How about a checklist to put at the top of the post, then refer to further details below? The reason I say this is because it's more than halfway down before you recommend to SuperSearch or Google, which I think is the remedy to most of the issue being addressed by this post. Someone too lazy to consider posting etiquette will most likely miss this, and I see it spouted all the time (and I think most of us have been guilty at some point).

Also, I think there are two distinct types of questions - coding problems ("why doesn't this work?") and advice seeking ("how do I...", "where do I find...", "what's the best way to...", etc.). Much of this post doesn't apply to the second kind.

Something in this format perhaps (further modification probably needed):

General Checklist Before Posting:

  1. Is my problem original? Have I searched perldoc and/or the module documentation? Have I used SuperSearch or Google?
  2. Does my question include all necessary information? Can I be more specific?
  3. Do I explain the behavior I'm expecting, or what I'm trying to accomplish?
  4. Does it have a descriptive title?

Additional Checklist for Coding Problems:

  1. Do I have a simple example illustrating the problem? Does it compile? Does it use strict and warnings? Is it wrapped in <code>...</code> tags?
  2. Do I provide example output?
  3. I'm not asking for other people to do the work for me, am I?

I know this is all redundant but it may help to have it all at the top, at which point the reader could continue for a more detailed explanation of why these things are important. I also like tye's template for a post and I think it would help to have that presented first as well.

In reply to Re: RFC - How to ask... by whakka
in thread RFC - How to ask... by ww

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