Basic info needed with each post

[Cringer]

I'm thinking about sticking an announcement/sticky on with the basic requirements people need to post when asking a question. I've come up with the following, but what else would you add?

1) Progress version, Service Pack and product
2) OS and version
3) What you have tried
4) What errors you are receiving

 

[Rob Fitzpatrick]

Amen to that! And in addition to being a sticky post, I'd also add it to the welcome message that is sent to newbies. Or make it a second post: "Posting Guidelines".

Progress version *and service pack*.

Also, for a subset of DB admin questions the RDBMS license (Personal/Workgroup/Enterprise) is relevant.

 

[tamhas]

So, generalize that to version and product.

 

[Chris Kelleher]

I can add these as custom fields to the user profile, and display the entered information on all of the user's posts. We can do things like free-form text, radio buttons, multi-selection check boxes, and single/multi-selection menus. If the group wants to put together a list, I'll get this all setup.

 

[tamhas]

Problem with putting it in the profile is those of us who are working on many different people's machines. The info is really needed once per thread, not on every post.

 

[Rob Fitzpatrick]

Problem with putting it in the profile is those of us who are working on many different people's machines. The info is really needed once per thread, not on every post.

Agreed. .

 

[Cringer]

Ok I've added an announcement. Please shout if you think I need to make any changes.