How to get your drupal questions answered

Hi SA drupallers!

Would you like your drupal questions answered by community experts? Then read this post - it'll tell you the best way to get answers.

1. Firstly, if you really want good answers, learn how to ask good questions. I thought I knew how to ask good tech-related questions until I read this: http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html Then I realised that I did know how to ask good questions, and now I knew how to ask much better questions. That's helped me on irc and on support forums. You basically want to ask your question like this:

   "I'm trying to achieve [A]. I thought the best way to do this was to [B]. I read the documentation and it said to do [X]. I did it, I expected to see [Y] but actually saw [Z]. What am I doing wrong?"

   Out there some drupal genius (like me! lol) reads this question. And immediately knows a few things:

   1. The outcome that you're trying to achieve. Knowing this, we may have a better suggestion instead of [B] and thereby solve your problem.
   2. You're already thinking - because of [B]. Whohoo! We know that you're someone who is thinking how to do something which will achieve your outcome. Tech geniuses would rather answer questions from people who are willing to do their own thinking.
   3. You read documentation - double points. It means you're not asking someone else to do all the hard work. Plus you're learning new stuff. Both good pointers, and you're more likely to get helped.
   4. When you did [X] you've told us what you expected to see when you tried [X]. That means you're thinking. Then you say that instead of [Y] you saw something else - [Z]. Awesome - that's valuable information.

   Questions like, "Help, my website is broken!" or "Views isn't working" or "Taxonomy isn't linking properly" will get you ignored almost 100% of the time.

2. Read the documentation. Yes, RTFM applies - always. There's a reason documentation is written - and if it's out of date, update it yourself!
3. Maybe someone else has already asked your question. Search drupal.org via google (go to google.com and type "site:drupal.org terms related to your problem"). If nothing shows up, search the internet. If nothing shows up, time to ask your question!
4. Ask your question in the right channels. Those would be the forums on drupal.org or the issue queue for the module you're having a problem with. Or figure out how to join #drupal on irc. Please don't ask your question in http://groups.drupal.org/south-africa because this is for location-specific activities, and there may be other people on drupal.org who'd also like to know the answer to your question (plus, your question on the drupal forums is searchable, so in a month someone else may have the same problem you're having and also wants to know the solution - be kind and place your question somewhere they can find it!).
5. If you're going to post a question in the issue queue, first read the Troubleshooting FAQ. If you're having a problem with your Drupal site, you're almost certainly not alone. Your questions may already have been asked and answered many times. Save yourself some time and start with this list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) before you post an issue in the queue.
6. Don't be a support leech. Play nicely! And learn how to be part of a community, particularly a self-organising one.
7. Lastly, read this post and follow all of this advice! It will transform you into the kind of person whom other people enjoy helping, and take you one step closer to being Certified to Rock! And if someone does something which violates any of these guidelines, gently point them to this post.