Years ago I first read How To Ask Questions The Smart Way* by Eric Steven Raymond† and Rick Moen. It has great advice for people who have technical questions and are asking them in online forums. To me it reads as a mixture of human psychology and practical advice, offering a lot of insight to why you would want to follow its guidance. I have taken many of these lessons to heart, and I think it has paid off with better answers for my questions.
* How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
Why Do You Need This Advice?
The essay begins with a revealing disclaimer:
Many project websites link to this document in their sections on how to get help. … please display prominently near the link notice that we are not a help desk for your project!
We have learned the hard way that without such a notice, we will repeatedly be pestered by idiots who think having published this document makes it our job to solve all the world’s technical problems.
If you’re reading this document because you need help, and you walk away with the impression you can get it directly from the authors of this document, you are one of the idiots we are talking about.
There is a large mass of ignorant lazy questioners out there, and if you want people to spend their valuable time helping you, you need to stand out as someone smart enough to provide the relevant context for your problem, and humble enough to take the expert’s advice.
My Favorite Tips
As I’ve advanced in my career as a computer and map nerd, I’ve increasingly found myself in the position of being the expert and answering the questions. Here are the recommendations that I most value as the questionee.
Use meaningful, specific subject headers
Describe the goal, not the step
Be explicit about your question
Be precise and informative about your problem
Being a good Internet Citizen
There are several pieces of advice that focus on helping make the effort of answering your specific question something of value to the larger community. An expert doesn’t want to answer the same question over and over again. Their answer to you and your report on applying that answer both benefit future questioners searching for answers in the future.
Don’t ask people to reply by private e-mail
Follow up with a brief note on the solution
How To Answer Questions in a Helpful Way
© 2026 Paul McCombs This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License
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