Some thoughts on how to ask questions the Smart Way

favalora · Post by **favalora** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:31 pm

Are you new here and thinking about asking some questions? Great!

This forum is such a great place for new and experienced holographers to share ideas and ask questions of each other. And it's been such a pleasure to participate when we ask such clear questions and try so sincerely to help others with our knowledge.

There's a document online - geared for technical people - called "How to Ask Questions the Smart Way."

I posted this in case newcomers to this forum are afraid to post their questions, or if they'd be willing to endure some guidance on the best way to be noticed such that their questions get answered. I found this to be particularly helpful, for example, when I've posted computer problems on other fora.

Some useful advice relative to this forum are:

Use Meaningful, Specific Headers. You should consider your Subject: line carefully. That is, a Subject: of "Low-cost lens mounts: Where to find them?" is more thoughtful and perhaps more likely to get answered than a Subject: line of "Help me! I really screwed up!"
Describe the Goal, not the Step; and
Follow Up with a Brief Note on the Solution, to thank the people who helped you and to summarize the solution for future people on the forums.

I hope this note will just be seen for what it is - a way to encourage newcomers to use the best forum-posting style possible, and a way for the rest of us to continue increasing the quality and value of our community.

-Gregg Favalora

ps Please, I posted this because I'd been thinking about it for a while. I didn't mean to make any recent posters self-conscious.

Colin Kaminski · Post by **Colin Kaminski** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:36 pm

Thank you Gregg,

I made it a sticky so it will stay at the top of the forum.

JohnFP · Post by **JohnFP** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:51 am

Flavora, a very excellent article, but......if I may express my opinion. Do we think this may encourage or inhibit the casual poster to post? It is quite lengthy and detail and I have not even read the whole thing yet.

I wonder if, since this is a sticky now, you may be open for a suggestion?

Keep your post as it is but take out the link to the document where it is and place about 5 strong bulleted points at that place in the post. Then as the end of the post write something like. "for more detailed information...." then post the article.

Again I only state this because when a newby comes to our forum for the first time and goes to the "Beginning Holography" section the first post he will read is based on a document geared toward technical people which is quite lengthy. Not only are not all people technical but it may be not all want to read a 5 page document on how to post prior to even reading anything on holography. This may cause a shying away of some. While the subject line is totally accurate "Some thoughts..." thought being the important word, the posts seem more of guidelines and rules and not thoughts.

Please do not feel I am being negative in any way, I am just being Frank with what I felt when I read the post. Please also feel free to comment back if you don't see it this way. Because, "But one photos does not a hologram make". Pluss I really respect your opinion!

JohnFP · Post by **JohnFP** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:06 pm

I will say it's a little disappointing when there is no follow up or reply from the asker after suggestions have been made. It makes the contributor's wonder if what was described and what they posted as a potential fix actually worked or not.

favalora · Post by **favalora** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:08 pm

Hi JohnFP-

I totally agree with you. Also, I just re-read my post, and I should have been more clear that I didn't write the article it links to -- I found it online. (I.e., I didn't sit there writing up guidelines for five hours.)

Really, we could distill it to the most important point, which is that it would be helpful if we all remembered to think carefully about the Subject: line of our posts. It should mention what the topic and question of the post are.

Some online fora have a lengthy "welcome newbies" post, but the ones I've seen are geared towards people who presumably have much less experience. For example, this intro post at xkcd seems to work fine for that crowd, but I don't think it's appropriate here. It is too condescending and overstated for us.

I think the right thing to do is: (1) Colin, maybe we should make my post editable by me (or delete it & I'll start over) so that: (2) I'll follow JohnFP's suggestion of beginning with a few important bullet poins, and end with a "for more information...", and (3) let us regular posters teach by example, which might end up being the most effective way to guide newcomers after all.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, JohnFP!

-g

JohnFP · Post by **JohnFP** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:12 pm

Ahh, you're such a pleasure to talk to.

No, I don't think it should be unstickied. It's a great source!

Colin Kaminski · Post by **Colin Kaminski** » Fri May 09, 2008 2:19 am

Gregg,

I have not gotten to your request. I am sorry for the delay. Do you still want to rewrite this?

favalora · Post by **favalora** » Thu May 29, 2008 11:51 pm

Hi Colin -

Sure, I'd be happy to. If you delete this thread I'll post a more concise note. I mean, hey, it'll cement my reputation as "that guy who doesn't make very many holograms, but sure has a lot of opinions on how to ask questions."

-g

Colin Kaminski · Post by **Colin Kaminski** » Fri May 30, 2008 2:00 pm

Gregg,

I'll take off the sticky first so you can have this thread to reference then when you have the new one I'll delete this one. If that is OK?

Justin W · Post by **Justin W** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 5:33 pm

Weird last post about love deleted by me because it was spam and had nothing to do with holography.