A long time ago, my English teacher handed me a book titled "The Elements of Style" by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White. The book is about effective writing. After reading a fair number of posts, and writing a few responses I'd like to start a thread to offer advice on how to construct a post to maximize the chance of getting the response you need. Here are my initial thoughts.
1. If English is your second language, ask a friend to help you construct your post.
2. Do not waste time and space on apologies -- for anything.
3. Limit the number of questions in a single post.
3. State clearly your attempts to solve the problem.
4. Express your emotional states, like irritation and desperation, very carefully.
5. Don't ask the members of this group to do your job or assignment for you. It is both rude and presumptuous.
6. Avoid the one sentence post asking for a complete design. It is equally rude and presumptuous.
The people who take the time to respond to your post expect to answer basic and fundamental questions. Most answers should require more than one sentence, and less than a term paper. A paragraph should cover the majority of cases. If the answer requires more than a couple of paragraphs you should think about breaking the problem up into smaller pieces.
That's my opinion. What do you think?
1. If English is your second language, ask a friend to help you construct your post.
2. Do not waste time and space on apologies -- for anything.
3. Limit the number of questions in a single post.
3. State clearly your attempts to solve the problem.
4. Express your emotional states, like irritation and desperation, very carefully.
5. Don't ask the members of this group to do your job or assignment for you. It is both rude and presumptuous.
6. Avoid the one sentence post asking for a complete design. It is equally rude and presumptuous.
The people who take the time to respond to your post expect to answer basic and fundamental questions. Most answers should require more than one sentence, and less than a term paper. A paragraph should cover the majority of cases. If the answer requires more than a couple of paragraphs you should think about breaking the problem up into smaller pieces.
That's my opinion. What do you think?