Asking for help.

We all need to ask for help and advice sometimes. There are right and wrong ways to ask for help. I don't mean in terms of social etiquette, I mean in terms of getting a solution to your problem, getting it quickly, getting it in a form that you can understand, and getting it in such a way that the people who tried to help you will not run away screaming the next time you ask for help.

Lot's of people here in the forums are only too happy to try to help, but you need to help them to help you. First rule, try to provide as much detail as you can.

You are sitting in front of your monitor. Even though you may not have a clue what is causing your problem, you can see there is a problem, you can see exactly how the problem manifests. You know whether you are on a PC or a Mac, and you know what operating  system you are using. You know which item you are having a problem with, and whether it is a figure or a prop. You know whether it is something that you bought, or got for free, or made yourself. Consider that the person reading your post knows none of this, unless you have provided those details in your post. The person trying to help is probably not a psychic, he or she, can't see what you are seeing, so you have to paint a picture in words, or provide screenshots of the problem, and/or your setup. There is probably someone, somewhere, who could solve your problem in 5 or 10 minutes if they were sitting in front of your computer. Your job is to make them feel like they are sitting in front of your computer, by providing all the relevant information you can!

The person trying to help you probably does not know your level of experience, whether you only got Poser yesterday, or whether you have been using it for ten years. So it helps if you can give some indication. It's no use someone giving you a concise technical answer if you are not going to be able to understand it, but equally, it is no use someone spending hours walking you through baby steps if you are way past that stage. Saying what things, if anything, you have tried yourself, in your efforts to solve the problem, also helps people understand your level of experience, and prevents wasting time with suggesting things that you have already tried.

Don't jump to conclusions about the cause of your problem. State as clearly and as precisely as you can, what you are trying to achieve, what you did to try to achieve it, what result you expected, and what result you got.

Don't waffle on about irrelevant stuff (like me ), be clear and concise.

If someone asks a question, answer it as soon as you can. Don't think it's irrelevant and ignore it. Don't assume that what you want to say is more important. Answer the question first!

Here is a check list you can go through when requesting help. It is by no means exhaustive, add as much detail as you can. On the other hand not every point may be relevant to every situation, use your common sense.

PC or Mac?

Operating System?

Poser version, including any service release?

Name and description of item that you are having trouble with?

Commercial, freebie, or self made?

Is the end result meant for personal use, or distribution?

What are you trying to achieve?

What did you do to try to achieve it?

What did you expect to happen?

What actually happened?

Can you provide a relevant screen shot, error message, or code snippet?

Any other information that might be relevant?

How would you describe your level of experience with Poser?

Spending a few extra minutes forming your question well, can save many days in receiving the correct answer. I have see it take 10 days to solve a problem that could have been solved in 10 seconds, if only the original post had contained all the relevant information. Don't make the people trying to help you feel like they are pulling teeth when trying to get the relevant information from you, or they may not be so willing to help next time. If your problem gets solved, post a message saying it has been solved, don't leave people hanging, that's just common courtesy.