Being a linux beginner as well as new to KnoppMyth, the following article has proved useful in helping me understand how people on this forum answer questions, I am referring to those who have extensive knowledge of KnoppMyth and/or Linux, but the article is aimed at beginners.

I thought that some of the more experienced folks here were a tad bit arrogant in their answers and seemed to be dismissive, while others showed more patience for beginners. However, the article referreced here helped to explain this situation to me and has helped me to gain a better understanding of why certain people may be percieved in the manner I have described.

This article is a good read and I would suggest that ALL participants in this forum take a look at it.

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Hi green,

Thanks, it is a good link for us all. I am sure I have broken a few of the basic rules myself....

Have a great day!
Mike

My advice:

1. search the forums
2. search the forums
3. search the forums
4. search the knoppmyth wiki
5. search mythtv users mailing list
6. search mythtv dev mailing list
7. search google
8. think about it for a while
9. grow a really thick skin
10. write the question and preview it before you post
11. post the question in the right forum
12. keep on topic in responses

Now obviously some of the above are highly subjective. I have asked and answered many questions here. Others have asked and answered many more. Usually few subjects are truly new and are not already covered to some extent in the forums.

Thanks!

Andrew Lynch

I can't reiterate the bit about searching and reading, you will suprised how much you can learn about not only the topic you are reasearching, but other topics as well.

That tip again: Search.

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Girkers

The problem comes when you don't know what to search for. Some search terms give thousands of irrelevant hits.

When I ask questions I don't expect people to write a 10 pages answer, I just want to get a hint where to start looking. Or a hint what other info I can give to improve the chance to find out what's wrong.

There is also the problem that much of the information found in searches is old, outdated, does no longer apply.

First thing to remember is to use the "search all terms" button when you use the forum search. That can narrow things down quite a bit. You do have to use multiple words, so searching for "LVM" or "modeline" isn't going to help... you just have to try some combinations.

Second thing is to search for specific error messages that you're getting, both here and in Google.

When posting here I also think that showing your "due diligence" helps people know you've at least tried. Saying "I searched the forum and didn't find anything" isn't as good IMO as saying "I searched for 'aspect ratio' and 'DVD' and found the following threads (insert URLs here) but these didn't seem to be relevant."

You should also post your hardware specs, especially when the problem relates to your system. I have seen a number of posts where they have asked a question and not actually told us what hardware they have.

E.g "I have installed KnoppMyth but my TV card is not detected when I go into Myth-Setup. What do I do next?" [this is purely ficticious and just an example of some posts]

It is better to give more information, than not enough, better to err on the side of information overload, then no information at all.

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Girkers

However, please don't put all sorts of hardware keywords into articles that have nothing to do with that hardware.

It's really annoying when searching the forums to get piles of useless hits generated by people who put all sorts of stuff in their sig. Is it really necessary to put irrelevant keywords into sigs?

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Grant

This also helps other people who might be searching for the same thing (using the same keywords) find your thread. This is why it is important to make sure you close off your thread with either a description of what fixed your problem or a link to the post that helped you (assuming you eventually resolve it that is).
Nothing more annoying than seeing someone post a problem, having about 3 suggestions for what to try and then them either not posting back, or posting back saying. "Its ok. I got it working."

Grante, let me ask you a question, if you have someone with the same piece of hardware that you have and there system is working, why would you NOT want to know them. What I am trying to say, by people putting there hardware info in there signature you will learn who has what hardware and you could then send them an email or PM and put them towards you question on the board.

I appreciate what you are saying about the extraneous links that you may get in a search, that is where the Subject of the topic is vitally important. This "should" give you an indication if the topic relates to you.

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Girkers