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How to Write & Submit Questions Answered


I haven't been a member of this community very long but I've enjoyed looking at many of the posts and have learned a thing or two.  I also enjoy helping people by posting comments and answers to questions.  One thing that I've noticed is that a significant number of posters write very poor questions.   Not that the question isn't valid, but rather the phrasing or context is not clear.  Some of them remind me of the old programming axiom GIGO - Garbage in equals garbage out.  Posters don't get good responses because they didn't form a good question.  The curious would get much better answers if the questions were clear as to the information requested, the context, conditions, the desired outcome, etc.  One might start with the old "5 W's" (who, what, when, where, & why and perhaps how and how many).  A little extra effort in phrasing the question and perhaps some good manners (please & thank you) will result in better responses and more community participation.   Perhaps as a collaborative effort, would there be value in developing an instructable on how to write a question?  Not as a set of rules or a format, but as a general guide as to what information should be included.

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lemonie

7 years ago


Yes, but those people are visitors usually, they do that first before looking for tuition. And of the rest who write poorly, few would take guidance by finding it on here somewhere.

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Lithium Rain

7 years ago

While the instructable would indubitably be of value, I doubt that it would actually impact the quality of questions being asked. The type of people who ask dumb questions don't look for the answers elsewhere, and sure don't look for guidelines on how to ask good questions. So we have our own little private Yahoo! Answers section. :-\
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