Asking for Support

How to ask and get your question answered: A MUST READ!

There is a simple keynote to this answer: Help others help you!

Before explaining how you should ask your question, let us put things into perspective. You are asking others to spend their time helping you figure out your issue for free. You should do all you can to help them minimize the time they spend helping you upfront. It's the least you can do.

Asking generic questions like "My code doesn't work. Please help!" is basically pointless as you are inviting people to spend their time asking you basics like: "Ok, what doesn't work? Where is your code? What did you do before getting the error?"

However, even if you do provide some details, they must be the right details so others can help you.

Here is a general guide as to what you should provide:

Describe your issue with specifics. Don't just say "it doesn't work." Explain what isn't working correctly with steps of what you did when you are experiencing this behavior.

If you are having issues with the installation, make sure to describe what you did with enough detail, and if there are errors or logs that you saw, you need to include those in your question. Simply saying "I cannot start iDempiere from Eclipse" or "I cannot materialize the code" won't do. If you tried to start iDempiere and it didn't work, there were error messages that were displayed. Provide those messages, including the exact command you used.

Last, but certainly not least! Use common sense. Ask yourself: If I came up to a total stranger in this project and showed them my post, would they have enough information to help me or would they for sure have to ask me something? If they would have to ask you something, you are not done with your post. Yes, of course, there are times when you yourself don't know what you don't know. That's ok. Just put in an honest effort to HELP OTHERS HELP YOU.

NOTE: There is an Eric Raymond's essay very thorough and highly recommended reading about how to ask and what to expect about requesting for help in forums. If you want to master this skill, the full essay is available at
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Text based on this course's FAQ.