Link to article: Helping Us Help You: How to request help and get answers.
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[[>]] [[module Rate]] [[/>]] > {{* Guest12345 (thelounge}}{{@}}{{SCP-foo.bar.example.com) has joined #site17}} > {{<Guest12345> I have a question}} > {{<Guest12345> hello?}} > {{* Guest12345 (thelounge}}{{@}}{{SCP-foo.bar.example.com) Quit}} +++ Introduction Everybody needs help now and then. It's easy to ask, but it's not always easy to ask //well//. I've attempted to outline some best practices that will let you be confident that your technical assistance requests will be as clear and comprehensive as possible, so you can get useful answers quickly. This guide is written with the SCP Wiki, Wikidot, IRC, and Discord in mind. That said, much of it applies to other projects and platforms as well. Details will change, but much of this will apply to asking for help at work, at school, or on other hobby projects aside from those related to SCP. +++ The SCP ecosystem * Wikidot hosts the SCP Wiki, SCP-INT wikis, various sandboxes, and the like. Unfortunately, Wikidot is not very responsive when it comes to user issues. SCP Wiki staff and users are able to answer many types of questions on the forums, in #help-desk on the official Discord, and in #site17 on SkipIRC. However, they can't help with password issues and they have no control over Wikidot's decisions on matters like disallowing e-mail addresses that contain numbers. * The official Discord server is the newest major part of the official SCP offerings. As with the Wiki itself, the SCP Discord is hosted on a larger service that SCP staff doesn't control. However, Discord is much more responsive to user issues. * [[[https://skipirc.miraheze.org/wiki/|SkipIRC]]] is the IRC network that hosts the SCP Wiki's [[[chat-guide|official channels]]]. SkipIRC is run independently of the Wiki, but its staff members are mostly current and former SCP Wiki and chat staffers and frequently assist with basic Wiki-related issues. Unlike Wikidot and Discord, it's independently run and the administrators may be reached in #site17. * In addition to the above, there are official presences on many social media sites. +++ Dos and don'ts * ##blue|**DO** provide context.## What are you trying to accomplish, and what is the specific problem you're facing? Even the most experienced experts in any subject aren't mind readers, so any relevant information that you can provide will be helpful. (It's okay to be sensible. If the problem is that a program is crashing, it goes without saying that the expected behavior is for it to not crash. On the other hand, if your problem is that your page "looks wrong," it's best to describe what exactly that means.) If you can provide an example of the sort of thing you're trying to do, that's often helpful as well. * ##red|**DON'T** provide your life story.## Detail is important and useful, but digressions are distracting and unhelpful. * ##blue|**DO** provide logs, error messages, and screenshots in a non-disruptive way.## "Non-disruptive" will vary depending on context, of course. This could mean [[[https://www.wikidot.com/doc-wiki-syntax:collapsible-blocks | collapsing]]] images and long logs on the forums or using Pastebin for logs when on IRC. If you don't know what resources are available for this, ask! * ##red|**DON'T** flood a chat or otherwise disrupt help areas.## This annoys people and can lead to anything from volunteer support ignoring you to an automatic ban before any human can even read what you've written. * ##blue|**DO** be polite.## You don't have to treat experts as though they're wise sages dispensing advice from a mountaintop, but little things like "please" and "thank you" go a long way. * ##red|**DON'T** disconnect while you're being assisted.## Unless the person assisting you specifically recommends disconnecting and reconnecting, please just stay in the chat. * ##blue|**DO** read any guides## that might be linked in IRC channel topics, sticky forum posts, new-user Discord channels with pinned posts, etc. There's a good chance that someone else has had the same issue, and reading a guide is generally faster than typing up your problem and waiting for someone to respond. * ##red|**DON'T** ask if you can ask a question.## If you read any relevant guides and don't have an answer, then don't be afraid to ask! That's why we're here. * And finally, one that's IRC-specific: If possible, ##blue|**DO** provide a way to contact you## if you have to leave before your question is answered. IRC is the only part of the SCP ecosystem that allows guest users to connect and ask questions without requiring any kind of account sign-up. This means that unlike Wikidot and Discord, there isn't an automatic way to contact a user once they leave. **Please be sensible about this.** If your email address contains your real name, don't doxx yourself by putting it in a public chat. +++ Conclusion Whether it's this wiki, an open-source project, or some other type of hobby altogether, many communities rely on volunteers to provide support. Providing this support can unfortunately lead to burn-out, harming both the individual concerned and the larger community. Following the best practices above will help make the process easier for everyone involved, from new users to administrators. > {{* Guest12345 (thelounge}}{{@}}{{SCP-foo.bar.example.com) has joined #site17}} > {{<Guest12345> Hi, I'm having some trouble with tabs in a page on my sandbox. [# https://scp-sandbox-3.wikidot.com/exampleuser]. On the third tab, I'm seeing some formatting tags show up as text and the formatting isn't applied.}} > <{{Guest12345> If anyone has any suggestions, could you please send me a Wikidot PM? Username is Example User. Thanks!}} > {{* Guest12345 (thelounge}}{{@}}{{SCP-foo.bar.example.com) Quit}} [[=image WikidotPMMockup.png alt="A mockup of a Wikidot PM to the example user, detailing the fix for their hypothetical issue"]] [[include :scp-wiki:component:license-box]] > **Filename:** WikidotPMMockup.png > **Author:** [[*user Kufat]] > **License:** CC-BY-SA 3.0 > **Source Link:** Not applicable > **Additional Notes:** Wikidot PM form, edited with browser dev tools [[include :scp-wiki:component:license-box-end]]