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Q&A etiquette

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by cactus pete

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Not long ago, OzMedia lamented in http://tinyurl.com/en6v about become somewhat disenfranchized with the Q&A section of TR, triggering many of us to empathize.

While I wrote my post to that thread, I brainstormed that perhaps we can collect a series of points which can help guide the question poster to foster more [and more pertinent] answers.

I'll start a few. Perhaps we'll come up with something TR will actually like enough to post.

1. Differentiate [and post in both locations] between what should be a Question, and what should be a Discussion. The line is obviously blurred, but a general guideline, I think, would be that open ended and general questions should really be discussions - What FW should I use? Why is OSX better than OS2? I've got to solve X, what sort of Y should I get?

Whereas "How do I change the default font size in MS Word 97 documents?" would certainly be for Q&A.

2. Add as much detail to your question as you can. Perhaps even include some of what you've already tried so answers don't repeat the work you've already done.

3. If you don't already have a solution, and the posted answer isn't just flat out wrong, don't reject it - yet. Add comments to the end of your original question to clarify what you're looking for.

What else?

7 replies

by timwalsh

1. If you do reject an answer, please state why (i.e. ?I tried it and it didn?t work?, ?Someone else gave me the same answer first?, ?I don?t like your name?, etc.)

2. Close your question, either once you get the answer you need, or when it becomes obvious you aren?t going to get the answer you want (mainly directed towards the poster of ?QLA2100 FC HBA - can?t boot Windows XP?).

3. Don?t use all capital letters. IT HURTS MY EYES.

4. Punctuation marks are included on your keyboard for a reason. Please use them. Run-on sentences can sometimes make it impossible to decipher what you are trying to ask.

5. The primary purpose of TR is to provide help to others (or to get help from others). It is NOT an advertising agency ora job search agency. DON?T use it as such.

6. While the primary purpose of TR is to help others, please do SOME homework before asking a question (i.e. search Google, search vendor online FAQs, read the user?s manual that came with your equipment/software, use vendor online support/troubleshooting tools, etc.). (NOTE: probably half the answers I provide come from simple searches using these same tools).

7. We WILL NOT: do your homework, design your network, write your software, give out software product ID codes, provide hacker advice, etc.

Give me time, I?ll think of more.

by thechas

I take a minor exception with point #3.

I freely advise peers to reject answers if they need more detail or have further information.

I try to always check the notify box when I submit an answer, and rely on a rejection to direct me to providemore information.

I just do not have the time to go back through several days worth of questions to see if someone has posted a comment.

So, unless the forum can be changed to allow for notification of added comments, I think that rejections are the only way for us to know when we need to provide more information for the peer.

Chas

by cactus pete

This ties in nicely with something else I've been thinking about: Question subscriptions, like the discussions. Sometimes there are questions that I am interested in, but not to the point where I will do the research myself. I'd like to see the other answers' varying versions so I can then expand my own knowledge...

by guruofdos

What gets my goat is taking the time to analyse a question, formulate a relevant answer, type it in and post...and then the questioner not bothering to check back for answers!

It's not that I'm hungry for the points...but it is courteous to at least acknowledge a poster, even if the answer is finally rejected.

by cactus pete

Most of this comes down to etiquette. We don't need the points. They are all but worthless in almost every sense. But it's the common courtesy that makes this a good community.

by oz_media

I guess it would be a little bit of dork for the TR staff, but it would be nice to have a button that RED flahs a question and allows you to request that the question is rejected.

I.E. If someone is Obviously doing homework, or looking for a job and the member feels that it doesn't fit within the Q&A guidelines, the member can request that the question is reviewed or revoked by TR to see if it is suits guidelines or not.

by oldefar

I would only add that the request to reject require text to indicate why you feel it should be rejected.

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