What is the best way to ask a question on Answers.com?

Answer 1

The Best Way to Ask a QuestionWhen asking a question, there are some good practices to bear in mind that will help your question to be answered faster by someone who has knowledge of the subject. On the other hand, there are some bad practices that make it unlikely your question will receive a good (and fast) answer.

Below are some recommendations from Supervisors to help you understand the ins and outs of properly posting and editing Q&As and effectively communicating with other contributors.

Note:

These recommendations in no way replace the official WikiAnswers Terms of Use or other WikiAnswers guidelines as presented in our detailed Help Center.

Avoid the following not-so-good practicesVandalism

Do not post vandalism or nonsense; such questions are just a waste of time and will not stay on the site for long. Supervisors and other editors patrol constantly to delete vandalism, and you - or your IP - will be blocked.

Excessively long questions

Try to keep your questions to a reasonable length. In many cases, it is better to split a long question into more than one shorter questions.

Abbreviations and slang

Ask the question as clearly as possible and avoid abbreviations, common slang and internet slang. Use "you" instead of "u." And do not use "I am," "Im," or "I'm."

Questions that may be considered harmful, immoral or offensive

Do not post vandalism or nonsense; such questions are just a waste of time and will not stay on the site for long. Supervisors and other editors patrol constantly to delete vandalism, and you - or your IP - will be blocked.

Questions leading to advertising

Avoid asking questions with the purpose of answering them with information leading to sites or products you want to advertise. That will be considered spam for which you may be blocked.

Personalization

Avoid the use of signatures and any personal data in your questions.

WikiAnswers is not a quiz or trivia

Please do not post questions just to check how much WikiAnswers contributors know or to challenge whoever may answer. That would be taking the time of contributors who should be answering genuine questions that are really important to the people who posted them. However, feel free to ask questions concerning things which are important to you or which you are curious about.

Adhere to the following good practicesYour question will receive a faster and better answer - and will be more easily seen by those who know about the subject - if you try to:

Place the question in the correct category or categories

It may take a long time for a question that is wrongly/badly categorized to be seen by someone who knows about the subject.

Avoid duplicate questions

Try to make sure that your question has not been asked - perhaps with similar wording - and answered already.

Be clear

Your question should be asked clearly! Please check that the question is as clear as possible before you submit it. If the question seems confusing, you could consider rewording it in a different, or splitting it into more than one question.

Disclaimer:

Keep in mind that this is a Wiki community and sometimes it can happen that a question receives a nonsense, vandalized or incorrect answer. Supervisors and editors are constantly checking the quality of answers (as well as deleting spam and vandalism), but nevertheless it can happen.

If you experience this, do not get discouraged! Wait a couple of days and check the answer again, by which time it might have been corrected.