How to ask a question efficiently in TechNet forum

Question

Thank you for posting in TechNet forum. The online problem solving can be relatively time consuming because it may demand several messages back and force to fully understand the symptom and background, especially at the very beginning. Here are a few suggestions that help you get the best answer to your question as quickly as possible.

 

When You Ask

 

1. Selecting a good title which summarizes the specific problem you have. It will be the one of the main driving forces for others to want to actually read your item. Choosing a badly-formatted title will drive people away, thinking that since the title is so badly written, so must be the information and the question within the thread.

 

2. Provide all the necessary information in your initial post. The following information would be very helpful:

- Symptom description: Detailed description of the problem. If you receive any error messages, please let us know the exact error WORD BY WORD.

- Environment: The system environment, such as your OS/application version, your network topology, and your domain environment, etc.

- Any recent relevant configuration change(s): If the issue started to occur after installing any application/updates or changing the configuration, please let us know.

- Any additional information. Tell what you have done prior to asking your question. This will help us understand that you've done so far.

 

3. Write in a clear language. Avoiding spelling mistakes or grammatical errors. Don't type IN ALL CAPS, which in most cases is read as shouting and considered rude.

 

4. Keep with the same thread. Do not refer to a post you made last year, and above all, Please come back. There are hundreds and thousands of posts where we have seen people given great and wonderfully long answers yet no reply from the original poster.

 

5. Be courteous to reply, even if it's to say. "I've given up" or thanks that worked. (This helps the whole community when you do this, and makes the people who donate time, warm and fuzzies.)

 

When answered

 

Give Positive Feedback. Once you've received a correct answer to your question, either from a Microsoft employee, an MVP, or the community in general, pleases replies that the issue or question has been answered. And if possible mark the solution as answered: This step is important, since it lets other people benefit from your posts.

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Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.

Answer 1

I would add, for the PowerPivot forum, that if you can provide a sample workbook that contains the data you are working on, life will be much easier. If on the same workbook, you provide the desired results, the solution can be easily tested.

Normally, I spend 80% of the time to prepare a repro with some data and 20% to write a formula, by providing me the workbook you are saving me 80% of time, which means it is more likely to get an answer. :)

Thanks.

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Alberto Ferrari
http://www.powerpivotworkshop.com

Answer 2

I do not see the button to create a new thread.

Answer 3

How do you recommend providing a sample workbook?  I only see options to upload images or include links.

Answer 4

I have been working diligently in these forums, and have received no recognition. There is no reason for me to continue wasting my time here.

This is my last post.

Regards,

David Hager

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Unrecognized Excel MVP (UEM)