Stop Asking Questions The Stupid Ways

Source: adapted from tangx’s Stop-Ask-Questions-The-Stupid-Ways README (original in Chinese).

Original repository license: GPL-3.0. The English classic on the same topic is Eric S. Raymond’s How To Ask Questions The Smart Way.

Avoid the XY problem

Reference: xyproblem.info

The XY Problem goes like this:

1. The asker wants to solve the real problem X, and believes that solving derived problem Y will solve X.
2. The asker asks for help with Y instead of X.
3. Helpers spend time solving Y — wasting both sides’ time.

In the end, Y is often not even a reasonable way to solve X.

To avoid creating this mess, learn to describe your root problem accurately from the start. See Learn to describe the problem.

Things to know before you ask

1. The people willing to answer your questions are doing you a favor.
2. Paying for someone’s time is honorable, even when they are not in it for money — buying time with money is common sense.
3. Nobody who helps you is on your payroll. You are asking for a favor, not collecting a debt.
4. Ignoring your question costs everyone else nothing.
5. Describing a problem accurately is a basic survival skill. Read How To Ask Questions The Smart Way.
6. Searching is a basic survival skill. If you cannot use a search engine, your problem is probably not the software.
7. Basic manners still apply. Even kindergarteners know to say please and thank you.

Hi, could someone help with...
  ...problem description...
Thanks!

Learn to describe the problem

When asking, describe the problem as if you were reporting to your boss: the most concise words and images that explain the full story.

Nobody has time to guess what you actually want.

Remember: the more context you give, the faster your problem gets solved. This is not a riddle game.

A good question includes:

1. A question about what, stated up front.
2. “I want to achieve X, I did Y, and I got Z instead.”
3. The error log, as text, with the key lines highlighted.
4. What you already tried.
5. What you searched for, which answers you found, and why they did not work.
6. Your operating system and its version.
7. The software and its version.
8. A thank-you.

Do not save the “thanks” for after someone helps you.

Know when to paste a screenshot

If your chat app turns log text into emoji, or the layout matters, use an image. But never send a bare screenshot with an emoji and nothing else — nobody shares your mental context.

Is this really so hard?

@xxx, I can't reach the git repository from my machine.
Environment: what the environment is.

Know when to paste text

Error messages, logs, commands, and paths should be pasted as text whenever possible, so others can search, copy, and diff them.

What asking badly looks like

”What the heck?"	"What’s going on?"	"What do I do?"	"HELP!!!”
Search it first	Search it first	Search it first	Did you search it?

If your entire question is a scream with no version, no steps, no log, and no screenshot, the honest answer to all of them is the same: search first, then come back with details.

For ECHO-specific reporting steps — console, error reports, and reproduction templates — see How To Solve Problems.