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156 lines
8.6 KiB
156 lines
8.6 KiB
<?php
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include("../tde-head-and-foot.php");
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doHeader("Asking Questions", "Documentation", "FAQ", "../");
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?>
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<STYLE>
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.question {font-weight:bold;}
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TD {padding-top:10px}
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</STYLE>
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<table width="100%" class="header"><tbody><tr><td align="left" class="navLeft" width="33%"><a accesskey="p" href="more-info.php">Prev</a></td><td align="center" class="navCenter" width="34%"></td><td align="right" class="navRight" width="33%">
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<a accesskey="n" href="contribute.php">Next</a></td></tr></tbody></table>
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<p class="chapter" lang="en">
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<p class="titlepage">
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<p>
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<p><h2 class="title"><a name="questions"></a>Chapter 18. Asking Questions</h2><p>To get an appropriate answer to questions requires asking a clear
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question in a manner that motivates people to help. Writing questions that
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appear to be rude, lazy, or uses bad or unclear language likely will result
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in your question being ignored.</p>
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<p class="qandaset"><dl><dt>18.1. <a href="questions.php#idm140487996996016">What do I do before I ask?</a></dt><dt>18.2. <a href="questions.php#idm140487996913792">Where do I ask?</a></dt><dt>18.3. <a href="questions.php#idm140487996909360">How do I ask?</a></dt><dt>18.4. <a href="questions.php#idm140487996896592">What do I do when told to look elsewhere?</a></dt></dl><table border="0" summary="Q and A Set"><col align="left" width="1%"><tbody><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="idm140487996996016"></a><a name="idm140487996995696"></a><b>18.1.</b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>What do I do before I ask?</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><b></b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>Read the documentation and FAQ for the application. There is
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a wealth of TDE documentation availible both in the help center and
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online. A lot of time and effort has gone into this documentation, and
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often the answer to your question is there. The general TDE userguide
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can be found by typing <strong class="userinput"><code><strong class="command">help:/khelpcenter/userguide</strong></code></strong>
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into the Konqueror address bar or <strong class="userinput"><code><strong class="command">
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khelpcenter help:/khelpcenter/userguide with the minicli</strong></code></strong>.</p><p>Search the web: Usually searching for a specific error message or
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searching mailing list archives will find a solution.</p><p>Try it and see! Look through all the application options, read the
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What's this? and tooltips for the ones you're not sure about. If you're
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really unsure about an option save your data and then try. As long as you
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use common sense you are unlikely to break anything by experimenting.</p><p>Don't be lazy. If you show the people who you are asking
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that you are able to troubleshoot and research in a logical manner, you're
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showing them you're a reasonable person who is worth their time to
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help. It's your problem and not theirs so the legwork is yours to do. Save
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your helpers as much time as you can.</p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="idm140487996913792"></a><a name="idm140487996913472"></a><b>18.2.</b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>Where do I ask?</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><b></b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>Usually the best place to ask a question is on the
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IRC channels and mailing lists devoted to user
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questions. Don't post simple questions about using TDE to the devels
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channels and mailing lists, these are for technical discussions. Some good
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places are chat.freenode.net, channel: #trinity-desktop, and the TDE <a href="/mailinglist.php" target="_top">mailing
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lists</a>.
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</p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="idm140487996909360"></a><a name="idm140487996909040"></a><b>18.3.</b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>How do I ask?</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><b></b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>Try to word your questions in a manner that gives the most
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information possible and is polite and courteous. Don't ask to ask, just
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ask!</p><p>Q: TDE sucks, it's slow</p><p>This is not a question that is likely to get you a useful answer. It does
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not give any useful information about troubleshooting the problem, and it
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starts out attacking the software in a way that isn't productive.</p><p>Q: Since updating TDE on Slackware Linux using sources, I have
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noticed it's being really slow sometimes
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applications take up to 20 seconds to launch. I am using the same user
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configuration as I had with the previous version. I have tried as a new
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user. I can't find anything about this on the mailing lists or by a web
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search. Could anyone point me to some information that could help?</p><p>This question is polite, contains information to help people
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troubleshoot the problem and shows your helpers what avenues you have
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already tried.</p><p>Don't presume automatically that the problem is the fault of
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TDE. Otherwise you likely will annoy people.</p><p>Use clear language with correct spelling. Watch out for any
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ambiguities and make sure you think about what you say before you write
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it. If you are asked for clarification, give it as best you can. TDE is a
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project where many of the users and developers are not native english
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speakers and if you don't use correct english, misunderstandings might
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ensue. Be patient. Use the language appropriate to the channel or mailing list you are
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in if you don't, people who might have been able to help you might
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ignore your message because it is not in a language they understand.</p><p>Include all information that could be relevant, even when you're not
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sure. Have you updated other software or hardware on your system,
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particularly system libraries or a new kernel? These things could affect how
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TDE performs. Even when you cannot see a connecting cause, someone else might.</p><p>Don't paraphrase error messages. Paste in the exact error, and if it's
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more than a line or two don't paste them directly into an
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IRC channel. Use an online paste service. If you
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must type the messages by hand, be sure you are accurate. When you provide
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faulty information, your helpers cannot help you as easily.</p><p>Follow through on your solution! Tell people when the solution worked, or when you have
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solved the problem yourself. This helps everybody involved know when
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solutions work and helps other users who might be searching for a similar
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solution to the problem.</p></td></tr><tr class="question"><td align="left" valign="top"><a name="idm140487996896592"></a><a name="idm140487996896272"></a><b>18.4.</b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>What do I do when told to look elsewhere?</p></td></tr><tr class="answer"><td align="left" valign="top"><b></b></td><td align="left" valign="top"><p>Possibly you have not followed the above
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advice. You've not done your research, and the solution probably is one the
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helper knows very well to be easy to find. When provided a web link to an
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FAQ or documentation don't say, No, I don't
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want to have to read this I want you to just tell me. That response
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is considered bad manners. People who don't provide effort to learn often
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find others have little incentive to help.</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Use common courtesy. TDE users and developers volunteer their time
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out of an already very busy schedule, and like to
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know that you are appreciating they are helping you for free. Be
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polite, say please and thank you, be constructive, and try to be pleasant and
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friendly.</p><p> Does this seem like a lot of trouble to ask a question? If you want
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to be able to feel that people owe you an answer or support, then you're
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quite welcome to pay for commercial support from companies that support
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TDE on Unix-like platforms. If you don't want to pay money, then pay the
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people who do this for free with your politeness and appreciation. :-)</p><p>If you think the answer to your question should be included in the
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TDE FAQ please feel free to submit any patches or suggestions to the
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TDE FAQ Maintainer, at <code class="email"><<a href="mailto:devels@trinitydesktop.org">devels@trinitydesktop.org</a>></code></p><table width="100%" class="bottom-nav"><tr><td width="33%" align="left" valign="top" class="navLeft"><a href="more-info.php">Prev</a></td><td width="34%" align="center" valign="top" class="navCenter"><a href="index.php">Home</a></td><td width="33%" align="right" valign="top" class="navRight"><a href="contribute.php">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="33%" align="left" class="navLeft">Getting more information</td><td width="34%" align="center" class="navCenter"><a href="index.php">Up</a></td><td width="33%" align="right" class="navRight">Contributing</td></tr></table>
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<?php
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doFooter();
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?>
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