The Wisdom _php Foundation of questioning

The wisdom of asking questions


Copyright (C) 2001 by Eric S. Raymond
Chinese version copyleft 2001 by D.h.grand (Nobody/ginux)

English version: http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
Thanks to Eric's patient advice and approval, this article was completed and published, this guide
English edition copyright for Eric Steven Raymond all that
Chinese version copyright by D.h.grand[nobody/ginux] all.



In the hacker world, what answer can you get when you ask a technical question? It depends on digging up
The difficulty of the answer also depends on the way you ask. This guide is designed to help you improve your questioning skills to
Get the answer you want most.

First you have to understand that hackers only prefer difficult tasks, or they can inspire good questions about their thinking.
If not, what are we doing here? If you have a good question that deserves our repeated chewing and pondering, we
will be grateful to you. The good question is that motivation, a gift, can improve our understanding, and usually
Will expose problems that we have never realized or thought about before. To hackers and
Say, "Good question!" "is a great compliment from the heart."

While hackers have a bad reputation for contempt for simple questions and unfriendly, sometimes it seems as if we're a novice,
Hostile to the knowledge-poor, but that is not the case.

We don't want to hide our contempt for such people-they don't want to think, or don't do it before they ask questions.
What they should do. These people only kill time-they just want it, never give it, consume me
Time, and we could have spent time on more interesting questions or more deserving respondents.
We call such people "losers" (for historical reasons, we sometimes
Spell it as "lusers").

We are largely volunteers, taking time out of busy life to answer questions and often
Be flooded with questions. So we ruthlessly filter out some of the topics, especially the ones that look like losers.
Guys in order to use time more efficiently to answer winners ' questions.

If you think we are too arrogant attitude to make you uncomfortable, let you wronged, you might as well put yourself in the thinking. I
We didn't ask you to give in to us--in fact, most of us like fair trade, but
, as long as you give a small effort to meet the minimum requirements, we will welcome you to join our
Culture. But let us help those who are unwilling to help themselves are not
Meaning of. If you can't accept this "discrimination", we suggest you spend some money on a business firm to sign
Technical support agreement come on, don't beg for help from the hacker.

If you decide to turn to us for help, you certainly don't want to be seen as a loser, much less a loser.
Rapporteur The best way to get effective answers right away is to ask questions like winners--smart, confident,
The solution to the problem is to get a little help on a particular issue occasionally.

(Welcome suggestions for improvements to this guide.) Any suggestions please email to esr@thyrsus.com, however
Please note that this article is not a common guide to Internet etiquette, and I usually refuse to be helpful in getting
Suggestions for useful answers. ）
(Of course, if you write Chinese, you'd better send it to dhgrand@hotmail.com;-)

========
Before asking questions
========

Before you ask for technical questions via email, newsgroups or chat rooms, check to see if you have:
1. Read through the manual and try to find the answer yourself.
2. Find answers in the FAQ (a well maintained FAQ can be exhaustive:).
3. Search on the Internet (personal recommendation google~~~).
4. Ask your friends who are proficient in this way around you.

When you ask a question, start by explaining what you've done before, and it will help build your
Image: You are not a vain begging, do not want to waste other people's time. If you ask questions
Can learn from the answers, we are more than happy to answer his questions.

Thoughtful thinking, prepare your questions, hasty questions can only be answered hastily, or
No answer at all. The more you show your efforts to solve problems before you ask for help, the more you can get real
Quality of help.

Be careful not to ask the wrong question. If your problem is based on false assumptions, the average hacker (J.) Random
Hacker) usually answers you with meaningless literal explanations, thinking "stupid questions ..."
Watch as you learn from the answers to your questions (not the answers you want).

Never think you're qualified to get the answer. After all, you're not paying for this service.
What reward. You have to "earn" back an answer by presenting a meaningful, interesting, and thinking
The question of dimensional motivation--a problem that has a potential contribution to the experience of the community, not just the passive
Ask for knowledge from others--to earn the answer.

