How to Ask Programming Questions Online (A Small Rant)

Posted on 2025-05-24 16:05:59

I hang around on many programming servers, forums, and other chatrooms. While in person you can get away with:

"Hey mate, can you take a quick look at this?"

Online, you’ll either be ignored or mocked for this approach.

The Dreaded: “Does Anyone Here Know Python?”

You see this a lot:

"Does anyone here know Python?"

What’s not explicitly written—but what you quickly learn—is that the moment you say yes, you enter into an unwritten social contract. Suddenly, you're responsible for fixing:

  • An issue with some obscure Python 2 library with no documentation , written in (and last updated in) 2003

Or worse:
They didn’t even Google the problem, read the first Stack Overflow post, or glance at the accepted answer.

If you can't be bothered to formulate a real question, why should I find the energy to help?

As I’ve learned too many times:

Say yes to a vague question, and you’ll get pings and DMs for days with every tiny inconvenience they encounter with that libray or any issues for the rest of that project.

So, How Do You Write a Good Question?

There are stages of goodness.

Step 1: Google It

Before asking anyone, googing the issue with the following:

  • The language

  • The version number

  • Any relevant library and its version

  • And of course, the exact error message

If nothing helpful comes up, then—and only then—move on to asking others.

Now Let's Ask That Question Properly

Hey, I'm having an issue with [programming language] [version number]  
where I'm getting this error:

[insert error message]  ← (USE CODE BLOCKS HERE IF POSSIBLE)

or

I'm expecting [expected behaviour]  
but I'm getting [current behaviour].

This is the section of code I believe is broken:  
[insert code block]  
(If it’s a large amount of code, use a Pastebin or GitHub Gist link)

Now, this is a beautifully crafted call for help. This will make people want to help you. If you want to take it a step further and help save time for both yourself and the person helping you, add a list at the end of everything you have tried and the outcomes of those attempts.

Thank you for reading my small rant. Enjoy asking questions, keep learning.

Back to Home