I'm as baffled as you BigEd, but in the other direction, so to speak.

The bullet-point advice you posted at the top still looks good; it's short enough that people might read it, and good advice generally. Could we perhaps agree on that?

I would perhaps add "read the post you are responding to" to it. It's pretty common (and just human nature I guess) to try and answer the question that is in one's head rather than the question in front of you, in my experience. Something to be aware of.

"Advice for posters" could perhaps say "advice for those asking questions / seeking advice" or some variation. As I read it, the section is the counterpart to the one below, and it might be clearer stating that explicitly.

OK, I've made a small tweak. I hope what I've written does help - at least it's out there, and it gets it off my chest. We'll inevitably still have our little disagreements. Overall, this is a friendly and helpful place - I wouldn't want to overstate any criticism.

Minor disagreements are inevitable. Here is one now! :-)

"Read before write" is something I would direct more at those answering questions, but you are of course right that it is important to do so on the other side as well. And to me it is a bit clearer leaving out "poster"/"responder" from the headings - we are all posters to the forum, right? But the intended meaning is still obvious of course, so no big deal.

Another common issue might be worth including, that of asking a question in a way that is too specific. I see it all the time, it even has a name, which I of course can't remember. (something like "X not Y")


What I would like to suggest for inclusion is something like this:

For those seeking advice

Always make it clear what it is that you are trying to accomplish. Stating a problem very narrowly makes it harder to take a big picture view and come up with good solutions. "I need to travel to Germany" will yield different (and better) answers than "I have a bicycle. How do I make it go really fast?".

For those offering assistance

Make sure that the question you are responding to is the one that is being asked. Sometimes we jump to conclusions and what is in our heads is not the same as what is in front of us - getting it right the first time saves time and effort on your part and avoids confusion.

Perhaps those two sections should be under a common heading of "how to ask and answer questions" or someting similar. Right now it might give the impression that this place is only intended for technical questions and answers.


Just to be clear, what's already there is good, and I'm glad you took the time to write it down.

I would add, those offering advice should assume that the person they are helping is intelligent and doesn't need lessons in the basics, unless that's what they asked for. Stack Exchange is plagued with this problem - people writing questions could do so in a single paragraph, but instead end up writing a short novel covering all the basic and obvious stuff they already know and tried. That then stops people helping them, because the question is TL;DR.

Also, people know how to google, so even if you provide an answer that they don't understand they can google the keywords or simply ask for further explanation.