World Of Googling

27 Jan 2022

Don’t Be Afraid Of Asking Questions

What kind of convenient world do we live in right now? You could google for answers to every problem you had, especially about programming. We ask all kinds of questions online, whether wise or dumb. Those answers have been answered by all types of people online. But, depending on the bad or good question you ask, your feedback is different. There will be some good feedback and some horrible feed that needs a lot of time to digest. The format of the question is significant. A bad question could lead to confusing feedback, and it might take hours to figure out the meaning of that feedback. A good question could be strict to the point that makes your question direct to solve. But, how do we ask a question in a smart way? Thanks to Eric Steven Raymond! He had provided us guildlines of teaching us how to develop or smartly ask a question.

7 Step before you ask

–1. Try to find an answer by searching the archives of the forum or mailing list you plan to post to.

–2. Try to find an answer by searching the Web.

–3. Try to find an answer by reading the manual.

–4. Try to find an answer by reading a FAQ.

–5. Try to find an answer by inspection or experimentation.

–6. Try to find an answer by asking a skilled friend.

–7. If you’re a programmer, try to find an answer by reading the source code.

Main Points of Eric Steven Raymond’s guildlines

Everyone knows how to ask a question, but not everyone knows how to ask a question smartly:

  1. Use meaningful subject headers, don’t just put “I need help on my coding homework,” be more specific on the problem you had.
  2. Make sure it is easy to reply, and the question is written in the clear, grammatical, and correctly-spelled language. Also, make sure the question is in standard formats. And be sure to describe the problem’s symptoms, not your guesses, and in chronological order.
  3. Don’t ask people to reply by private emails and post your homework questions.
    ———-(Make sure to follow the 7 steps FIRST)———

A Smart Question

Here is an example of a smart question I had found in the stack overflow. Why is this question an example of a smart question?

  1. Explained the problem clearly with no grammatical error and directed to the point.
  2. Provide muti-images of the problem and a detailed description of each image.
  3. Detailed information on the environment.
  4. Well Organized.
  5. Provide different versions of its code and detailed notes to make it easier to view.

———(Asking a question for help is not easy. It takes time to make it in a smart way)———

!A Smart Question

Here is an example of a dumb question I found in the stack overflow that I consider dumb. Why do I consider that?

  1. Not following the 7 steps.
  2. The heading of the question is not meaningful.
  3. Not enough information on the question.
  4. Simple question: could be easily answered with simple research.

END

There are people kind enough to take their time to answer your question. But, if you ask not-so-smart questions and want them to waste their time to answer them. The chance of unanswering is much higher. If you don’t bother to suit your question, why do they bother to answer you?