Community Portal You've probably been to the forums because you're encountering a problem.
Just remember, when you post there, that we are trying to help you. Don't get angry, frustrated or rude, just tell us what's wrong and we'll help you work out the problem. You should also have at least read the beginners guide to joomla.
When asking for advice, the most important aspect to consider is asking in such a way that will allow the community to quickly know what you want and give all the information they need to help you.
In general, you want to be clear, concise, complete, and polite.
When you ask for support, please understand that depending on the number of questions the community see, other commitments, social life etc, they may not be able to answer or even acknowledge your question. Also understand that if you’re asking for free help, you need to be respectful of the time they’ve dedicated free and of the additional time you’re asking them to spend with you. Supply them with as much information as possible.
- Refrain from spamming or bumping, posting for points. If you make a post and don’t receive a reply within 5 minutes, that doesn’t mean you should post again. This will likely move you down or off the good attention list. People dont live on the forum waitng for your post.
- Unless otherwise told, do not contact/PM/Skype the forum leaders or more experienced people. This will not only make you unpopular and probably be classed as a bully. Some people actually make a comment in their signature lines stating they will ignore, delete and ban people who do. Others may also state that if you PM them, you will accept their personal support charges. They may also make a public posting in the topic you want help on stating you are a demanding, impolite user and everyone will ignore you.
- If you see an error message, copy the entire error message and include that in your initial post. These error messages help to narrow down the problem making for quicker resolution times
- Is there a forum for your language? It may be better to post in the wrong forum where someone can undertand you than post in Babel English where people will have no idea what your on about!
We know just as well as anyone else that everyone makes mistakes. If the problem was caused by something you accidentally did, we may be able to help. We don't expect you to be an expert at using our Joomla.
Even Microsoft states
"When posting questions to a professional forum or newsgroup it is vital to format the question and it's content in a proper way in order to greatly increase the possibility for quickly receiving a good answer, and thus saving you time and frustration. "
Dont grovel it is not a substitute for your lack of searching.
“I know I'm just a pathetic newbie loser, but”. Is unhelpful and when it's coupled with vagueness is really useless. Don't waste your time or ours. Present the background facts and your question as clearly as you can.
Don't mark it as “Urgent - Help”, even if it is for you.
Thats not really our problem. Claiming urgency is very likely to result in the opposite. If its that urgent, then youll probably end up paying for it. Your concept of "needed now" is probably differents from ours. Your save the "lesser spotted Onepchew's" website can possibly wait a day or two.
Did I read the forum?
I am not on about searching, but actually read the stickies "what forums should i post in", "how to ask for help", " Use the post tool".
Whats a post tool? It was something that was designed and programmed to enable all newbies to easily gather information for their support request into one easily postable format by RussW.
Where is it? - At the top of every forum, under the Absolute Beginner's Guide to Joomla! <-- please read before posting. https://docs.joomla.org bit.
Easily spotted Forum Post Assistant - If you are serious about wanting help, you should use this tool to help you post. https://forum.joomla.org/viewtopic.php?f=428&t=272481
What should a post look like?
Poor posts - nothing to work with!
"Hi,
When i want to edit article I only get a couple of buttons.
On my other site, I got the same template and I got buttons like: insert table,Columns,...
How i can fix it?"
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"I have a bit of a peculiar issue and wondering if someone could diagnose the problem.
My site looks like this:
Thanks"
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"No back end visiable front end ok what could be the problem?"
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Reasonable post - at least here there is something.
"I have uploaded all the joomla website with all necessary steps, usually I am doing this but now I get this error.
Fatal error: Call to undefined function: stderror() in /hsphere/local/home/desertwe/desertpalmresort.com/components/com_banners/models/banner.php on line 115"
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"hey plz help me
i m unable to add pics to my site:
steps used are firstly i upload pics to the site then m inserting the image
as m inserting pics in backend it gets added but after saving it .
it gets crashed and the pics in neither available in backend nor in frontend.."
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So what now?
To sum up;
Your post should have an informative subject: try to make the topic's title as detailed and clear as possible.
- Using one word like help! or please! will get you no where, and won't help people who search the forum before demanding/ asking for help.
- Try to give as much specification as possible, like your version, PHP version, modules/addons affected etc.
- Link: giving a link will probably give the community a better understanding of the problem and may result in fast help. Or provide a screenshot of your site if its on localhost.
- Problem: a detailed description of the problem you are having and the error message you get will help.
If you want more on this subject, then please read http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html.
Oh and whats the most common question asked?
Personaly i think it is "How do i change the Welcome to the Front Page"
