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How do I write a good answer?

By AB-Joel Asked Feb 12 2007 6:06PM
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Top Answer out of 226

by AB-Joel on Feb 12, 2007 at 6:10 pm Permalink

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This answer was last edited on: Nov 7, 2009
Here are a few general things to keep in mind:
  • Be polite
  • Take your time and think it through
  • Good spelling and grammar help a lot!
  • Do not curse
  • Don't use all capital letters - people will think you're "yelling"
  • If it helps illustrate your point, include an image or a video
  • Don't just say "I don't know" or "If you do a search, you can find the answer" - It just isn't a very helpful answer, and oftentimes people are asking here because they've already tried to use a search engine and still couldn't find what they wanted.
  • Cite your sources - people are more likely to believe you if you can back up what you say. The best way to cite a source is to paste the link right into your answer
  • When giving a link to a page with the answer, also provide a summary the answer. This way, if the site you're linking to goes down, people on Answerbag will still get a good answer, not just a broken link
  • Stick to the facts - if you can cite specific facts, events, or your experience, your answer will appear more authoritative
  • Do not belittle the questioner. Everyone deserves an answer!
Be sure to look around at other good answers on Answerbag, and you'll get an idea pretty quickly of what people like to see in an answer, and what they don't!
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Avatar Mexico Dude Jan, 03 2009 at 10:32 AM
??????????????????
Avatar SBTroy Jan, 04 2009 at 06:34 PM
Thanks !!!
Avatar Big Butt Nov, 09 2009 at 04:11 PM
poop

Answer 2 out of 226

by Sno517 on Apr 5, 2007 at 4:49 pm Permalink

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Make sure you get your answer across, and answer the whole question. Don't use abreviations, example, "u" for the word "you". Don't curse, and be polite, make sure your spelling and grammar is correct. Follow all these rules and you should have a great answer.
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Avatar Major Look at yerself Oct, 31 2009 at 08:45 PM
This is a lovely comment thread. All noice and smiley. May I join in?
Avatar Bull wears a COAT of many colours Oct, 31 2009 at 09:31 PM
Sure. But, if you will notice, it's about a month old. Since then we've all gotten crusty and gnarley, so, watch yourself in the clinches.8:P
Avatar Rozetown92 Nov, 01 2009 at 03:55 PM
o yeah good point

Answer 3 out of 226

by Annie Girl on Apr 7, 2007 at 9:01 am Permalink

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By being clear and providing facts or resource or personal experience that illustrates your answer.
I take almost all answers with much sincereity, however, I must admit that some questions are out of line and just do not deserve other than a humurous or snap answer...since the asking is that way.
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Answer 4 out of 226

by LoggyBren on May 17, 2008 at 6:00 pm Permalink

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Try to be wise without offending nationality, religion or race. Keep in mind that we are all human beings. The Golden Rule.
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Avatar Ditto Jun, 25 2009 at 08:14 AM
You too, Loggy. :-)
Avatar mis_stood Jul, 18 2009 at 07:19 AM
Like the Golden Rule.
Avatar Pistachio Jul, 20 2009 at 11:39 PM
Yes to all, I couldn't agree more !!!Try to write to someone the way you want them write to you...kind words, encouraging thoughts, and happy comments :)

Answer 5 out of 226

by mizcash on Mar 13, 2007 at 1:03 am Permalink

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your answer should concise, easily read, do not add personal feelings to an answer and all questions are important to the person that ask them.
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Avatar tapatio Aug, 29 2009 at 07:17 PM
Grammar can be thought of as a courtesy to the reader. Grammar makes the communication easier to understand. It is not just to be crabby or bitchy that some of us really want more attention paid to correct usage of the language. Do you or don't you believe everyone should proof read their answer before submitting it? It just takes a very small effort to make things better for your readers.
Avatar Sunshine in a COAT of Sunshine Aug, 29 2009 at 07:46 PM
Sorry but AB is not a test. And I for one do not want to be chased around being judged. I get that in my real life so if you see me make a mistake Please excuse and forgive. And maybe skip me over OK?
Avatar Mr.Hord Nov, 08 2009 at 06:38 AM
I agree good spelling & grammar habits is courtesy to the reader. But you have to remember that they are some people out there that have mantel health & other problems and good spelling & grammar habits can be one the hardest things for them to learn. And then they are others that are learning English as a second language and anyone that has tried that knows that you don't go from "learning a language" to "being practice over night." practice makes perfect so think about that before you judge others on there spelling & grammar habits.

