# How to Ask Questions the Smart Way According to ESR

Years ago I first read How To Ask Questions The Smart Way* by Eric Steven Raymond† and Rick Moen. It has great advice for people who have technical questions and are asking them in online forums. To me it reads as a mixture of human psychology and practical advice, offering a lot of insight to why you would want to follow its guidance. I have taken many of these lessons to heart, and I think it has paid off with better answers for my questions.

=> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html * How To Ask Questions The Smart Way (web link)
=> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_S._Raymond  † Wikipedia: Eric S. Raymond

## Why Do You Need This Advice?
The essay begins with a revealing disclaimer:
> Many project websites link to this document in their sections on how to get help. … please display prominently near the link notice that we are not a help desk for your project!
> 
> We have learned the hard way that without such a notice, we will repeatedly be pestered by idiots who think having published this document makes it our job to solve all the world's technical problems.
> 
> If you're reading this document because you need help, and you walk away with the impression you can get it directly from the authors of this document, you are one of the idiots we are talking about.

There is a large mass of ignorant lazy questioners out there, and if you want people to spend their valuable time helping you, you need to stand out as someone smart enough to provide the relevant context for your problem, and humble enough to take the expert's advice.

## My Favorite Tips
As I've advanced in my career as a computer and map nerd, I've increasingly found myself in the position of being the expert and answering the questions. Here are the recommendations that I most value as the questionee.

=> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#bespecific Use meaningful, specific subject headers (web link)

=> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#goal Describe the goal, not the step (web link)

=> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#explicit Be explicit about your question (web link)

=> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#beprecise Be precise and informative about your problem (web link)

## Being a good Internet Citizen
There are several pieces of advice that focus on helping make the effort of answering your specific question something of value to the larger community. An expert doesn't want to answer the same question over and over again. Their answer to you and your report on applying that answer both benefit future questioners searching for answers in the future.

=> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#noprivate Don't ask people to reply by private e-mail (web link)

=> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#followup Follow up with a brief note on the solution (web link)

=> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#idm667 How To Answer Questions in a Helpful Way (web link)

© 2026 Paul McCombs 
This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License
=> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_4.0_International_License CC BY-SA 4.0