Tips on creating a good forum post.

NOTE: This is going to go in my signature. This simply contains some tips on making a good forum post, since some newbies have issues with that. There might already be a post similar to this that I don't know of.

Before posting on the forums:

• Look online for your issue. Bing and Google are wonderful tools, so use them!
• Make sure your post is in the correct category. Posts made in the wrong place will get fewer replies and may be moved or locked by moderators.

Picking a subject line:

• Shortly describe your issue. For example: "OnCollisionEnter is not detecting collisions".
• DO NOT use subject lines such as "Please help me" or something generic like "My script is not working".

Writing a proper post:

• Describe your issue in as much detail as possible. The more you describe, the more likely we'll know what's going on.
• Show your logical reasoning, either in text or as comments in code.
• Describe what you've tried so far to resolve your issue.
• Provide full error messages (if applicable).
• Provide line numbers of scripting errors
• Use code tags to insert code properly. Don't post screenshots of code.
• Use proper grammar (exceptions made for foreign speakers).

DON'T:

• Ask generic questions like "How do I move the camera" or "Make me a tutorial" (yes, someone asked me that).
• Ask people to download entire projects or packages, unless it's absolutely necessary.
• Make a post with images and no description.
• Insert non-formatted code or pictures of code. Insert code properly as shown here.

Example of a BAD post: Click here.

• Bad subject line. "error in unity" is very generic and doesn't describe the issue.
• No description. Pasting images without a description is a no-no.
• Crying for help, when he hasn't shown any effort in even making a good post.

Example of a GOOD post: Click here.

• Good subject line.
• Shows he read the docs, so he put in effort before asking.
• Properly describes his question, and gets a good answer.

Spoiler: How to add images

How to add images:
You can drag-and-drop images onto your post.
Also for screenshots (I do this on Windows), you can press the print screen key, then ctrl+v (paste) in your post.

Instructions for posting images with Imgur:

STEP 1: Make a screenshot. On Windows, you can press the "print screen" button. If you're not sure, just use the Snipping Tool. Mac users, press Cmd+Shift+3

STEP 2: Press the "New Post" button, then drag and drop your image, or paste it. You'll come here:



Hover your mouse over the image, and click the arrow:



Click on "Get Share Links" and select "BBCode-Forums".



Here, you can just copy and paste Imgur's link into your post.

Or you can go the extra mile to see the image as you're typing your post:



Insert the link, but without the tags.

Congratulations! You've properly added an image to your post!

Spoiler: Change the title of your post

You can easily change the title of your post by using the "Thread Tools" menu.

Thank you for reading, and happy coding

If you think there is anything I missed, let me know.

 

If only someone could make this a "sticky" thread.

 

That would be too much of an honor for me

I just made it because I see lots of people (especially newcomers) making terrible posts, then spamming "bump" to try to get answers. I'll just copy-paste this link every time I see one of those, which saves me time in the long run.

 

I have to take issue with the images section. The problem with linking images is that they can and do get moved/deleted/etc., so it's not uncommon to come across older posts with linked images that no longer exist. Also it's way more steps than necessary. Do this instead: 1) Drag image to your post. 2) Click on "thumbnail" or "full image". 3) There is no step 3.

--Eric

 

Wow, I did not know you could do that. I tried adding images to this post with that method, but it said "Uploads are not available". However, I was able to create a new thread and use that method, so I'll add that. Thanks

 

I'm completely with Eric on the images, I don't like linking to external pages (especially ones that are screenshots of code... grrrr). Its worse even when people post links to images for comparison. All the info should be in the post, and also as Eric pointed out, external links disappear.

Also, a note about code tags would be good, (and not posting images of code). And only posting relevant code.

 

Heck, if you are on a Mac, you can even skip the dragging part. Shift+Ctrl+Cmd+4 lets you grab an area of the screen, and you can just paste it into your reply.

 

You can achieve some degree of feature polarity on Windows too. You simply need to assign a hotkey to the Snipping Tool that now comes with Windows, hit the key combination, select the portion of the screen, hit the Copy button on the Snipping Tool and just paste away.

 

Give 'em a link to the doc in my sig.

 

Somehow I don't think most people would read it. Or they're from Missouri and need a summary picture
Good read nonetheless.

