How to Make a Post Worth Reading

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SNGX1275

Posts: 10,615   +467
Ok guys I had hoped it didn't come to this but it appears it has. So here it is:

SNGX1275's Guide to Making a Quality Post

Part 1: Asking a question
1. Use our search feature you may be suprised how many topics and problems have been discussed here.
2. If your search comes up empty, consider using a search engine. www.google.com works pretty well.
3. Create a subject line that summarizes your problem. There are reasons for this:
3a. People that have a similar problem are more likely to find a solution based on thier use of the search feature (see #1).
3b. Members will know what they are getting into before they click the thread, that way people that have a limited amount of time on here each day don't waste their time with something they can't answer, or have no opinion on.
4. Include everything that may possibly be relavent in your question. This includes but is not limited to:
Operating System
Processor
Video Card
Amount of RAM
Hard Drives
Other Drives
Internet Connection
And anything you have done since when things were working fine.
5. Post in the proper forum, if you are unsure to what forum your question fits into pick the one you think it most closely fits into. A moderator will move it if you chose the wrong one. Do not post the same question in multiple forums. Posting in multiple areas creates a seperation of replies and makes it harder on people that follow rule #1.
6. Please do not ask to be e-mailed with an answer, most members can't be troubled to do that. If you really have limited internet access we do have a box you can check before you hit submit called "Email Notification" - that way you will get an e-mail each time someone responds.

Part 2: Replying to a thread
1. Try and reply only if you have something to add. This keeps people from having to sift through 6 posts of nonsense before they can get to 1 relavent post.
2. Try and post only things you know to be facts, if you must speculate make it clear that that is what you are doing, I'd hate to do something that messes up my system because someone told me that it worked, when in fact they weren't sure.
3. If you have time look up an answer for someone on google if you don't know it yourself (Note*: This comes in espically handy during contest time). If you do it this way, it can't hurt to provide links to where you got the information.
4. If you are only answering or responding to a certain portion of someone's question or comment then use the quote feature and edit out the parts that you are not responding to. This makes it easier for people to see what you are commenting on.

Part 3: Posts in Meeting Spot
Since this forum is much more open than others not all above rules apply
1. Avoid posting extremely controversial issues, we have a wide variety of maturity levels here and not all members can handle threads like this. Bring those to the IRC chatroom if you must.
2. Do not personally attack people, that just creates grudges.
3. Keep threads as on topic as possible, if you must discuss something else inside of another thread don't - instead create a new thread on it.

Part 4: E-Mail Requests
Do not post a message requesting people e-mail you with the solution. You will very rarely find someone that will take the time to e-mail you. If the reason you are wanting someone to email you with an answer is you are not comming back to the boards real often and are concerned about finding your post we can help you there.
When you are creating a post, there is a subscribe feature in the Additional Options section (its right below where you type the message). There is an option there that will e-mail you anytime anyone replies to the thread.
 
That sounds like a great guide SNGX1275. Unfortunately, I think it was time this was done. And of course if anyone has any questions I don't think it would be a problem to PM a moderator.
 
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