4 ms·

usually when i do the 7 steps described in "Before you ask" section, at that point if the question is not answered than nobody in the world will answer my quest

by majmun 15y ago

usually when i do the 7 steps described in "Before you ask" section, at that point if the question is not answered than nobody in the world will answer my question. So to conclude this paper should not exist.

delinka 15y ago
Hear, hear! This is my usual experience. So I would think my question is one of those Good Questions, but alas it goes ignored and unanswered. "Where have all the hackers gone?" I ponder.
- tokenadult 15y ago
  This is my usual experience. Are you able to provide links to previous questions you have asked? Perhaps that can help someone reply with suggestions that might answer the original questions, or explain why the questions were not answered back when you asked them.
  - delinka 15y ago
    I tend to stick with IRC so I have no links. It has been difficult to change habits to using a site like stack overflow.
chalst 15y ago
nobody in the world will answer my question - It sounds like you haven't been asking the right questions. You'd be surprised at who turns up to answer really good questions. All 7 steps are really overkill, but the first four, and enough of five ("inspection or experimentation") to apply what you find out from the first four steps, really are essential. The last two steps (skilled friends & source code) are really optional, and if you need to resort to these to find the answer, it is likely that your problem is interesting to the mailing list. It's worth comparing ESR's essay to SO's How to Ask page - http://stackoverflow.com/questions/how-to-ask http://stackoverflow.com/questions/how-to-ask - which asks much less of the questioner, and reflects the difference between mailing list culture and that at SO.
- majmun 15y ago
  I do some of this steps in random order (and loop until there are no more ideas): 5.Try to find an answer by inspection or experimentation. 3.Try to find an answer by reading the manual. 2.Try to find an answer by searching the Web. 7. Try to find an answer by reading the source code. (+ only source is almost never available so I use reverse engineering instead) Rarely do i need to ask questions with this methodology, and the guy who should answer probably would have to do the same.
- jerf 15y ago
  I would expect the primary differences don't stem from "culture" so much as differing technical platforms. If your question is actually a Wiki, and can be interactively refined in conjunction with the answerers, the need to complete the checklist in advance is lessened. In the end, the checklist will pretty much end up filled out one way or another, and there's still a such thing as a bad question and a bad questioner, but in both cases there's a better (if not 100%) chance to rehabilitate them interactively.

by majmun 15y ago

delinka 15y ago

Hear, hear! This is my usual experience. So I would think my question is one of those Good Questions, but alas it goes ignored and unanswered. "Where have all the hackers gone?" I ponder.

tokenadult 15y ago
This is my usual experience. Are you able to provide links to previous questions you have asked? Perhaps that can help someone reply with suggestions that might answer the original questions, or explain why the questions were not answered back when you asked them.
- delinka 15y ago
  I tend to stick with IRC so I have no links. It has been difficult to change habits to using a site like stack overflow.

chalst 15y ago

nobody in the world will answer my question - It sounds like you haven't been asking the right questions. You'd be surprised at who turns up to answer really good questions. All 7 steps are really overkill, but the first four, and enough of five ("inspection or experimentation") to apply what you find out from the first four steps, really are essential. The last two steps (skilled friends & source code) are really optional, and if you need to resort to these to find the answer, it is likely that your problem is interesting to the mailing list. It's worth comparing ESR's essay to SO's How to Ask page - http://stackoverflow.com/questions/how-to-ask http://stackoverflow.com/questions/how-to-ask - which asks much less of the questioner, and reflects the difference between mailing list culture and that at SO.

majmun 15y ago
I do some of this steps in random order (and loop until there are no more ideas): 5.Try to find an answer by inspection or experimentation. 3.Try to find an answer by reading the manual. 2.Try to find an answer by searching the Web. 7. Try to find an answer by reading the source code. (+ only source is almost never available so I use reverse engineering instead) Rarely do i need to ask questions with this methodology, and the guy who should answer probably would have to do the same.
jerf 15y ago
I would expect the primary differences don't stem from "culture" so much as differing technical platforms. If your question is actually a Wiki, and can be interactively refined in conjunction with the answerers, the need to complete the checklist in advance is lessened. In the end, the checklist will pretty much end up filled out one way or another, and there's still a such thing as a bad question and a bad questioner, but in both cases there's a better (if not 100%) chance to rehabilitate them interactively.