Proper Support Forum Etiquette

Description: This short tutorial will cover some simple rules and behaviors for the using support forums

Version: 1.0

Added on: 05 April 2007

Author: Floppy

Difficulty Level: Very Easy

Views: 329

Detailed Profile •

First and foremost,

The general idea behind a support forum is to share knowledge with everyone using a certain mod or content management system. Keep that in mind.

Repeats
When you are looking for support of any type its important to abuse such features as search first. This keeps from having 5 topics that cover the same thing.

Topic Titles
Try to make your topic titles very distinct and relative to your exact problem

Site Details
When posting a new topic. Always include as much info as possible. Sometimes the smallest of details such as PHP version or MYSQL version can save others a lot time when trying to help you. Sometimes its a good idea to save these details in a .txt file on your hard drive for quick access and to save time.

I did a very small example just for show & tell

Quote:

PHP Version:4.3.2 MYSQL Version:5.0 PHP-Nuke Version 7.6 Distro: RavenNuke 2.10.00

Also include a physical link to the problem In many cases its easier to identify with a problem if it can be seen.

Don't bump
If you haven't received an answer in a few weeks then it may be ok to alert people you still have an issue. A lot of times if all the proper information was provided I will try to resolve the problem before I ever reply with the a suggestion. Bumping your post will either get you banned or very badly scolded in most cases. Be patient while waiting on others to take time to help you. If the problem is of dire emergency make use of other forms of contact, but be careful as that usually annoys most people.

Topic Updates
A lot of times you will find the solution on your own. Its a good idea to keep your topics up to date so others are not out trying to fix a problem that is already been solved. Also share your results so others with the same problem can stop banging their head on desk.

Thats all for now :)

Submitted by floppy