How to ask the best questions and site policies

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Avaya DEFINITY systems Forum


Here are some suggestions, and a rule or two, for using the Tek-Tips forums.

These suggestions and guidelines are based on comments from various members and have developed over the last few years. There are very few hard and fast rules - please read the guide-lines and use your common sense.

1. Be nice. Try not to get impatient if someone doesn't understand your question. DON'T SHOUT (all capital letters is generally hard to read, and it indicates that YOU ARE SHOUTING)

2. Be nice. Try not to get impatient if someone doesn't give enough information for you to understand their question. This is a hard and fast rule. Bad tempered replies don't help anyone, and will just get deleted by site management anyway.

3. Choose the right forum for your question. There are quite a few forums here at Tek-Tips, take a few minutes looking through the list of forums and pick the one that looks closest to your question. That way your question will be seen by the right people, and you help to avoid misleading answers.

4. Don't ask people to help you do illegal things or offer to do them yourself; respect copyright laws while you're at Tek-Tips. We don't condone piracy or hacking. This is a hard and fast rule. Do not ask for passwords. Threads of this type will be red flagged and the post will be removed. If you have lost your password then Avaya or one of their BPÆs will have to reset it for you.

5. Avoid posting the same question in multiple forums. Try to determine the best forum for your problem or question and post it there. If in doubt, ask. You'll be directed to another forum if necessary. If you don't get an answer in a reasonable time, then post to a different forum.

6. Avoid asking multiple questions in a single thread, you'll get better results if you keep your questions focused on a single well defined issue.

7. Use a descriptive Subject. Many of us will skip over reading the post if the subject doesn't indicate the question.

Don't use Subjects like this...

Does anybody know..
Urgent help needed!
Error message
Basic question
My )&*#$^)#&^$ PROGRAM won't ...

Try Subjects like this instead...
How do I enable Ftp filesystems
How to get remote connection to S8?00 servers
New to Avaya where to start

8. Use the Search facility and try to find answers before you post a question.

Google will also provide many simple answers directly, and will help you focus your question if you need further help.

Read the FAQ's here at Tek-Tips and try to find answers before you post a question.

Even if you don't find an answer to your question and end up asking in a forum anyway, researching and thinking about your problem will help you ask a focused question that will get answered, rather than skipped over..

If an answer exists in a FAQ or a previous thread, youÆll probably be directed to that FAQ or thread rather than repeating the answer in your thread.

FYI: to direct someone to a FAQ or thread, simply type (or copy and paste) the FAQ or thread number in your post, like this: FAQ222-2244 or thread222-423472

9. Just so you don't get the wrong idea: no question is too basic for Tek-Tips forums. We simply suggest spending a few minutes trying to find the answer yourself, and then if you can't, post your question.

There is a lot of knowledge and help here.


10. Remember that Tek-Tips is designed for IT Professionals. It isn't intended as a lazy person's way to get homework/work assignments done. Nor is it a free technical support resource for someone not willing to put efforts into their own work. This is a hard and fast rule. Don't copy and paste your homework assignment in Tek-Tips unless you want your question and your Tek-Tips user-id deleted.


11. Don't worry if English is not your first language; that's true of a lot of Tek-Tips members and no-one here will criticize your use of English. You will find that more people will be able to help if you use English; please stick to English when using Tek-Tips.

12. Keep e-mail addresses out of the forums - This is a hard and fast rule.
Putting your email address in a post, whether in the body of the post or in your signature has three undesirable effects:
- It attracts spam to you personally - annoying.
- The recruiters and sales people who are encouraged to trawl the site looking for email addresses use up bandwidth - this is costly to the site.
- Posting addresses encourages taking discussions private which goes against the sharing philosophy of Tek-Tips.
Place any e-mail addresses you feel you *have* to share on a personal website, and then link to that site from your signature. Threads offering or requesting email solutions are likely to be Red-Flagged and be completely removed!


13. Include the system type and version of software you are using because the solution that works in one version may not work in another.


14.Provide sample result (or screen shots) of your programming if you can. Please report the exact error message if you are asking a question about an error you are receiving, please...Telling us you are getting an error is unlikely to result in a useful response. "My G3R has errors!!!" or "Please Help." will not get as quick or accurate reply as "I am running a G3R V8 system ... The error message is ...&"

15. Please acknowledge answers . Sometimes an answer is given but the questioner never replies in any way. It is hard to know if the problem was solved or if the questioner just hasn't seen the answer yet. If one of the answers solves your problem, post a short reply and let everyone know what worked for you. A ôthank youö would be in order as well since someone at work has taken time to help you with your problem. This lets the person who posted the answer and everyone else who reads the thread know which answer was correct for you and your problem has been resolved by doing àà..

That way other people can benefit from the knowledge base we are building here.

Tip master Stars are a way to provide positive feedback. We all (even those us who say we don't!) appreciate receiving stars - but only when they are deserved...

FYI: You "award Stars" by clicking on the link at the bottom left of the post.

?"Thank <username> for this valuable post!"

A pop-up will appear asking for confirmation. If the pop-up doesn't appear then you may need to have JavaScript enabled and you may need to set your browser to allow pop-ups from this site.

Please post the solution if you solve a problem yourself. That way, all questions will have the solutions. And all of us can learn from others' experience.

16. Don't forget that this is a two-way forum. Even if you start in here as a question-asker, please make the effort to put something back into the site. You'll find it feels good when you post a few replies as well, besides gaining the thanks and respect of your peers.

17. This is an open forum, so many people may have useful input to your question. It is impolite to all forum members to address your initial question to a named individual and will result in less effective resolution of your problem. However when you reply to long threads note the person you are addressing. That way we'll know to whom the post is directed. For example,
johnwm,
I don't think the solution you posted will work in Version 5; that feature was introduced in V6.

Summary.
Tek-Tips provides us with an opportunity to help and be helped.

Please remember to show respect and appreciation to all other members of the forum, keep enjoying the forum and the programming. And, from time to time, give them some money http://www.tek-tips.com/supportus.cfm

Posting policies

Commercial and/or recruiting "spam" will not be tolerated in the forums. Our forums are member-policed via the forums' "Red-Flag" utility. Offending posters will be dealt with sternly not only by the management of this site, but also face possible retaliation by the members of this web community (we exert no control over our members and in no way encourage this kind of activity).

The following activities can result in deletion of posts, deletion of threads and/or restriction of further site usage.


Members who engage in any of the following activities may be red flagged by the membership. Management of this site does not read any post unless it has been red flagged by a member. In no particular order, here are some
common offenses:
Selling
Recruiting
Student Posting
Profanity
Cross Posting
Tack-On Posting. If you have a new question, start a new thread.
Arguing in an Unprofessional Manner
Posting of Personal Information
Posting Anything Illegal (including hacking, cracking, passwords, etc.)
Defamatory Posting
Shill Posting, or posting made at the behest of a company
Leeching (members posting only questions, and never helping others)
Irritating Other Members
On the other hand, members are expected to:
Search Google, Previous Posts, and FAQs Prior to Posting.
Write Intelligent Questions And Use Descriptive Subject Lines
Thank Other Members For Help Received & Click the "Thank (member) For This Valuable Post!" Link
Help Other Members
Red Flag Offensive Posts
Be Professional
What does and does not constitute a violation of posting policies shall be determined solely by Tecumseh Group, Inc. Management. Any post, thread, FAQ, link, or member may be removed at any time for any reason.



Thanks to Terry Broadbent for the original FAQ and to all the other members who have offered their help and suggestions for this version. I have unashamedly (stolen) borrowed from various sources for this document...but all of the good bits are theirs, all of the bad bits are mine.