In the middle of a question.
When you really start asking questions, you need to do more than just send them out. You need to choose the right occasion, write a clear title, use a readable format, provide facts, describe the goal, and allow the respondent to quickly determine if they can help.
Core principles when asking questions
When you ask a question, start by showing that you have prepared. This helps others to determine that you are not a questioner who wastes other people's time casually without effort. It's even better if you can also show what you learned during your preparation; we're happier to answer people who show that they can continue to learn from the answer.
A good question usually has these characteristics:
- Post it in the right community or discussion forum.
- The title summarizes the objective, the context, and the exception.
- The main text is clearly formatted for easy citation and response.
- Describe the facts, not just give guesses.
- Describe the goal, not just the steps you're stuck on.
- Show what you've searched, read, tried and ruled out.
How to read this chapter
Each section of this chapter deals with a specific action when asking a question: choosing a forum, writing a title, describing the question, posting code, avoiding invalid sentences, staying polite, and so on. You don't have to memorize all the rules at once, but you should at least check each one before you actually ask a question.
The quality of questioning is not built on polite words, but on accurate information, clear boundaries, and a collaborable attitude.