Basic guidelines on etiquette and civility

pdwalker

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(This is copied from another forum I am actively involved in, and I felt that it also might be useful here too)
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We know, you have a problem and you need an answer RIGHT NOW! and either no one answers you, or they ask you a bunch of stupid questions just to piss you off.

Now is the time to stop, take a moment and think.

The participants in this forum are scattered all over the world. Some may not check in every day. Some may, but may not know how to solve your particular problem so they don't answer. Getting an answer may take some time.

When someone does, remember that they are volunteering their time and energy to help you solve your problem. They are giving up their precious time to help you. Why do they do it? Because next time, maybe they are the one who needs help. The person they help today may be the person who helps them tomorrow.

Be polite, be courteous and be understanding. Many people here do not speak English as their native language, but we (mostly) have to communicate in English as that is the common language between us. Keep this in mind.

When you are describing your problem, you may think you understand your problem correctly and you may think you are giving the right information necessary to solve your problem. If that were true, then you wouldn't be having a problem.

The people who will help you may not have all the necessary information they need as you may not have provided it, or you may think that certain information is not necessary, but you'd be wrong. After all, they are not familiar with your system, your configuration, your settings. They may not know what changes you've made, or remember what changes they've made to their own systems that makes it behave differently from yours.

The people helping you will ask questions. Some of those questions may not seem relevant. But here is the thing: if you knew what information was really relevant, then you could probably solve your own problem and you wouldn't be here asking.

Please, if you want help, then be helpful. Keep in mind that no one here needs to spend their valuable time helping you with your problem. So try to have a little gratitude if they do. It costs you nothing and pays everyone back tremendously.
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That said, I've found this forum to be among one of the better ones I've been involved in with a very high signal to noise ratio.

Just don't ask when v4 will be ready; because it won't be until it's done.
 
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