The open source community depends on the efforts of a small group of volunteers relative to the number of users. In order to make the most of contributors' time, here is some advice for asking “good questions”. This is largely paraphrased from this article by Eric Steven Raymond and Rick Moen, with edits for brevity and tone. If you have the time (and tolerance), I strongly recommend reading that article over this one. Let's start with the procedure.
- Try to find an answer by searching the archives of the issue-tracker, IRC, matrix-room, discord, forum or mailing list you plan to post to.
- Try to find an answer by searching the Web.
- Try to find an answer by reading the manual.
- Try to find an answer by reading a FAQ.
- Try to find an answer by inspection or experimentation.