How to Ask Good Questions

Experienced Questioning

I don't always ask questions online but when I do I try to be as specific as possible AFTER I feel like my research hasn't answered what I'm curious about. Fortunately, this has mostly worked for me because usually it bugs people when they see the same question asked countlessly or without enough information to answer the question properly. Previously mentioned in my other blog posts, I am members of several car forums and the worst thing about these forums, besides the numerous internet trolls, is that members are ALWAYS asking the same questions which have been answered over and over again. You need to do some research people! If you have a question and you are especially new to the subject, your question has most likely been asked AND answered.

Although I do agree that sometimes google searching can't find you an answer it may be because of how you worded your search or you haven't used the correct keywords. So before you contemplate about asking a question and being ridiculed for asking a previously answered question, try rewording your question. Look at your original google search and check if it is comprehendible. If you asked "My car is making a clicking noise in front, what is it?", chances are google will find some answers but most likely will give you the answers you don't want. Use more specific details such as "car makes clicking noise when I turn the steering wheel and move forward". Google won't care if your search isn't a complete sentence because it utilizes keywords in its search. You will more likely get the answer you want with this google search. A clicking noise made when turning in a vehicle is most likely a worn out constant velocity (CV) joint by the way.

Tips on Asking Questions in Communities/Forums

  1. Use a Title Which Summarizes the Problem

    2. The title of the question is FIRST thing people see. If it can't summarize the problem you are having well enough they will either pass it up or ask you to clarify what you meant if the rest of question doesn't help them help you. The title should hold the main idea of your question. If you have trouble coming up with a good title then try writing the title last after you have given the rest of the question.

  2. Introduce the Problem

    3. In the body of the question, expand on the title. Do this by including the problems you are encountering and why you weren't able to solve it yourself. Be informative as possible in how you have tackled the problem with relevant details and possibly code so that they can reproduce the problem you are having. That way they can easily and better answer your question.

  3. Include Tags for Your Question

    4. If you are in a community like stackoverflow.com, be sure to include information like what language, API, and library you are having problems with in the form of tags. This will definitely help others help you.

  4. Proofread Your Question and Then Post

    5. Review your question. Make sure that there aren't any typos, missing words, or incorrect usage of words. Proofreading will make the question more clear. Nobody wants to read a question and not know what you are trying to say. It makes helping more difficult and may result in receiving no help.

  5. Respond to Feedback

    6. When people leave feedback make sure to answer them because it may be because your question needs additional information. Sometimes they may answer your question but they may not answer it the way you want so try clarifying your question to your specific needs. Regardless of receiving the answer you want or not, remember to thank them for their time and advice!

What Have I Asked?

Well I haven't asked too many questions on the August Suns Community but when I have, I received help for them. The following is one question that I asked in the community:

"What did you guys use to reindent the HTML/CSS? I've tried the sublime 2 reindent method but that changes nothing for me when I "copy as html" and save the file as html. I've also tried installing html/css/js prettify but the package controller was also giving me problems during installation.""

I think is a good question. I didn't necessarily have a title but I was able to get the main idea across in the first sentence. I provided additional information including how I've tried solving it. However, I think I could be more clear on the exact problems I was having when installing the package controller because I ended up trying to install the package controller and it worked the 3rd time around. It may not have been the perfect way to ask the question but I was able to receive help from peers in solving my problem.

How Others Have Asked

Here's a question a peer asked in the community:


"Has anyone tried the tally votes challenge for javascript yet? Elena and I paired for this, and got stuck on figuring out how to add a new property and value to an empty object, and to increase that every time the same object is accessed. But we can't even add the object through a variable; we get a unexpected token error. Let me know if any of this makes sense!"

The first sentence gets the main idea across or at least grabs the attention of those who have already finished the tally challenge. I the body of the question he states what they are stuck on and specifically details the problem with the type of error. I believe this is also a good question because they were able to receive help from those who have finished the challenge.