Back to topic:
What I'd add is something along the lines of "Define your problem, even if you want to ask about your attempted solution" or "What is the XY problem?". It is sometimes impossible to guess what the person is trying to do with the code alone, especially if they've ventured a long path into the rabbit hole and what they are now trying to do is so much off it's not even funny.

In the Subject part it might be worth mentioning that it's possible to edit the subject - so even if it's bad now, you can correct it.

PS. Wouldn't this topic better fit in the Forum Discussions?

 

Of course they don't. Those people won't click through to this thread, either. For the minority who do click through, though, why not have relevant further reading?

 

//opinion

Many years ago I used to be a fan of a "how to answer question smart way". It was extremely surprising when some non-computer was upset after I forwarded them this link.

Years later I changed my opinion after a very unpleasant experience with certain programming site where people let the rules get into their heads. I think trying to establish this kind of guidelines is ultimately not helpful and working on one's own people skills is a better idea, and "how to ask questions" would be much more useful for a robot.

Since most of people here are probably not robots.... I'd advise to treat forums like some sort of bar or social gathering. Talk to people. "Good" post, "bad" post... it doesn't matter. If you don't feel like responding, don't respond.

 

Well, the point of this wasn't to make anyone feel bad. It's to help people make a good post so they get more replies. Some people might be very frustrated if they have an issue, but don't get any replies, so the point of this is to give tips on making a good post. Some newbies might make terrible posts, then think we're terrible people for not replying. At least I (and hopefully someone else) can copy-paste this link to help them out. After all, a better post means a higher chance to get answers.

 

I clarified about not posting images of code.

However I'll leave the link option in there as I needed to use it myself for this post. When I tried dragging images onto this post, it makes the post window red and says "Uploads are not available". However I could drag-and-drop on a new post, and I can even drag images onto this this reply, so maybe this is just a random bug or limitation of the forum.

 

I think that both are good things to do.

You're right, we shouldn't be less inclined to help someone solely because they asked something the "wrong way", but given a list of questions to answer I don't know anyone who'll pick the poorly communicated ones first. Also, the way someone asks something has a huge impact on people's ability to give an effective answer even if they want to. Plus, we can't expect everyone to have high levels of social skill, and that goes as much for the people able to provide help as it does for the people asking for it.

Edit: Also, I think it's worth saying that the reason I have that link in my sig is because I found it helpful. It's not preaching, it's sharing. When I found and read that for the first time I finally felt like I actually understood online communication. It clarified a bunch of stuff I was just starting to grasp for myself. I'd have eventually got there, and indeed had come to know many of the things in it for myself already (eg: the title is your first and biggest opportunity to communicate, so don't throw it away), but it was super handy for someone to share existing knowledge on the matter.

Outside of formal learning environments there's not a lot we can do for people in the first of the four stages of competence. Having nicely written guidelines is a great start for people who've emerged into the second stage, though.

 

Honestly, I've simply been disillusion with "how to ask questions" thing and the whole "culture" that tend to be associated with it.

"How to Ask questions" seems to be written with belief that there are gurus online waiting to impart their wizardly wisdom upon you if you do the right ritual while asking. There are no such people online, to my knowledge and with anything complex you're on your own. Instead of "gurus" there are few folks that are competent enough in their area of interest.

Frankly, a question written in proper english should be good enough.

That's an opinion.

Either way, that's just few cents. The OP can do whatever he wants.

 

Let me ask a question

How do you manage to drag and drop images into posts. Do they need to be of a specific format? Do you need some kind of privileges for it.

I have tried on Mac with different browsers without success....I get the red message "uploads are not available"

 

I've had that often too. Dragging and dropping seems to work half the time for me, which is why I still have the Imgur method there.

It isn't an OS or browser issue as I'm on Windows 10 and tried Microsoft Edge and Chrome browsers.

 

@Eric5h5 what secret voodo are you using?

 

I don't know about "gurus", but the fact is there are people with knowledge, and other people who want that knowledge. I'm not "waiting online", but I do buzz the forums now and then, and answering questions is sometimes a good way to clarify things for myself, or maybe I'm just feeling helpful, who knows.

