Best Practices On Posting Questions in Forums
Introduction
Just like any one, when we run into problems in .Net or SQL Server, we need help from other people. We look for the solution in Google. If we couldn’t find then we will get into good forums like DotNetSpider, where you have so many great people who can answer your question in very short span. There are some instances where great people can’t answer some of these questions with the information that is provided in Question and Description.
Why no one is responding to my question?
There could be number of reasons. The two most obvious reasons could be either the question or description are not very clear from a complete requirement point of view or the people in forum didn’t come across that situation or do not have expertise to answer the question or solve the problem. Obvious we can’t expect from any one to have hands on every technology that is there in the software field.
The Wrong way to post your question
Normally, a person will start posting like “Urgent” in the title and posts something like “How to validate Textbox data in ASP.NET. Please send me code. Its urgent”. When you hit submit, it will ask you to enter other mandatory fields in page.
With out spending a little to see where your question falls under, you just simply select any category to post your question. But your post goes into minutes, hours and even days with no response.
Another example in SQL Server section is, title contains SQL Query and the Description contains explain below query:
SELECT * FROM EMP WHERE EMP_ID = [:in_emp_id]
As you know each line of the code has meaning associated with its previous or next line. If you just post where you have the doubt then, we can’t answer your question.
The Correct way to post your question
Let’s take some time to put it in right way so that you will get good responses to your question. If we take examples in previous section then:
My Subject line is going to be “Text Box Validation in ASP.NET” and description or the problem statement would be “Hi Friends, I have one text box in my ASP.NET web application form, where I am expecting users to enter their telephone number. I would like to put to validation on this control. The validation that I want to place on this textbox is to accept only numbers from 0-9. The validation should be on client side using java script. So please give me the code/idea to achieve this”
When we are posting our question in the forum we should respect the person who is reading your question.
What am I supposed to do after getting the answer?
Once you are satisfied with the answer, please rate the answer that was able to give you the right solution or direction and please put a word “thank you”.
“Thank you” word really means a lot to the people who are trying to help you in solving the problem.
Even if you are able to find a solution on your own, please come back to the forum and say few lines about how you resolved the issue? This way you are going to help others as well. Please use the same thread.
What if I do not get the answer?
If you are not satisfied with the answer try to use the same thread to post your comments. If nobody replied to your question then repost the same question (but not on the same day) with more detailed information. This is the best way to solve any problem. If you open new thread you may get same answers once again.
Thanks -- Vijaya Kadiyala
http://www.DotNetVJ.com
Microsoft MVP
Me & My Little Techie
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| Author: Gaurav Arora 18 Apr 2009 | Member Level: Diamond | Rating:  Points: 1 |
Hi Biju,
Thanks for providing so nice information, its a really helpful for all the new comers and for older members too.
Thanks & regards,
Gaurav Arora - Sr. Editor
Me in My Own Style
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| Author: www.DotNetVJ.com 18 Apr 2009 | Member Level: Diamond | Rating: Points: 0 |
Hi Gaurav,
Thank you for your comments....
Thanks -- Vj
Thanks -- Vijaya Kadiyala
http://www.DotNetVJ.com
Microsoft MVP
Me & My Little Techie
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| Author: Raghav 18 Apr 2009 | Member Level: Gold | Rating: Points: 2 |
Vijaya Krishna,
It is really informative article. I agree with you completely that the question should be complete and they should not just post the line of code where they have doubt and about titles also we have announced many times to give correct titles which matches the question being asked. Let us see if the members will follow these guidelines.
Raghav
Web Master
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| Author: greeny_1984 19 Apr 2009 | Member Level: Diamond | Rating: Points: 2 |
Hi,
These are definitely the must watch out rules to post a question in a forum.Thanks for sharing this info Mr.Vijaya Krishna.
Regards,
Greeny_1984
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| Author: Anil Kumar Pandey 20 Apr 2009 | Member Level: Diamond | Rating: Points: 2 |
hi,
This is a very good information regarding The Forum.. The members must read this in order to Post there question and get the answers..
I agree with all the points mentioned by Mr. Vijaya..
Thanks & Regards
Anil Kumar Pandey
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| Author: Deepika Haridas 20 Apr 2009 | Member Level: Diamond | Rating: Points: 2 |
Hi,
Informative..
Members must follow the points while posting a question so that it becomes easy to obtain the answers.
Thanks & Regards,
Deepika
Editor
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| Author: www.DotNetVJ.com 22 Apr 2009 | Member Level: Diamond | Rating: Points: 2 |
Hi
I am happy to see people are really following best practices.
ex:
http://www.dotnetspider.com/forum/202361-Procedure-problem.aspx
Thanks -- Vijaya Kadiyala
http://www.DotNetVJ.com
Microsoft MVP
Me & My Little Techie
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| Author: kaleeswaran 06 Oct 2009 | Member Level: Gold | Rating: Points: 2 |
Very good information
Regards,
Kaleeswaran,
http://4xchange.blogspot.com
Regards,
Kaleeswaran
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