Support » Fixing WordPress » The Forums: Please read before posting.

    1. Every single answer provided here is written by a volunteer. No one is paid to answer you. So, please, do not demand an answer, ask for one. Also, good manners – words like “please” and “thank you” go further than you might think.
    2. Please don’t bump your question! Bumping is actually counter-productive as volunteers look for threads that only have one (1) post, but if you bump your thread, you immediately increase the post count to two (2) and that makes it harder to find an unanswered thread. Bumping is also rude! If you bump your post, the bump might be removed without further explanation.
    3. Make sure you are posting an effective question in the forums. Please read http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_the_Support_Forums
    4. Please use plain language and be descriptive. Talking ‘geek’ or using jargon reduces the number of people who will answer.
    5. Many times questions have already been asked and answered on the Forum. Use the search tools, such as the Forum search or Google, to confirm that your question hasn’t already been asked. Even if you don’t find the exact problem you are experiencing, finding a similar problem may highlight the solution for you. The same question asked over and over is tiresome for volunteers to repeatedly answer. So please, do your homework before asking a question.
    6. Make extensive use of the WordPress Codex. There hundreds of articles and frequently asked questions (FAQ) are presented for you use. There are some very helpful articles in Codex on:
    • Feel free to add questions to the Codex FAQ pages and, if you have an answer, add that also.
    • If you have received a reply and you do not understand the reply, or you are confused, just post back and explain carefully where you got lost.
    • Patience is a virtue. The possibilities of WordPress are almost unlimited, and with that, there may be an increased complexity to the questions asked and answered on the Forum. So, at times, it may take longer for your question to be resolved. Exercise patience and continue to research your problem–volunteers will eventually get to your question.
    • If you are having a problem with a Plugin, please provide a link to where you got the Plugin. Also, make sure you’ve read the information provided by the Plugin author. Many times Plugin authors answer questions on their own blogs.
    • When asking for assistance (and this is more important than you can imagine really!), please post what Theme you are using!
    • Always go back to the original thread and post the solution, even if you found the answer elsewhere. It’s a great way to give back to the community and it may help some other lost soul in the same predicament. It’s disappointing when people post a problem and then reply back with, “never mind, got it working now!” instead of posting what they did to fix the problem! Please, follow-up and post the proper information on how you solved a problem so that everyone can learn.
    • If you wish to add further constructive advice to forum users, please do so below.

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 27 total)
  • Add one: please don’t simply rephrase the question and repost it several times. This is practically the same as bumping, and is equally rude and will tend to annoy the very people who might be of assistance with your problem.

    And don’t cross post either. Pick a forum that best suits your problem and post it there. Cross posting only confuses people. Which one is newer? Which one is active? Which one has the answer? Besides, when you do that, you needlessly bump some one else’s post off of the Forums front page, then they feel like they have to bump their thread to get it back on the front page, then podz comes along and gets out his BFG2000… and well…. let’s just say we don’t need that happening….

    Tg

    “Please use plain language and be descriptive. Talking ‘geek’ or using jargon reduces the number of people who will answer.”
    Please try not to use chat, SMS or l33t speech i.e. plz, u, coz. Take a little bit of time in writing your request.

    In addition, please use a descriptive title. Despite the choice of words, “Please Help!!!” is neither a helpful nor a considerate title.

    This thread hasn’t even left the front page before:
    http://wordpress.org/support/topic/39517

    The cause, though worthy, is hopelessly lost 😉

    Maybe this thread could become a sticky. And you are required to read it before posting if you haven’t read it in the last 24 hours.

    Tg

    Thread Starter Mark (podz)

    (@podz)

    It is a sticky 🙂
    I believe Matt will have a direct link to it somewhere close to the post section.

    “And you are required to read it before posting if you haven’t read it in the last 24 hours.”
    TG,
    No matter what you do, if people aren’t going to read it, they’re not going to read. Arbitrary obstacles aren’t going to help (think EULA agreements) but having a sticky post which we could let people reference will.

    “I believe Matt will have a direct link to it somewhere close to the post section.”
    Having a visible link near the posting area would help. It won’t eradicate poorly chosen threads but it may reduce the occurence.

    About the only way it would work is if there was, instaed of the HotTags section, a short blurb… “Please read this link before posting or if you do not get a response.” Then everyone would have to refrain from answering posts with poor titles, bad information, etc. Difficult task, as every post, regardless of quality, currently gets answered and thus reinforced.

    It would have to be too “heavy handed” so you must submit. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

    I have searched forums for this issue and didnt see it–maybe its too easy to even document. I would like to change the title of my blog home page (it appears as “Home” on sidebar menu called “Main”) to something else. Didnt see option in the Manage Pages admin area. Looked through code for Main and CSS files and didnt see where to do it either. Where do I do this? Am using Red Train theme. Tks.

    13. Please don’t hijack threads with a new problem that is completely unrelated to what the thread is about.

    Thread Starter Mark (podz)

    (@podz)

    Myrna’s post copied to main forum.

    Suggestions from vkayrl, TechGnome, and jaseone have been added to the running page kept at Codex:

    How to make the forums better…

    i wish forum users (incluging myself) would all remember to come back and post solutions to the questions, and click ‘resolved’… afterall, what is the point of having
    http://wordpress.org/support/view/unresolved
    … if it’s essentially meaningless because it is unused, and it’s furstrating to see that someone has solved a problem, but not returned to say how they did it.

    *phew*, just needed to get that off my chest.

    hi iam new here.

    where could i post bugs and bugfixes?

    Thread Starter Mark (podz)

    (@podz)

    Bugs and patches go here:
    http://trac.wordpress.org/newticket

    Login with the same details that you login here with.

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 27 total)
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