Author Topic: How to get a good answer in a forum.  (Read 731 times)

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Offline mrpackethead

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How to get a good answer in a forum.
« on: January 18, 2019, 05:55:24 am »
If you ask the question

" How do you add two numbers together "      You will be largely ignored.

If you said

I'm designing a number adding system and so far I have determined that 1 + 2 equals 7 you will get 50 answers telling you are wrong but among those will be lots of good information about how to add numbers...

Why does this behaviour exist?


I expect to be largely ignored.
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Offline ataradov

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Re: How to get a good answer in a forum.
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2019, 06:25:02 am »
Alex
 
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Offline ivaylo

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Re: How to get a good answer in a forum.
« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2019, 06:49:21 am »
Rule #1: Clearly show that you are not trolling. If you are asking for help describe your level and how much work have you done to figure out the answer yourself. What exactly are you stuck with? Upload pictures, graphs, etc, so whoever is trying to help understand what are you talking about. In a (mostly) professional forum like this one respect people’s time.

Just " How do you add two numbers together " is plain trolling...

 

Offline digsys

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Re: How to get a good answer in a forum.
« Reply #3 on: January 18, 2019, 06:54:35 am »
It's all hit+miss. Depends on who is on at the time, and often, the first few replies. Sometimes, old low activity threads get resurrected, and suddenly become
"hot". Or a "hot" thread will suddenly go south. How you ask the questions doesn't guarantee civil discussion, not here at least.
If you don't get helpful responses, bump the thread at a different time zone, or different group of users. If you intend to post a bit, keep a tag of the
"trouble makers" :-)
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Offline mrpackethead

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Re: How to get a good answer in a forum.
« Reply #4 on: January 18, 2019, 07:03:52 am »

Just " How do you add two numbers together " is plain trolling...

Maybe it was a poor example.   
 
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Online beanflying

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Re: How to get a good answer in a forum.
« Reply #5 on: January 18, 2019, 07:15:13 am »
Fairly often post number one (or early posts generally) from people are so vague the responses become the question and the speculation of what they actually meant becomes the topic in particular when they don't clarify their question.

Detailed questions on the other hand sometimes have a simple and known set of options or solutions to someone that doesn't need much debate.

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Offline Rerouter

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Re: How to get a good answer in a forum.
« Reply #6 on: January 18, 2019, 07:33:59 am »
There is always the counter-troll, I have come across a large amount of good information this way, Answer so poorly that someone else snaps and thinks "something is wrong on the internet, I must correct this", Then enjoy the half page answer so detailed you think its an expert in there field  :box:

In reality, Its a fine balance between enough information, in small enough chunks that someone that knows about it can understand it without having to put pen to paper most times, every industry uses different inhouse names for all manner of things, and most times unless you know there exact wording, it wont click, but explain the concept and you have a chance.

Ironically I find the less intelligent in the subject I come across as, the better the answers, because then all the stupid rules of thumb get explained that otherwise will kick your butt 3 weeks into a project.
 
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Online Brumby

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Re: How to get a good answer in a forum.
« Reply #7 on: January 18, 2019, 07:38:59 am »

Just " How do you add two numbers together " is plain trolling...

Maybe it was a poor example.

Actually, I would suggest that was a good example.  That assessment, however, is based on the fact that the person posing the question was, in fact, asking a genuine question ... just in a poorly structured form.

That can be a significant issue - where people understand in their own head what they mean, but don't construct their question in a way where they correctly convey the necessary information for others to understand.  This is fundamental communication.  It is unfortunate that such an important part of life has fallen into general disrepair among a significant proportion of the populace.
 
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Online vk6zgo

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Re: How to get a good answer in a forum.
« Reply #8 on: January 18, 2019, 08:44:49 am »
If you ask the question

" How do you add two numbers together "      You will be largely ignored.

If you said

I'm designing a number adding system and so far I have determined that 1 + 2 equals 7 you will get 50 answers telling you are wrong but among those will be lots of good information about how to add numbers...

Why does this behaviour exist?


I expect to be largely ignored.

It exists because  people don't believe that it is the whole question, so wait to see if you are going to edit it to make sense.

In the second case, it is fairly obvious that your method is not producing the results expected, so should be discussed.

The ones that are a bit aggravating are those where a "how do you do this" type question is asked, & the OP, after being told one of the common ways of solving their problem, becomes testy & recasts themselves as a "guru" whose already chosen method is superior to anything that has been suggested.

This raises the question "If you know it all, why the question in the first place?"
 

Offline tggzzz

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Re: How to get a good answer in a forum.
« Reply #9 on: January 18, 2019, 08:59:06 am »
Classical work on the subject http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Over the years that has become bloated and - for those that could benefit from it -  impenetrable.

My version is at https://entertaininghacks.wordpress.com/library-2/good-questions-pique-our-interest-and-dont-waste-our-time-2/
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