AutoHotkey Community

You may post asking for help, but no one is obliged to answer. It is a request after all, not a demand.

"Thanks in advance" makes the assumption your post will be answered. It is more polite to say thank you after someone has replied. This also conveys that you have read the reply and it was in some way helpful.

When addressing the forum, don't use gendered terms such as "guys" or "brothers" as it excludes the female members of the forum. AutoHotkey is not an exclusively male community, so use something more universally gender-neutral.

When asking for help, try to take the time to write a clear and concise post if you expect the same in return.

Bumping your post won't necessarily get it answered any sooner. It may even have the reverse effect (see #1). If your post has ended up on the second page it might then be acceptable to bump, although it's worth noting that unread posts on the second page retain their unread post flag.

(Add your own...)

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"Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly." - Mae West

*once the list has been finished, BoBo will get banned within a snap*

No you won't!

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"Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly." - Mae West

Despite the actual meaning of "guys", no one that I know would consider it a gendered term. Perhaps where you live it is different, but everyone I know uses it as a gender-neutral term. But that's just my two cents.


I think people who say "Thanks in advance" are simply trying to be polite,
and most who would say that also give thanks once their question. Just my observation.


Anyway, my own:

Don't bump your posts (specifically, Ask for Help posts) until at least ~12 hours have passed, preferably like a day. I have seen people bump in only eight minutes. Do they really expect instant answers?

FIRSTLY I SECOND KROGDOR'S COMMENTS
NOW FOR MY OWN ADDITIONS
DONT POST IN CAPS
OOPs
if you are new make a genuine effort to search the help file. Nothing iritates most vets more than questions like
how do i run program.exe .... run command?
how do i move a window .... winmove?
how do i make a script that ..... quickstart tutorial
well i need not go on
next
Sign up. Create a user account its free and you arent going to get spammed. if you dont sign up wiht a valid email you cant get a notification of a response
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dont just describe... Show us the code that you tried
If you found it in another post. Post your question about it in that thread. most times the thread creator is still monitoring the thread
Dont post any question in any thread without reading the entire thread. there are good chances that someone may have already asked your question.
Use code tags its not hard its just and there are buttons

if an error arised post the actual error dont describe the error if you didnt understand it what makes you think you can describe it. someone will identify something from the actual error faster than an off beat discription
when searching search with meaning full words
for instance your search shouldnt be "how do i flatulate in public?"
it should be "flatulate public"
list what your trying to do in baby steps dont just assume every one will understand.
pretend your explaining to an alien
for instance
"i open some website with script and it doesnt work"
great now to help you i have to wonder which browser?
COM function?
run command?
Browser is corrupt?
firewall issue?
Internet connections......


it just isnt nearly as helpfull as
****************
"Hi i was trying to do a search in google with the following script and i got the following error"Fabulous !!!!! now i know exactly what you did and how to help
one final thing
and this is really important
If someone helps you post back in that thread and let the community know what worked so that someone else can benifiet

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No matter what your oppinion Please join this discussion
Formal request to Polyethene

They have the patience of a lightning bolt.

I try not to let others' overt impertinence dissuade me from chipping in where I can. However, I do not answer questions that I simply don't understand. So, my advice to those who 'Ask for Help' is to be as clear and concise as you can be (especially the concise part, as a huge OP can daunt even the wizards of AHK.)

As for gender bias... I just assume the word choice reflects the poster's colloquialisms.

@ Serenity: I don't see anything about your username or sig that puts your gender beyond any shadow of a doubt

p.s. I agree with tank as per No.3 in my sig

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Ternary (a ? b : c) guide     TSV Table Manipulation Library
Post code inside [code][/code] tags!

I'm in the UK, so it may well be a locale thing. For what it's worth, none of the women I know (myself included) appreciate being addressed this way.



I think some honestly do. I put it down to sense of entitlement. I added my own take on the post-bumping.



Yes, too long can be really offputting. Also, please edit your code, narrowing it down to what needs attention instead of posting the whole script.

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"Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly." - Mae West

Ah, I see. I'll keep that in mind in the future.



Agreed.

Attempt to use a little bit of grammar. I know i don't use perfect grammar 50% of the time, but putting in periods, excamation marks, commas and question marks makes things 10x easier to read.
I understand english might not be your 1st language, so spelling mistakes is okay here and there. but use full sentences and punctuation!

Attempt to use a little bit of grammar I know i don't use perfect grammar 50% of the time but putting in periods excamation marks commas and question marks makes things 10x easier to read
I understand english might not be your 1st language so spelling mistakes is okay here and there but use full sentences and punctuation

see the difference?
and don't smilie spam
really 2-3 in a post is enough

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rawr. be very afraid
*poke*
Note: My name is all lowercase for a reason.
"I think Bigfoot is blurry, that's the problem. It's not the photographer's fault, Bigfoot is blurry. So there's a large, out-of-focus monster roaming the countryside."

I have to disagree with this. Perhaps a compromise is to say, "Post all your code, but highlight where you think the problem is," or "Post all your code in one block, and the problem area in a second."

I realize that hundreds of lines of code is unlikely to entice much help; but I've run across several cases where the original poster only gave the snippet of code where s/he thought the problem was, and it took many more posts to realize the problem was elsewhere.


One more tip to add: when someone helps you by writing code, you try it, and it doesn't do exactly what you want, please don't reply simply, "It didn't work." This statement is no use at all to the person who is trying to help you. "It didn't work," could mean anything from, "Your code blue-screened my PC and started it on fire," to "It does exactly what I want but the GUI is an ugly color." Don't stop being descriptive and concise after your original post. Do it all the time!

Ditto

_________________
No matter what your oppinion Please join this discussion
Formal request to Polyethene

from my experience in some cases the problem is not only in the script, but also sits in front of the computer.

For that reason every forum needs a BoBo (AKA "bad ol'BoBo" AKA "BoBo the cleaner" AKA "Pulp Fiction BoBo")

gimme a break guys...

thanks in advance

*screams at computer*

PLZ HELP MY SCRIPT WONT WORK
SRSLY PLZ

_________________
"Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly." - Mae West