Difference between revisions of "HowTo Get Help On The Message Board"

Revision as of 10:02, 15 March 2012

... or the importance of precise posting

Questions on the message board are answered by volunteers. So

you can't expect to get an answer to every question (sometimes no one knows the answer)
but you can increase the probability to get an answer by using the following guidelines

And always remember: The difficult part about science is asking the right questions

Before posting - do your homework

Give the person that should answer your question the feeling that you've invested at least as much time in it (formulation, previous research ...) as you expect her to invest in the answer. As said above: people are answering in their spare time.
Use the search-function of the message-board (or google with "site:cfd-online.com") to see if somebody had this problem before. Let people know what you have found and why it didn't help. Show that you have though about your problem.
If you have the feeling that your problem is unique/new: start a new thread

Posting

Using an identifiable name is appreciated, and will get you respect in this community
If you start a new thread give it a meaningful title (threads like "Hlp plz!" or "I'm a newbie" are very unlikely to draw attention)
Don't cross-post. Posting the same question (even with small variations) to various threads doesn't increase the likelihood of it being answered (on the contrary)
Don't hijack threads. Just because people discuss the convergence of interFoam in a given thread doesn't mean that this is the place to talk about correct boundary conditions for the alpha-field
Use english
Be polite
Be precise, but be brief. Make sure a large audience can understand your problem. Include relevant information like
- Problem description: What's your problem? What have you tried to fix your problem, and why hasn't it worked?
- Relevant output. Clip it to the relevant parts (it is very unlikely that someone will answer a posting that includes 123 time-steps)
- OpenFOAM-version and specific solver
  - If your problem is related to compiling source code, always report the first compiler error. C-compilers will report multiple errors at once.
  - If you have a problem with solver convergence, be sure to let people know about the numerical schemes you are using and the solver settings

Disclaimer: This is just a personal opinion and not the official policy of the Message-Board

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 And always remember: '''The difficult part about science is asking the right questions'''
-# Give the person that should answer your question the feeling that you've invested at least as much time in it (formulation, previous research ...) as you expect her to invest in the answer
+'''Before posting - do your homework'''
-#* As said above: people are answering in their spare time.
+* Give the person that should answer your question the feeling that you've invested at least as much time in it (formulation, previous research ...) as you expect her to invest in the answer. As said above: people are answering in their spare time.
-# Use the search-function of the message-board to see if somebody had this problem before
+* Use the search-function of the message-board (or google with "site:cfd-online.com") to see if somebody had this problem before. Let people know what you have found and why it didn't help. Show that you have though about your problem.
-# Be precise. Try to include relevant information like
+* If you have the feeling that your problem is unique/new: start a new thread
-#* OpenFOAM-version
-#* Used solver
+'''Posting'''
-#* Problem description
+* Using an identifiable name is appreciated, and will get you respect in this community
-#* Relevant output
+* If you start a new thread give it a meaningful title (threads like "Hlp plz!" or "I'm a newbie" are very unlikely to draw attention)
-# Be brief. If you include output then clip it to the relevant parts (it is very unlikely that someone will answer a posting that includes 123 time-steps)
+* Don't cross-post. Posting the same question (even with small variations) to various threads doesn't increase the likelihood of it being answered (on the contrary)
-# Don't hijack threads. Just because people talk in a thread about the convergence of interFoam doesn't mean that this is the place to talk about correct boundary conditions for the <tt>gamma</tt>-field
+* Don't hijack threads. Just because people discuss the convergence of interFoam in a given thread doesn't mean that this is the place to talk about correct boundary conditions for the <tt>alpha</tt>-field
-#* If you have the feeling that your problem is unique/new: start a new thread
+* Use english
-# If you start a new thread give it a meaningful title (Threads like "Give me help", "I'm a newbie" are very unlikely to draw attention)
+* Be polite
-# Don't cross-post. Posting the same question (even with small variations) to various threads doesn't increase the likelihood of it being answered (on the contrary)
+* Be precise, but be brief. Make sure a large audience can understand your problem. Include relevant information like
-# Use english
+** Problem description: What's your problem? What have you tried to fix your problem, and why hasn't it worked?
-# Be polite
+** Relevant output. Clip it to the relevant parts (it is very unlikely that someone will answer a posting that includes 123 time-steps)
-# Use an identifiable name. There are people on the Message-Board (not me, but I understand them) who don't like answering to people with ''funny names'' ("Sword of Courant" is alright for some "World Of Warcraft"-forum but is not going to get you respect in this community. I know that the WoW-people won't understand it and it is therefor wasted on them, but that is why they play WoW)
+** OpenFOAM-version and specific solver
+*** If your problem is related to compiling source code, always report the first compiler error. C-compilers will report multiple errors at once.
+*** If you have a problem with solver convergence, be sure to let people know about the numerical schemes you are using and the solver settings
 ''Disclaimer: This is just a personal opinion and not the official policy of the Message-Board''