Please note that LinuxExchange will be shutting down on December 31st, 2016. Visit this thread for additional information and to provide feedback.

How to Ask

Welcome to LinuxExchange!

We’d love to help you. But not every question on Unix and Linux gets answered. To improve your chances, here are some tips:

Do your homework

Have you thoroughly searched for an answer before asking your question? Sharing your research helps everyone. Tell us what you found and why it didn’t meet your needs. This demonstrates that you’ve taken the time to try to help yourself, it saves us from reiterating obvious answers, and most of all it helps you get a more specific and relevant answer!

Be specific

If you ask a vague question, you’ll get a vague answer. But if you give us details and context, we can provide a useful answer.

Make it relevant to others

We like to help as many people at a time as we can. Make it clear how your question is relevant to more people than just you, and more of us will be interested in your question and willing to look into it.

Be on-topic

Our community is defined by a specific set of topics in the faq; please try to stick to those topics.

Keep an open mind

The answer to your question may not always be the one you wanted, but that doesn’t mean it is wrong. A conclusive answer isn’t always possible. When in doubt, ask people to cite their sources, or to explain how/where they learned something. Even if we don’t agree with you, or tell you exactly what you wanted to hear, remember – we’re just trying to help.

powered by OSQA