The wisdom of asking questions

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


thanked Eric for his patient advice and approval, which was completed and published, and this guide


English edition copyright for Eric Steven Raymond all,


Chinese version of Copyright by D.h.grand[nobody/ginux] all.











in the hacker world, what kind of answer can you get when you ask a technical question? It depends on digging up
.
The difficulty of
the answer 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 are
from

will be grateful to you. The good question is the motivation, the gift, which can improve our understanding, and usually


will expose problems that we have never realized or thought about before. For hackers and
.

say, "Good question!" "is a great compliment from the heart."





Although hackers have a bad reputation for contempt for simple problems and unfriendly, sometimes it seems as if we are a novice,


are hostile to the knowledge poor, but they are not.





we don't want to hide our contempt for such people-they don't want to think, or they don't do it before they ask questions

What the
should do. This kind of person will only murder time--they only want to take, never give, and 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


it as "lusers".





We are largely volunteers, taking time out of busy life to answer questions and often


was inundated with questions. So we ruthlessly filter out some of the topics, especially the
that look like losers.

guys to use time more efficiently to answer winners ' questions.





If you feel that our arrogant attitude makes you unhappy, let you wronged, you might as well put yourself into the thinking. I


didn't ask you to give in to us--in fact, most of us like fair trade, but
.

, as long as you give a little effort to meet the minimum requirements, we will welcome you to join our


culture. But let us help those who do not want to help themselves is not


of meaning. If you can't accept this "discrimination", we suggest you spend some money looking for a business company to sign a
.

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
in a loser.

the staff. The best way to get effective answers right away is to ask questions like winners--smart, confident,
.

to solve problems, but occasionally need to get a little help on specific issues.





(Welcome to make 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 get
on the technical Forum.

suggestions for useful answers. ）


(Of course, if you write Chinese, you'd better send it to dhgrand@hotmail.com;-)





========

Before
questions


========





before you ask for technical questions via email, newsgroups or chat rooms, check to see if you did:


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 Web (personal recommendation google~~~).


4. Ask your friends who are proficient in this way around you.





when you ask a question, you first need to explain what you've done before; it will help to build your


's Image: You are not a vain begging, do not want to waste other people's time. If the question


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. The more you show your efforts to solve problems before you ask for help, the more you can get real


the help of quality.





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 ...", Greek


watching you learn from the answers to questions rather than the answers you want.





never think you're qualified to get the answer. After all, you haven't paid any
for this service.

what reward. You have to "earn" back an answer by presenting a meaningful, interesting,


-dimensional motivational problem--a problem that has a potential contribution to the experience of the community, not just a 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 a little hint?" "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
.

people pointing the right direction, you have the ability and determination to complete it.





========


How to ask


========





------------


Choose Forum carefully


------------





carefully choose the occasion to ask questions. If, as described below, you are likely to be overlooked or seen as a loser:


1. Post your question in a irrelevant forum


2. Post very elementary questions in a forum that explores advanced techniques; and vice versa


3. Cross-posting
in too many different newsgroups




----------------------------


is apt to use words, grammatically correct and spelled correctly


----------------------------





we have learned from experience that careless writers are often careless thinkers (I can bet on them).

It is not worth
to answer 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 language forum, you can make a little spelling and grammatical mistakes--but never


is thinking horse tiger (yes, we can figure out the difference)





----------------------------


uses 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 opportunity of
. Stop "helping" (not to mention "help"),!!!!!. "This


a disgusting remark) to waste this opportunity. Don't try to impress us with your pain,
.

do not use spaces to replace the description of the problem, even if it is a very brief description.





Stupid question:


, Help! 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 your reply, remember to change the title of the content to indicate that there is a problem. A


looks like "Re: Test" or "Re: New Bugs" is difficult to give enough attention to. In addition, the introduction of


uses and cuts the contents of the previous text, leaving clues to the new readers.





------------------


accurate description, large amount of information


------------------





1. Describe symptoms carefully and clearly.


2. Provide the environment in which the problem occurs (machine configuration, operating system, application, and much else).


3. Show you how to study and understand the problem before you ask a question.


4. Explain what steps you have taken to solve the question before you ask it.


5. List any hardware or software changes that have been done recently that may have an impact.





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





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





--------


Not much


--------





you need to provide accurate and effective information. This is not to ask you to simply put tons of error codes or data out of


the whole dump into your question. If you have large and complex test conditions, try to cut it as little as possible

The
the better.





has at least three points to do this. First, show that you have worked hard to simplify the problem, which can make you


the opportunity to answer increases; second, simplifying the problem increases your chances of getting useful answers; third, in refining

In the process of
your bug report, you may be able to identify the problem or make corrections yourself.





------------------


only say symptom, don't say conjecture


------------------





tells hackers you think the problem is not helping. (If your inference works so well, use


to others for help? So be sure you tell them the symptoms of the problem, and don't add to your own


's own understanding and inference. Let the hackers diagnose them.





Stupid question:


I encountered a SIG11 error again and again in the kernel compilation, 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 compiled frequently produce SIG11 error, from the boot 20 minutes after this situation, boot

It never happened in the first 20 minutes of
. Restarting is no use, but the shutdown can work for 20 minutes a night. All


memory has been replaced, no effect. The typical compilation records for the related section are as follows ....





------------------


list symptoms in chronological order


------------------





's most helpful clue to finding a problem is often a sequence of actions before a problem occurs, so your instructions

The
should contain the operating procedures and the computer's response until the problem arises.





If your description is very long (more than four paragraphs), it will help to outline the problem at the outset, and then press the time

The
order is detailed. So the hackers will know what to look for in your instructions.