Answer 6 out of 226

by kingkong on Mar 13, 2007 at 1:31 am Permalink

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get more information about the subject do a ruff work how you will put your answers like and read it again again when you know its just might do tell someone to read it for you so that they can tell you what you have done wrong. write it from your heart and use yr mind well..
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Avatar gwh6552 Jun, 14 2009 at 10:33 AM
You should have followed your own advice.
Avatar Lucybell Sep, 11 2009 at 09:30 AM
yes you should have :) ruff? and that's the longest sentence ever

Answer 7 out of 226

by LoggyBren on May 17, 2008 at 5:56 pm Permalink

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Try to be wise without being wise.
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Avatar LoggyBren Feb, 03 2009 at 05:55 AM
For the next person who decides to DR me for this answer..IT meant..to answer WISELY without insulting!!
Avatar woahdude Apr, 25 2009 at 06:17 AM
duh??
Avatar JakobA lo_0l Jun, 06 2009 at 03:58 PM
Try to be wise without being a wise-ass.

Answer 8 out of 226

by Universe Of Life on Mar 13, 2007 at 1:18 am Permalink

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When You Ask


Choose your forum carefully
Be sensitive in choosing where you ask your question. You are likely to be ignored, or written off as a loser, if you:

post your question to a forum where it's off topic

post a very elementary question to a forum where advanced technical questions are expected, or vice-versa

cross-post to too many different newsgroups

post a personal e-mail to somebody who is neither an acquaintance of yours nor personally responsible for solving your problem

Hackers blow off questions that are inappropriately targeted in order to try to protect their communications channels from being drowned in irrelevance. You don't want this to happen to you.

The first step, therefore, is to find the right forum. Again, Google and other Web-searching methods are your friend. Use them to find the project webpage most closely associated with the hardware or software giving you difficulties. Usually it will have links to a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) list, and to project mailing lists and their archives. These mailing lists are the final places to go for help, if your own efforts (including reading those FAQs you found) do not find you a solution. The project page may also describe a bug-reporting procedure, or have a link to one; if so, follow it.

Shooting off an e-mail to a person or forum which you are not familiar with is risky at best. For example, do not assume that the author of an informative webpage wants to be your free consultant. Do not make optimistic guesses about whether your question will be welcome — if you're unsure, send it elsewhere, or refrain from sending it at all.

When selecting a Web forum, newsgroup or mailing list, don't trust the name by itself too far; look for a FAQ or charter to verify your question is on-topic. Read some of the back traffic before posting so you'll get a feel for how things are done there. In fact, it's a very good idea to do a keyword search for words relating to your problem on the newsgroup or mailing list archives before you post. It may find you an answer, and if not it will help you formulate a better question.

Don't shotgun-blast all the available help channels at once, that's like yelling and irritates people. Step through them.

Know what your topic is! One of the classic mistakes is asking questions about the Unix or Windows programming interface in a forum devoted to a language or library or tool portable across both. If you don't understand why this is a blunder, you'd be best off not asking any questions at all until you get it.

In general, questions to a well-selected public forum are more likely to get useful answers than equivalent questions to a private one. There are multiple reasons for this. One is simply the size of the pool of potential respondents. Another is the size of the audience; hackers would rather answer questions that educate many people than questions serving only a few.

Understandably, skilled hackers and authors of popular software are already receiving more than their fair share of mis-targeted messages. By adding to the flood, you could in extreme cases even be the straw that breaks the camel's back — quite a few times, contributors to popular projects have withdrawn their support because collateral damage in the form of useless e-mail traffic to their personal accounts became unbearable.


http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
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Avatar Universe Of Life Jul, 19 2009 at 01:12 AM
Don't worry, mine too was very ordinary ... although I still make many mistakes :)) it is vastly improving ... Goodluck!
Avatar Lucybell Sep, 11 2009 at 09:33 AM
I thought that this was supposed to be how to answer a question?
Avatar Slightly less anonymous Oct, 29 2009 at 02:22 PM
How to answer a question. Read it, and don't answer a question that no one asked with rules that are mainly irrelevant to the people you are preaching to. Because that's what you're doing. Preaching, badly.
Instead of copy/pasting "How To Answer Questions in a Helpful Way" (also available on the site you linked to), you copy/pasted "When You Ask - Choose your forum carefully", the first of 22 sections of the "When You Ask" series. Unfortunately, it's almost entirely irrelevant to this forum. The parts that are relevant you didn't even bother with small word changes to make them fit. You didn't use the other parts in the "When You Ask" series that actually do apply here, that users could apply to their questions.
If you really needed to not answer the question asked (even though you could have copy/pasted it as easily as you did this) you should have at least answered your own question remembering that it's for this site, for this forum, for these users.

Answer 9 out of 226

by toddjh01 on Apr 22, 2007 at 12:01 pm Permalink

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Don't use slang. Good Grammar
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Avatar Buffy.x May, 03 2009 at 07:34 AM
This has to be the best I have read so far. Short and to the point. There is no use in having other advice on how to write good answers, right?
Avatar loveisagift Sep, 22 2009 at 12:37 PM
thats good

Answer 10 out of 226

by betony24.COAT with red clouds.RIP itachi on Apr 25, 2007 at 2:08 pm Permalink

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You should always say what you think is that best but not too perfect. Use the best grammar the you have and everything will be fine, mostly that is.
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