I'd like to ask a question on Android Enthusiasts. Can you give me some advice about how the question should be asked?
1 Answer
Use meaningful, specific subject titles
Bad Example: URGENT HELP NEEDED - Galaxy S Problem!
Good Example: Samsung Galaxy S keeps restarting itself randomly. How can I stop this?
- Include the important information in the title
- One should be able to read the whole context of the question just by reading the title1
Be precise and informative about your problem
- Describe symptoms carefully
- Add information about the hardware and software you're using
- Be explicit about your question
Try to write in clear, grammatical, correctly-spelled language
Every non-native speaker is welcomed to ask questions (and provide answers) on Android Enthusiasts, but we expect a minimum of readability. Errors are human, nevertheless please try your best to write in grammatical, correctly-spelled English.
Mention any troubleshooting steps already taken
What have you already tried to solve the issue? Providing those can help avoid answers/comments with suggestions that you have already tried unsuccessfully.
Do not use CAPS
Don't try to emphasize a word by writing it in Caps (e.g. "IMPORTANT"), use bold tags ("important") or italics ("important") instead.
Avoid the XY problem at all costs
Don't ask about your attempted solution, instead ask about your actual problem. That is: if you are trying to solve problem X, make sure to ask about X and not about potential solution Y.
Only ask one question in your post
The daily question limit is high, so please use separate questions for separate issues. Asking about more than one question in your post will only cause confusion.
Provide screenshots if possible
A picture is worth a thousand words, but try to keep pictures in a reasonable size; huge pictures make it hard to catch the whole idea.
Use paragraphs when appropriate
It's hard to read a wall of text (example). Make use of Enter once in a while.
Related links
- How to ask - Tips for getting help
- Style guidelines for questions and answers
- Stack Overflow question checklist
- How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
- What are “tags”, and how can I use them most effectively?
Footnotes
1 Although not strictly required, it's often a good idea to phrase the title as complete sentence.
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5I disagree with
The title should be a complete sentence. "Samsung Galaxy S keeps resetting itself randomly" gives complete information, the fact that a fix is desired is obvious. "How can I stop this?" won't help searches. The decision to make it a full sentence is purely one of style.– Matthew Read ModCommented Dec 5, 2012 at 22:40 -
5Also disagree with
It is not relevant what you think that is causing your problem. Informed opinions can be highly useful.– Matthew Read ModCommented Dec 5, 2012 at 22:42 -
But it won't affect searches either. Plus I think that when one forms whole sentences, he/she reflects again about the essential problem. Which is very helpful. Also I intentionally wrote "should" and not "have to be".– FlowCommented Dec 5, 2012 at 22:43
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Yeah, I struggle with that one also. It made sense when I read it, but I think the phrasing could be improved. Or simply remove it completely. Let's see what others have to say.– FlowCommented Dec 5, 2012 at 22:45
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1Could also be worth merging in a couple of relevant points from meta.stackexchange.com/questions/156810/… I'm thinking of the first two points in particular– GAThrawnCommented Dec 6, 2012 at 8:13
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1I would also add a section about troubleshooting steps already taken. No sense having answers suggesting for example a reboot or data wipe, if the OP has already tried those unsuccessfully.– ChahkCommented Dec 6, 2012 at 14:56
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1How about "use tags to describe your question, not your device"?– aleCommented Dec 6, 2012 at 16:18
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Not sure. IMHO precise and correct tagging is not directly related to the questions quality. It's just a nice feature to group relevant questions together and to improve searching. So in order to keep the answer as short as possible, I intentionally decided against any information about tags. But if the majority wants this information, why not. But I think we need to specify some tag policy first.– FlowCommented Dec 6, 2012 at 18:33
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@MatthewRead I defused the "complete sentence" part. Hope you like it.– FlowCommented Dec 6, 2012 at 18:40
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1@Flow: No, I see where you're coming from. I'll see if I can put together a "How do I tag my Question effectively?" Q&A.– aleCommented Dec 6, 2012 at 18:42
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Perhaps the first item here should be "check to see if someone has already asked the question".– aleCommented Dec 18, 2012 at 14:09