How to ask

Welcome to Open Source Ecology! We want to help you fix your problem, but not every question on Open Source Ecology gets answered. To improve your chances, here are some tips:

Do your homework.

Have you looked for the answer before posting your question? Odds are pretty good that the answer you're looking for is already on Open Source Ecology. We've put a lot of effort into creating guides, writing helpful troubleshooting tips, and answering questions.

Please make sure that your question has not already been answered before posting. The easiest way to check this is by using the search box in the top left of the page, or you can check out the guide for your category.

Make it relevant to others.

We like to help as many people at a time as we can. Make it clear how your question is relevant to more people than just you, and more of us will be interested in your question and willing to look into it.

Be specific.

If you ask a vague question, you'll get a vague answer. If you provide details and symptoms, we can write you a relevant, personalized answer. Questions like "My stuff is broken" aren't likely to get you a response. If you tell us what is wrong, how it happened, and what remedies you've already tried, we're happy to help. Photos help, too!

Stay on-topic.

Answers is a community of experts aimed at providing questions and answers about . This can be questions about anything on that topic. If your question is about this website (to report a bug you have found, for example), contact our support team directly.

Stay in touch!

Keep us in the loop as you make progress. We're happy to help, and all we'd like in exchange is to know what worked. Once you've solved the problem, let us know what fixed it! If we suggested the solution, please give the author a pat on the back by accepting their answer.