Computers
I've been answering questions on the web for several years, so I'm offering some tips to get effective help quickly.
1. All we know is what you write. We can't see you or hear you, so the usual clues provided by your appearance or tone aren't available. Use proper capitalization and punctuation and make an effort to spell correctly and you'll get help faster.
2. Provide, at a minimum, the follwing :
a. Operating system, computer name, age and model.
b. As complete a description of the problem as possible. Include error messages, what you were doing when the problem occurred, recent changes to your computer, what software seems to trigger the event, if any. More information provides more clues.
3. Answer the questions asked by the people trying to help. It often boggles my mind that a poster will reply to such queries only partially, or completely ignore them. There are usually good reasons for these questions, even if they don't seem related to you.
4. Be nice. We understand your frustration, but we're working for free and the love of it. We're not perfect, and we may make errors and head down the wrong path, but you're trying to save a buck, and we're usually going to solve the problem if you cooperate.
5. Let us know if the solution works. Most such forums maintain records searchable by topic, so your solution may help someone in the future.
6. Say thank you. Only one in ten or fifteen people bother with this nicety, and I've learned to live with that, but you gotta' wonder, "What's up with that?"
