How Not To Ask For Help
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Sunday, 22nd January 2012
As some people know, in my spare time and for no payment whatsoever, I have been known to create software for free. Some of it is written in C#, some in PHP and quite a bit in JavaScript. In particular, I have written quite a few jQuery plugins that I hope have been useful to people. On the whole, other than the occasional thank-you and a few questions, people don't really talk to me about the plugins.
The problem is, quite a lot of the time when people do decide to get in touch, they do it like this:
"This plugin is not working for Apple Ipod .Please implement one for apple Iphone so that we can use easily use it."
For those fond of statistics, this is two sentences with neither a greeting nor a sign off. This is genuinely the entire message.
What's bad enough on its own is that there is no useful information in this message. It doesn't give any details about the problem, I presume the problem is on both the iPod and the iPhone - I have neither so I need to be given a clue about what is wrong. This isn't really the issue though. The real problem is just how rude this email is (and I get plenty of other similar messages requesting I add functionality or fix an issue).
The very worst of these emails contains statements such as "... we might donate if you add feature x..." or even worse "... please add feature y urgently as we have a client waiting...".
Here's the deal folks. If you are using open-source software and you want something added you need to follow this handy checklist:
- Say hello
- Say what you are using and how you are using it
- Describe the feature or issue
- Politely ask if it might be possible to add it or fix it
- Sign off nicely, with your name and maybe an "all the best" or something
And here is the other newsflash... if it's open source, why not add stuff / fix issues and submit it back to the original author. This is called "paying back". You can't just be a consumer in open source - you have to get involved even in small ways.
Updates
From time to time, I might receive a request that aids this topic further and I will add them here for your enjoyment.
23rd January 2012
"JavaScript Vertical Splitter not working at IE7 what i do :("
Very likely more to follow...