The right way to ask a question to get an answer

Dear new developer,

I already covered the right way to ask questions, but this post was so good that I wanted to share it. (I found it on hackernews.) Mike Ash gives advice on how to get answers from the internet.

Tips like “explain everything up front”, “post your code” and “follow up after you get an answer” will make it more likely that when you post a question on a forum, you’ll get some kind of help. The whole thing is worth reading, but here’s an excerpt that really resonated for me:

Many conversations I see indicate a subtle, buried belief that the list or chat is some kind of answer machine, and the key to obtaining a good response is to hunt around until the precise required format for the question is found.

…

It’s not a game, you’re talking to real live people. Treat them just as you would treat people you’re talking to face-to-face, and you’ll get much better results.

I have been one of those newbies under pressure to get something done. I’ve seen comments on github that lead to statements like this. It’s easy to forget that the folks helping you are

a) people

b) not getting paid by you

No matter how obvious the bug seems, or how much it is impacting you, you have to treat people helping you kindly. (You should do that even if you are paying people, by the way. If your boss doesn’t respect you, find a new boss.) Anyone who has run a volunteer organization knows that respecting the volunteers is the first step to getting anything done. Every time you ask a question on an internet forum or mailing list, you are essentially tasking a set of volunteers. Treat them right.

Sincerely,

Dan