It can be very frustrating when you post a question in a forum but it seems like nobody is willing to answer. There can be a number of reasons why this is the case, so I thought I'd give some tips on how to improve your odds.
- Search: Start off by using the search tool. It can be accessed from any page in the forum. It's possible that your question has already been answered. That will save you a lot of valuable time.
- Create a new discussion unless you are replying to an existing post. It's OK to add a 'me too' to an existing discussion but make sure you're talking about the same thing. If you post a question that is off topic for a discussion, it's quite likely that it won't be seen.
- Create your post in the proper forum or sub-forum. Sometimes it's easy to figure out but sometimes it's not so easy. It's almost a sure bet that if you have a question about online banking and put a post in the Installation forum, you're not going to have the right kind of experts looking at your question. Think about what it is you're actually doing (or trying to do) and use your best judgment.
- Make the title of the post descriptive of the problem. I see a lot of posts with titles like 'Help!' or 'Why doesn't this work?' or 'Just Starting Out'. While I'm sure the idea was to 'tease' the reader into looking at the post, it can sometimes have an adverse effect. Many of the users that spend time answering posts don't have time to read all of them, so they will open the posts they believe they will know the answer to.
- Give enough information about the problem. You
understand the problem because you've been working with it, but someone
unfamiliar with the issue sometimes has to guess. Try to put yourself
into the readers shoes. If you were reading about the problem for the
first time, would you know what it was about? Another good idea is to
let us know what you've already tried. That can help to reduce
duplication of effort.
- Don't post a laundry list of problems. Many users will be less likely to answer posts with multiple questions if they don't know the answer to every question. It's much better to create a separate post for each question.
Also, keep in mind that this is a user to user forum. It may take a few days for the right person to read your post. If it's been a week and you still don't have a response, add a reply to your original post to bring it back to the top.
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