如何正确回答问题

windrose

摘自 How To Ask Questions The Smart Way by Eric Steven Raymond & Rick Moen

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

How To Answer Questions in a Helpful Way

Be gentle. Problem-related stress can make people seem rude or stupid even when they're not.

If you don't know for sure, say so! A wrong but authoritative-sounding answer is worse than none at all. Don't point anyone down a wrong path simply because it's fun to sound like an expert. Be humble and honest; set a good example for both the querent and your peers.

If you can't help, don't hinder. Don't make jokes about procedures that could trash the user's setup — the poor sap might interpret these as instructions.

Ask probing questions to elicit more details. If you're good at this, the querent will learn something — and so might you. Try to turn the bad question into a good one; remember we were all newbies once.

While just muttering RTFM is sometimes justified when replying to someone who is just a lazy slob, a pointer to documentation (even if it's just a suggestion to Google for a key phrase) is better.

If you're going to answer the question at all, give good value. Don't suggest kludgy workarounds when somebody is using the wrong tool or approach. Suggest good tools. Reframe the question.

Help your community learn from the question. When you field a good question, ask yourself “How would the relevant documentation or FAQ have to change so that nobody has to answer this again?” Then send a patch to the document maintainer.

If you did research to answer the question, demonstrate your skills rather than writing as though you pulled the answer out of your butt. Answering one good question is like feeding a hungry person one meal, but teaching them research skills by example is teaching them to grow food for a lifetime.

北南南北

多谢windrose兄，等文章管理系统出台，咱们要重新制定一下管理方面的制度。

Haides

最初由 北南南北 发表
等文章管理系统出台

不知道你们的文章管理系统开发的怎样了，我有一个和VBB结合的文章管理/站点发布系统，利用了vbb的用户管理和session管理的一些功能，现在还只有一个较为简单的模型，有兴趣的话可以去我的网站上看看。

http://www.ultratechnology.net/
发行注记
http://www.ultratechnology.net/releasenotes.txt

由于时间关系，该发布系统的开发一直比较缓慢，也希望有人能够和我一起来完成这个系统。

windrose

如何有帮助性地回答问题（未经授权， ）

保持温和。遇到难题的压力会使人看上去粗鲁或愚蠢，即使实际上不是这样。

如果你不是很确定，要说出来。一个错误的但是听起来很权威性的答案比没有答案更糟。不要把别人向错误的道路上指引，仅仅是因为这样子扮得象个专家很有趣。保持谦逊和诚实，给提问者和其他同伴树立一个好的榜样。

如果帮不上忙，不要做绊脚石。不要拿可能搞乱用户设置的过程来开玩笑，那个可怜的家伙可能把这些当作指导意见。

用探索性的问题了解更多的细节。如果你很擅长这个方法，提问者可以从中获益，你也同样如此。试着把不好的提问变成一个好的提问，记住我们都曾经是菜鸟。

虽然在向懒惰的菜鸟回答问题时嘟囔RTFM(Read The Fu*king Manual)是情有可原的，但告诉他们去看什么文档（即便是应该用什么关键词在google搜索）会更好一些。

如果真要回答一个问题，要提供好的价值。如果有人用了错误的工具或方法，不要向他们提议权宜之计。应该提议好的工具，重新设定那个问题。

帮助你的社区从问题中学习。当遇到一个好的问题时，要问自己：“有关的文档或FAQ应该怎么改，让别的人不再要重复回答这种问题？”然后向文档维护者发出改进意见。

如果你确实是经过研究，要展示你的方法，而不要写得好象是从座位底下抽出来的现成答案。回答一个好的问题就像“授人以鱼”，而教他们研究的技巧才是“授人以渔”。