On the other hand, it is a good start to show that you are willing to do something in the process of finding an answer.
"Who can give some hints?" "and" What is missing in my example? "Well," I should check what
Place? It's easier to get answers than "please post the exact process." Because you look as if you have
When you are pointing the right direction, you have the ability and determination to accomplish it.

========
How to ask questions
========

------------
Choose a forum carefully
------------

Carefully choose the occasion of the question. If, as described below, you are likely to be overlooked or seen as a loser:
1. Post your questions in a irrelevant forum
2. Posting of very elementary questions in forums exploring advanced techniques;
3. Cross-posting in too many different newsgroups

----------------------------
Appropriate, grammatically correct, spelled correctly
----------------------------

We have learned from experience that careless writers are often sloppy thinkers (I'm sure they are).
It is not worth answering the careless questions, we would rather spend our time elsewhere.

Correct spelling, punctuation, and capitalization are important.
More generally, if your questions are written like a functional illiteracy, you are likely to be overlooked.

If you're asking questions in a Non-native speaker forum, you can make a few spelling and grammatical mistakes--but never
Thinking about horse Tigers (yes, we can figure out the difference)

----------------------------
Use meaning rich, descriptive accurate title
----------------------------

In a mailing list or newsgroup, the topic title within about 50 words is to capture the attention of senior experts
The golden time. Stop "helping" (not to mention "help"),!!!!!. "It
Disgusting words) to waste this opportunity. Don't try to impress us with your pain,
Don't use spaces to replace the description of the problem, even if it's a very short description.

Stupid question:
Help me! My laptop is not showing up properly!

Smart question:
XFREE86 4.1 mouse cursor deformation, fooware MV1005 display chip.

If you ask a question in response, remember to change the title of the content to indicate that there is a problem. One
Problems that look like "Re: Test" or "Re: New Bugs" are hard to pay enough attention to. In addition, the primer
Use and subtract the contents of the previous text to leave clues to the new reader.

------------------
Accurate description, large amount of information
------------------

1. Carefully and clearly describe the symptoms.
2. Provide the environment in which the problem occurs (machine configuration, operating system, application, and anything else).
3. How do you study and understand this problem before you ask a question?
4. Indicate what steps you have taken to resolve the question before you ask it.
5. List any hardware or software changes that have recently been made that may be affected.

Try to imagine how a hacker would ask you questions and give them an answer in advance.

Simon Tatham has written an excellent essay entitled How to Report bugs effectively. It is strongly recommended that you read it too.

--------
Words are not much
--------

You need to provide accurate and effective information. That's not to ask you to simply put tons of error codes or data out
All dump excerpts into your questions. If you have large and complex test conditions, try to cut it as small as possible.
The better.

The usefulness of doing so is at least three points. First, show that you have worked hard to simplify the problem, which will enable you to
The opportunity to answer is increased; second, simplifying the problem increases your chances of getting useful answers; third, in refining
In the course of your bug report, you may be able to identify the problem or make corrections yourself.

------------------
Just say the symptom, don't say conjecture
------------------

Tell the hackers how you think the problem is causing little help. (If your inference is so effective, you can use
Do you want to ask someone for help? So be sure you tell them the symptoms of the problem, and don't add it to your own
Own understanding and inference. Let the hackers diagnose them.

Stupid question:
I encountered SIG11 errors again and again in the kernel compilation, and I suspect that a flying line is on the main board line.
What should be the best way to check this situation?

Smart question:
My own set of k6/233 system, the motherboard is fic-pa2007 (VIA Apollo VP2 chipset), 256MB
Corsair PC133
SDRAM, in the kernel compiler frequently produces SIG11 error, from the boot 20 minutes after this situation, boot
It never happened in the first 20 minutes. Restarting is no use, but the shutdown can work for 20 minutes a night. All
Memory has been changed, no effect. The typical compilation records for the related section are as follows ....

------------------
List symptoms in chronological order
------------------

The most helpful clue to finding a problem is often a series of actions before the problem occurs, so your description
Should include the operation steps, and the computer's reaction until the problem arises.

If your description is long (more than four paragraphs), it will help to outline the problem at the beginning, and then on time
The order is detailed. So the hackers will know what to look for in your instructions.