Clarity is important, both in question and in answer.
- by gerrylowry
clarity is important ... i'm often reminded of the Clouseau movie in which Peter Sellers as Chief Inspector Clouseau asks a hotel clerk "Does your dog bite?" ... the clerk answers "no" ... after Clouseau has been bitten by the dog, he looks at the hotel clerk who says "That's not my dog". Clarity is important, both in question and in answer.
i've been a member of forums.asp.net since 2008 ... like many of my peers at forums.asp.net, i've answered my fair share of questions.
FWIW, the purpose of this, my first web log post to http://weblogs.asp.net/gerrylowry is to help new members ask better questions and in turn get better answers.
TIMTOWTDI =. there is more than one way to do it
imho, the best way to ask a question in any forum, or even person to person, is to first formulate your question and then ask yourself to answer your own question.
Things to consider when asking (the more complete your question, the more likely you'll get the answer you require):
-- have you searched Google and/or your favourite search engine(s) before posting your question to forums.asp.net; examples:
site:msdn.microsoft.com entity framework 5.0 c#http://lmgtfy.com/?q=site%3Amsdn.microsoft.com+entity+framework+5.0+c%23
site:forums.asp.net MVC tutorial c#http://lmgtfy.com/?q=site%3Aforums.asp.net+MVC+tutorial+c%23
-- are you asking your question in the correct forum? look at the forums' descriptions at http://forums.asp.net/; examples:
Getting Started
If you have a general ASP.NET question on a topic that's not covered by one of the other more specific forums - ask it here.
MVC
Discussions regarding ASP.NET Model-View-Controller (MVC)
C#
Questions about using C# for ASP.NET development
Note: if your question pertains more to c# than to MVC, choosing the C# forum is likely to be more appropriate.
-- is your post subject clear and concise, yet not too vague?
compare these three subjects (all three had something to do with GridView): (1) please help (2) gridview (3) How to show newline in GridView
-- have you clearly explained your scenario?
compare: my leg hurts with when i walk too much, my right knee hurts in the knee joint
compare: my code does not work with when i enter a date as 2012-11-8, i get a FormatException
-- have you checked your spelling, your grammar, and your English?
for better or worse, English is the language of forums.asp.net ... many of the currently 170000++ forums.asp.net are not native speakers of English; that's okay ... however, there are times when choosing the more appropriate words will likely get one a better answer; fortunately, there are web tools to help you formulate your question, for example, http://translate.google.com/.
-- have you provided relevant information about your environment? here are a few examples ... feel free to include other items to your question ... rule of thumb: if you think a given detail is relevant, it likely is
-- what technology are you using? ASP.NET MVC 4, ASP.NET MVC 3, WebForms, ...
-- what version of Visual Studio are you using? vs2012 (ultimate, professional, express), vs2010, vs2008 ...
-- are you hosting your own website? are you using a shared hosting service?
-- are you experience difficulties in just one browser? more than one browser?
-- what browser version(s) are you using? ie8? ie9? ...
-- what is your operating system? win8, win7, vista, XP, server 2008 R2 ...
-- what is your database? SQL Server 2008 R2, ss2005, MySQL, Oracle, ...
-- what is your web server? iis 7.5, iis 6, ....
-- have you provided enough information for someone to be able to answer your question?
Here's an actual example from an O.P. that i hope is self-explanatory:
I'm trying to make a simple calculator
when i write the code in windows application it worked
when i tried it in web application it doesn't work and there are no errors
what should i do ??!!
-- have you included unnecessary information?
more than once, i've seen the O.P. (original post, original poster) include many extra lines of code that were not relevant to the actual question; the more unnecessary code that you include, the less likely your volunteer peers will be motivated to donate their time to help you.
-- have you asked the question that you want answered?
"Does this dog bite?"
-- are your expectations reasonable?
-- generally, persons who are going to answer your questions are your peers ... they are unpaid volunteers ...
-- are you looking for help with your homework, work assignment, or hobby? or, are you expecting someone else to do your work for you?
-- do you expect a complete solution or are you simply looking for guidance and direction?
-- you are likely to get more help by first making a reasonable effort to help yourself first
Clarity is important, both in question and in answer.
if you are answering someone else's question, please remember that clear answers are just as important as clear questions; would you understand your own answer?
Things to consider when answering:
-- have you tested your code example? if you have, say so; if you've not tested your code example, also say so
-- imho, it's okay to guess as long as you clearly state that you're guessing ... sometimes a wrong guess can still help the O.P. find her/his way to the right answer
-- meanness does not contribute to being helpful; sometimes one may become frustrated with the O.P. and/or others participating in a thread, if that happens to you, be kind regardless; speaking from my own experience, at least once i've allowed myself to be frustrated into writing something inappropriate that i've regretted later ... being a meany does not feel good ... being kind and helpful feels fantastic!
Tip: before asking your question, read more than a few existing questions and answers to get a sense of how your peers ask and answer questions.
Gerry
P.S.: try to avoid necroposting and piggy backing.
necroposting is adding to an old post, especially one that was resolved months ago.
piggy backing is adding your own question to someone else's thread.
