[Piper_]

Originally Posted by Manichean

I've written a somewhat longer introduction for new posters. I'd like to hear your thoughts on it:

In order to make it easier to get (and give) good answers to your questions, you need to consider a few things.

Before asking:

• Use the forum search and/or an external search engine (for example Google) to see if your question has already been answered.
• Look in the manual or the FAQ to see if your question has already been answered.
• Find the correct subforum for asking your question. Read the forum descriptions to see what should go where.
• Have a look at the sticky threads inside the relevant subforum to see if your question has already been answered.

While writing your post, consider this:

• If you found a mention of your problem in a very old thread, open a new one. Remember that Calibre's development moves quite fast, usually there's a new version about once a week, thus, old threads contain outdated infos.
• Use a meaningful title. Asking for "Help, please!!" or "Conversion broken?" isn't as good as titling your thread, for example, "Conversion fails Multi-HTML -> ePub" or "Plugboard problem using Cybook Gen3/ePub". The goal is to broadly describe your problem in the title.
• Try to include as much meaningful detail as you can. State your OS and Calibre version, paste the error message(s) you get, failed conversion logs, etc.
• Include relevant configuration where needed, for example, when asking for help in emailing books, include your email settings (remember to blank out username/passwords for security reasons, though).
• If possible, provide step-by-step- instructions on how to replicate your error. That includes attaching test cases if you can do so without violating copyright.
• Describe what goes wrong as clearly as possible. Saying "My ebook is very messy after conversion" is less helpful than saying "My ebook has many hardcoded double linebreaks as well as page footers including page numbers interspersed after conversion".
• If you've already tried a few things to fix the problem, describe what you've tried as well. That saves the people answering from suggesting trying those things, only to be told that you already did.
• Make an effort to write your post to be easily readable. That includes trying to use normal grammar, spelling and interpunctuation.

If you're not getting any replies after you've written your post, that doesn't mean that nobody read your post. Usually, it means that noone has a good idea as to how your question should be answered. In that case, be patient, maybe someone is already working on trying to find an answer.

Good draft, Manichean.

As for our feedback on it... I think I'd try to use the subject lines so that the critical points are made, even if they don't click on the thread/s... Then prune the bullet points in the posts so they're more effective at a glance.

So we might have a sticky titled:

"Don't forget to check the Subforums, FAQs, and Stickies"

...and the post would be something like:

To get answers most quickly, and to make things more efficient for everyone, always:

• Check the calibre FAQ, watch the video tutorials, and search the manual.
  
• Check the list of subforums and their stickies.
  (Note: If you aren't sure which subforum is most relevant to your issue, go ahead and post here in the main section. We can move it for you, if necessary.)
  
• Try using the calibre forum search and/or Google site search to see if your question has already been answered.
  (Note that Calibre's development moves quite fast, so older threads might contain outdated information.)

(The grey part is iffy...)


As for the bits about more informative subject lines and questions... We have to be careful not to have too many stickies, but that is important. Up to y'all.

If we do it in a sticky, we could call it something like:

"Please use informative subject lines and help requests (see details within)"

More
...and the post would be something like:

Using meaningful post titles

• Bad titiles:
  • "Help, please!!"
  • "Conversion broken?"
• Good titles:
  • "Conversion fails Multi-HTML -> ePub"
  • "Plugboard problem using Cybook Gen3/ePub"

Providing informative help requests

When relevant and if possible, please include:

• OS
• Calibre Version
• Device
• email settings
• Copy of your error messages/logs
• Specific steps you have taken so far

etc.

argh, I'm being called away, so I hope the gist at least makes sense...