How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

[Titus von der Malsburg]

I'm reading this list since a few weeks now and I observed, that
communication is sometimes suboptimal.  Many people ask for help very
politely but fail to describe their setup and problem in a sufficiently
detailed manner, therefore getting sometimes poor or no results.

There is a very nice howto document by Eric Raymond titled "How To Ask
Questions The Smart Way" that describes how one should act to get
optimal results from mailing lists and similar media.  I read it once
and it helped me very much, so I recommend it here.

Maybe Eric Raymond is all-to rigorous at some points, but nevertheless
the document gives you an idea of how you could improve your
communication.

Cheers,
        Titus