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Hi, and welcome to the PowerShell forum!

  • Don’t apologize for being a “noob” or “newbie” or “n00b.” There’s just no need – nobody will think you’re stupid, and the forums are all about asking questions. Just ask!

  • Use a descriptive subject. Don’t say “Need help” or “PowerShell Help”, actually summarize what the problem is. It helps the rest of us keep track of which problem is which.

  • Don’t post massive scripts. We’re all volunteers and we don’t have time to read all that, nor will we copy, paste, and run it. Post an excerpt, and clearly state what you’re having problems with.

  • Don’t be a user!

    • Post what you’ve tried, what errors you got, and what didn’t work. It’s a lot easier, sometimes, to correct what you’ve already done than to try and write something from scratch.
    • Post error messages, as appropriate. They help. Also mention what line number you are having the issue with. That helps too.

  • It’s OK to ask for a small script to be written for you, but don’t ask someone to write a huge script or rewrite YOUR huge script. Again, we’re all volunteers – respect that we’re taking time to help you, and help us minimize that time.

  • Try to ask just one question at a time. Posts with ten questions are a lot harder to help with.

  • Use the <> Insert Code button in the forums editor to format your code appropriately.
    Post-Code.png

  • Try to avoid using obscure or punctuation aliases (like ? and %) – use command names instead. It makes your post easier for everyone, including n00bs, to follow.

  • If your problem is solved, mark the post that helped you most as the Best Answer. Mark any posts that also helped as Helpful Posts. How do you do that? Click on the “Manage” button on the post you want to mark and you’ll see the option in the resultant menu.

  • If you’ve been given a working solution, say Thank You! Then make sure you know why it works… and ask for an explanation if you don’t!

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Good stuff.

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Thanks Martin. A lot if good information. I see you made PS group admin. Congrats.

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Very good. Hopefully if people follow these guidelines it will make for a more thorough and concise question.

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If only you could make a link to this show up every time someone went to create a new post in the PS forum…

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Good job on this Martin. I too would like to konw how we can get every poster to read this BEFORE writing a post?

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LOL, most of the list came from Don Jones :slight_smile:

And almost NO ONE will read it before they write a post, but at least now we can point to it and say “SEE?! This would have helped you a LOT!”

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Yeah, but we can be hopeful that maybe, just maybe, ONE DAY, it will be read and understood prior to posts, even if it is just one person

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Perhaps you could re-title this post “READ THIS BEFORE POSTING OR THE KITTEN WILL GET IT” or something similar??

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You might want to add a bullet point for “Search first; many common questions have already been answered on the forums.”

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Need a post like this on the top of each forum/group!

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great advice! now lets see how many people read it!

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Thanks Martin! Great rules of the road to keep in mind.

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The more I read the more I understand how much that I have to learn. Words that help are always appreciated.

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Wiser words have never been said!

Goes along with:

The older I get the smarter my parents get.
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Thanks for the info. Now that I’ve read it I will do my best to follow it.

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Thanks for the info as well…I made the “noob” mistake of pasting a huge chunk of code without reading the guidelines. I won’t be a repeat offender. :-}

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Great article why Aliases are not a good idea when posting publicly:

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Thanks Martin. I love powershell and look forward to expanding my .ps1 skills

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Excellent. Can I plagiarize this for another forum I’m a admin on?

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