{"id":4393,"date":"2014-08-11T07:11:54","date_gmt":"2014-08-11T14:11:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/3.209.169.194\/blogs\/paul\/?p=4393"},"modified":"2020-12-31T13:28:29","modified_gmt":"2020-12-31T21:28:29","slug":"ask-questions-politely-correctly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sqlskills.com\/blogs\/paul\/ask-questions-politely-correctly\/","title":{"rendered":"How to ask questions politely and correctly"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post is a much-expanded version of the\u00a0editorial in my last bi-weekly SQLskills Insider<\/a> newsletter, including a bunch of the feedback I got.<\/p>\n

(Also see my corollary post How to answer questions politely and correctly<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Recently\u00a0I’ve been complaining on Twitter about some of the ridiculous questions I receive over email (I get a bunch of SQL Server questions every day from random people across the world), where it was clear that the senders had done no research at all before sending me an email, or they demanded a response ASAP, or they didn’t say please or thank you, or a combination of all three. It gets pretty\u00a0frustrating and it bugs me when people are demonstrably lazy and\/or rude (usually without meaning to be). I see the same thing in forum questions too and occasionally on #sqlhelp on Twitter.<\/p>\n

Don’t get me wrong, I like getting SQL Server questions in email, and I encourage class students to do it. I’m not being a grumpy old curmudgeon: I think people should learn how to ask questions properly. If you’re old enough to be responsible for SQL Server, you should have basic human-human communication skills.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I had feedback from the newsletter that some people might not know how to use Google\/Bing. In this day and age, if someone is\u00a0responsible for SQL Server in any way, shape, or form, and they\u00a0don’t know how to search online,\u00a0they shouldn’t be allowed near any I.T. infrastructure IMHO. I had a few people suggest sending Let Me Google That For You links as replies to emails where the answer can easily be found online, but I think that’s too snarky of a response and I don’t like to be rude.<\/p>\n

I came up with a handy rule:\u00a0if my 14-yr old smart daughter could find the answer on Google from your question, you’d shouldn’t post or ask\u00a0in email.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

But what about the concern of over-use of Google, so people never remember anything and rely on finding the answer online? And what if the answer is wrong? (Sometimes my life is this<\/a>! :-) Yes, these are legitimate concerns. So maybe do the research and then ask a clarifying question or ask for corroboration from an authoritative source. And research the methodology for solving your problem, not just ‘the answer’. Teach yourself to fish rather than just finding the fish (mangling the old saying…)<\/p>\n

And what about the concern about people wasting hours searching on Google rather than spending 5 minutes asking a question? That’s between you and your manager to work out how your company wants you to spend your time. But if you’re sending a random email question to someone *outside* your company, due diligence is not optional unless you’re paying for help.<\/p>\n

This all\u00a0brings to mind a training course from my days at Microsoft entitled Precision Questioning. The course taught how to hone your questioning technique for maximum efficacy, saving time for the questioner and the person\/group being questioned. It also stressed the need to do due diligence in trying to find the answer to your question before taking up someone else\u2019s time to help. I think something similar would be of great benefit to technical communities on the Internet where people ask questions.<\/p>\n

Here are some quick guidelines for asking SQL Server questions I came up with (many of these apply to asking questions in general):<\/p>\n