How to get better results when posting about problems

Before opening a new topic, please read:

  • Please help us to help you. If you cannot be bothered to spend even a little time in properly posting your question (it’s your issue - not ours), then you cannot expect that people - although good-willing - will bother to reply.

  • Please be aware that anyone that helps you here is volunteering their time, knowledge, and skill. No one is being paid to help you.

  • If you need help with how to do any of this please ask and someone here will walk you through it.

  • First of all please use “Search” function of the forum. Look if there is already any topic similar to yours.

  • Please read the Release Notes and Errata for your version of OMLx before reporting an issue. If you feel something should be added to these please report that.

  • Look at the Resources category (Resources Index): most of the more common questions are already answered there. You will find also detailed How-to.

  • Choose the proper category/section of the forum.

  • Choose a meaningful descriptive subject title (example: no: “Help me!”, “It’s broken”, etc.)

  • Posts like “Graphics broken” are useless unless you tell us what your graphic hardware is and what your graphic driver is. Again if you don’t know how to do this just ask us and someone will walk you through it.

  • Posts like “System broken after updates” are just as useless, unless you tell us what packages have been updated recently. Please attach the list of latest updates.

  • Tag your post with relevant information.

  • Write in correct language form. If you are not an English native, please check your text before posting by means of online translators. Or write in your language and then use a translator and post that. (May be helpful to mention you used a translator.)

  • If you are English native please write your text to be easily understandable by non-native English users. That means: use simple basic writing. Avoid slang, avoid idiomatic expressions unless you are sure they are actually worldwide recognized.

  • If console output is not in English preface commands with LC_ALL=C prefix - example:

    sudo LC_ALL=C dnf upgrade

    This is because English is the common language used by all of our developers and package maintainers so this makes it easier for all to understand posted code.

  • Do not type in ALL CAPS, this is like shouting and perceived as rudeness.

  • Specify your OpenMandriva version in use (currently: Cooker, ROME/rolling, Rock/5.0 version/update channel) and the arch (x86_64, znver1, aarch64); whether in VirtualBox or on real hardware.

  • Specify your desktop environment: Plasma, LXQt, or other.

  • Be precise in description of your issue: explain exactly what happens, in which condition, and what instead is the expected result. If necessary, give steps to reproduce your issue. Give external links (other projects bug-trackers, upstream Erratas, FAQs, or How-tos, etc.) it you think they may be relevant.

  • Provide screenshots if relevant. (Use the upload icon with the up arrow.)

  • Provide logs and/or output of journalctl pertinent to issue. (journalctl is the system log.)

  • Provide output of command: inxi -F. (This provides hardware information.)

  • In order to get your problem solved you may be asked by the person/s who is willing to help to copy and paste the full console output.
    When we write ‘the full log’ we need the whole log. It means: starting from the command you typed (included) to the end. NOT just the part you assume is relevant to the case.

  • Post your code as code, (use the </> icon). Or if there is a lot of output (more than 20-30 lines) put the code in a .txt file and upload it with the upload (up arrow) icon. For really big files consider using Pastebin or a similar external service.

  • Depending on your experience, give as much additional technical information as you think may be relevant, such as hardware, version of software, logs etc. If you don’t know what or how to do, we’ll help.

  • Be patient, we are a small team, do our best. We may ask you for additional information, or give you actions to do.

  • If your problem is solved, please mark which reply solved the problem.

  • If you have found a solution on your own, please share it so that it will be available also for others at a later time.

  • Also please post a short note about how your problem has been resolved, which way you have found is the best among different solutions that may have been suggested. Again, this can be of great help to others afterwards.

  • Be kind. Do not scrimp use of “Please” and “Thank you”. “Like” the posts to make people earn karma points in our forum instance. Make clear your appreciation for people who were dedicated in solving your issue. Courtesy never hurts.

  • FWIW: Other Linux distributions such as Arch Linux, Fedora, Gentoo, openSUSE, and Ubuntu all have some pretty good wikis and documentation.

  • Please help us to help you. If you cannot be bothered to spend even a little time in properly posting your question (it’s your issue - not ours), then you cannot expect that people - although good-willing - will bother to reply.

We are not here to “RTFM (Read The Freaking Manual)” or do internet searches for you. If you are newbie we are happy to point you to links so you can RTFM for yourself and in the process learn something. Or we can help you get started with internet searches.

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All OpenMandriva contributors are unpaid part time volunteers. There are no employees being paid to help you. All OpenMandriva contributors have more on our “To Do” and “Want To Do” lists than we can actually do. So when someone stops what they are doing to help a user with an issue that stops progress on other work that we are doing.

Because of this we won’t hesitate to ask users to do some work themselves to get an issue resolved. This means RTFM yourself and do your own internet searches.

So please go back to the first post in this thread and follow the suggestions as best you are capable.

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