Grovelling is not a substitute for doing your homework

[ via Nelson ]

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