Your idea that it's about "ritual" is quite wrong, but yes it's basically true that there are things to keep in mind when posting on forums. Things that seem self-evident, but some people don't think about it for whatever reason and they could use nudging in the right direction. For example, I do skip over all topics with titles like "help me". It's possible that I'd be able to answer a few of those topics if they were titled in a helpful way, but without some clue as to the contents it's just a waste of time, so if we say there's a 5% chance I'd answer otherwise, it becomes a guaranteed 0% chance instead.

I think it's called "moderator-fu". I recently learned that uploading stuff in PMs didn't work for somebody else, but it works fine for me, and the difference as far as I can tell is moderator status. I would guess it's a permissions issue that got borked when the forums were restored, since I'm pretty sure that drag-n-drop used to work for everybody in every post; not really much point limiting it to the first post. Getting an "uploads not available" message shows it is in fact working, it's just not letting you do it.

--Eric

 

I always considered it a way to maximise your chances of getting help. As Eric says, they're not waiting around like a tech support crew, but there are people willing to help out and share knowledge online, and you significantly increase your chances of that happening if you make it easier for potential helpers.

Providing a helpful title isn't "ritual", it's making use of your biggest and most seen opportunity to communicate.

Describing your problem isn't "ritual", it's saving potential helpers the requirement of being mind readers.

Describing what you've already tried isn't "ritual", it's showing a) what you already understand and b) things that have been attempted and didn't solve the problem - both huge time savers. Plus there's c) demonstrating that you've already had a go, which is just common courtesy.

With complex or advanced stuff in open forums I tend to agree, but questions about other things are valid too.

 

I'd add "Don't use that Spoiler tag thing" unless you're actually posting, you know... spoilers. i.e. don't do what the OP did

 

I used the spoiler as kind of a drop-down menu, since the "Upload images" section was rather long and I wanted to make the post organized. Without the spoiler, 1/2 the post would be how to upload images with Imgur.

 

@angrypenguin You said it perfectly.

The entire point of my post is to give tips that will help you write a better question. We can all agree it is proper to have a good title, use code tags properly and describe issues well. This isn't a "ritual", this is writing a good question. None of us are gurus or wizards, we're all regular people. Hell, a lot of times I'll watch threads just because someone asked a good question and I don't know how to answer it, but I do want to know the answer. This is a community where people help each other, so properly describing a problem you're having isn't a ritual to any guru.

For example, if you call Microsoft and say "My internet doesn't work", they'll ask you what's the problem. Is your WiFi on? Are you connected to a network? Does your network have internet? Thing is, since we aren't paid, our patience is lower for lazy people who can't put a few sentences together or do a simple web search and read the docs.

The post shows some tips on how to increase your chances of getting an answer. Let's face it, most people don't answer badly written questions. If you can't put in a bit of effort to write a good question, why should we try to help?

 

That can be broadened: why should anyone voluntarily help by answering any questions? Almost the only reason is that, for some reason, they want to.

With that in mind and once again speaking entirely practically, a well written question is one someone is more likely to want to help answer.

 

I'm trying this riiiight now... and no. Dragging an image into my post highlights the post box, followed by nothing happening. Perhaps it's browser dependent?

Edit: Copy-pasting does work, just not dragging.

 

No it is moderator-fu dependent. See my question and @Eric5h5 s response

 

Works on Chrome (but Win10) for me without issues (file formats you can see after clicking Upload a File - see also attached drag-n-dropped screenshot). And as far as I know I'm not a mod

 

As far as you know. Anyway, I just went to another XenForo forum where I'm not a mod and didn't have issues drag-n-drop uploading after the first post. The comment above about it working half the time here seems to indicate that something is borked somewhere.

--Eric

 

Wow, this is interesting. It was also said to work without moderator-fu for the initial post (i.e. First message) but it seems that it works for you at any time?

There is more than moderator-fu to it!

@Eric5h5 do you have any connection to the relevant unity team and could get an answer to share with us?

 

Probably best to post a topic in the forum feedback category.

--Eric

 

Dragging and dropping works for me. But typically I use the upload file button below the post.

 

FYI... I asked if the unity team can clarify the image upload

https://forum.unity3d.com/threads/unity-team-feedback-appreciated-posting-images.440549/