Having been a member of this site for the last 5 year, I have reviewed a lot of “questions” asked. I have asked many myself. Lately, and it might just be me, I have seen a lot of postings which appear to be request for help, but I am not sure. Sometime I will see a posting with a blurry photo asking for some type of information but not very specific as to what they want. This can be very frustrating for both the poster and for anyone trying to help with an answer. I tried to come up with some simple steps in how to better present your question in a way to facilitate a quicker and more accurate response. 1. Use the correct forum. Don’t ask a question about an ancient coin in the U.S. Coin forum. You may get some “looks”, but very few if any responses. Do not post to multiple forums. 2. Use a title that is brief and accurately describes your question. Avoid titles like “need help…?” 3. When you ask your question, define exactly what it is that you want to know. Be as clear as possible to avoid answers which are not relevant. 4. If posting a photo, show both sides. Make sure the photo is as clear as possible. Use the macro function on your camera. Use a large enough file to show as much detail as possible. I realize not everyone has a working knowledge on how to photograph coins, but there is enough information available on this site to help you learn the basics. A scan is better than a blurry photo. Crop out unnecessary background. We want to see the coin, not your messy tabletop. 5. Do some research yourself prior to asking the question. A constant barrage of inquiries puts off a lot of experts when poster are too lazy to spend some of their own time in researching the question. The experts are willing to share their knowledge, but they would like you to learn from them, not abuse them. Explain what research you have tried to obtain the answer. Invest in some reading material or use WEB searches such as Google. You will often find the answer you are looking for. If you find something interesting, share it. We all want to learn. 6. Be gracious, courteous, and patient. Someone is providing his or her time and expertise for free. Not everyone is lurking 24/7 waiting for the chance to answer question. Some have day jobs. Relax, someone will get to your question as soon as possible. 7. Provide any relevant additional information asked of your from the responder. The addition information may be necessary in providing you with the answer. If asked for the weight or size of the coin, try to provide it as quickly as possible. 8. Do not become argumentative or challenge the response. If you do not agree with the answer, provide additional information or politely ask the responder how they arrive at their answer. Perhaps your question was answered properly but you didn't properly ask you question. Aggressive questions or replies will get defensive and less than helpful responses. 9. Thank the responder for their time and help, even if you didn't get the help you need. 10. Spell check is your friend. Use it. 11. Use the forum intelligently. Do not waste everyone’s time throwing up less than valid questions. It’s best to ask a single question every few days than to ask a lot of questions in a short time frame. If I see 4 or 5 similar postings from the same member, on the same day, I stop looking after the second. I realize that I don’t follow each of these steps 100 percent myself. I have asked questions in the past with less than satisfactory results. When I go back and look at the results, I realize I left out one of the steps above. So that’s my fault. Hopefully following these steps will help you obtain the best answer to you question as possible. I invite anyone to add or subtract, to or from the list. I’m sure I left something out. Thank you for your time. Mike
This is a great post with truly useful advice. I have also noticed what appeared to me to be an increase in threads where the titles are simply something like "Question" or "Please help". These might seem like straightforward questions to those writing them, but I am less inclined to click open these threads because I like to have some idea about what I am going to read before reading it.
#2 is definitely important! I ignore questions that have ' OMG ' , ' DAWG! ', and 'UNIQUE' ( as many coins are unique after they get PMD hammered) and other such wordage in the title. They say when seeking employment or scholarships, appearance and demeanor is very important. Such is also the same asking for someone to put time into answering or researching, the first thing they see is the TITLE of your post. Think about it for a while before posting. Some members are interested in cents,some in morgans, others in all coins, US, foreign, ancient, counterfeit, varieties, etc. Phrase your title for your target audience.
Even if you don't (or can't for some reason) follow all of these steps, don't hesitate to ask. Detecto takes a load of crap, but does stimulate some interesting discussions. Oh...BTW, good post and I agree with it.
I like #10.......spell check is your friend......there is absolutely no excuse for poor spelling anymore people. Use it! Too bad we don't have grammar check.........
