Read Me Before Posting

This text was taken from the PHP sticky by JeffCT

Here are some general guidelines to keep in mind when posting a question on these forums.

DON'T USE STUPID TOPIC NAMES

Post a descriptive topic name! Give a short summary of your problem in the subject. Don't use attention getting subjects, they're not fair to other users! Things like "PLEASE HELP!" or "URGENT" make your post unfairly look like a priority over other users post who need help just as much as you. Posting non-descriptive leading in topic names just to get more reads will not be tolerated.

Here's a great list of topic subjects YOU SHOULD NOT POST by freebsd:

1) Help me
2) Hello
3) You must know the answer
4) Please help this female newbie
5) Something wrong
6) Come on PHP gurus
7) This one for you
8) Just wondering
9) This is too complicated for me
10) possible?
11) Very urgent
12) I have a question
13) Stupid question
14) Newbie needs help
15) pulling my hair out
16) this is driving me nuts
17) WHAT THE?!?!

Generally anything similar to those is unacceptable. Just post your problem.

Here is a good example of a way to post a question about ereg() and regular expressions / validating emails

"Need ereg regular expression help"

or even better:

"validating emails w/ ereg() regular expressions"

These are bad examples:

"I can't figure this out!"
"Stupid question..."
"Female newbie needs regex help"
"Help me! Urgent!"


BE DESCRIPTIVE

I cannot stress this enough. We cannot possibly help you if you simply post a thread, copy and paste your whole script and say "it has errors what's wrong with it?". Keep this in mind:

1. Explain to us what your script does (or what it's supposed to do).

2. Explain to us what exactly the error is. Is it a PHP error? Your own error reporting? MySQL error? Or is it just not doing what you want?

3. Remember that you know a lot more about your script than we do. Don't assume we know just what it does.

Simply uploading a screen shot such that a potential replier can see your working environment could help resolve problems that could be easily fixed with the click of a button, that might not otherwise be apparent.

Don't forget about other software programs that might be of use to you also,

Miniature Photoshop = www.irfanview.com
Macro Photoshop = www.gimp.org

Wow, I fit the criteria for what not to do pretty well... Sorry.