I suggest that there be a locked thread at the top of the student forum titled "What if my question is never answered?"The purpose of the thread is to state what should be obvious, but apparently is not:Top ten reasons why your question was never answered:1. It may have been so poorly phrased or in such poor English that no one understood it.2. Your answer could have been found by 10 minutes googling, but you were too lazy.3. Your answer could have been found in the FAQs or by searching the site, but you were too lazy. 4. You are a notorius troll and have asked versions of this same question multiple times, but the answers never satisfy you.5. No one knows the answer to your question. 6. Everyone knows the answer to your question, but it is not even interesting enough to acknowledge. (I'm very sure at least four more good reasons can be offered up.)

7. I don't like your moniker8. I don't like your name

Quote1. It may have been so poorly phrased or in such poor English that no one understood it.I suppose that posters assume that everyone is familiar with the problem they are working on so they forget to tell us what the problem is. Give the problem a context, scope it or give a reference etc.

Very good idea, Alan! See here.P

A couple more thoughts that might be added to the locked thread:- Posting long stretches of code and asking for someone to debug it: most people will pass, even those who mighthelp if the issue were narrowed.- Sometimes a perfectly decent question will go unanswered for no good reason. If you sincerely feel that's happened to you after, say, a couple weeks -- bump your question to the top with perhaps some small elaboration.

QuotePosting long stretches of code and asking for someone to debug itThey'll try anything these days The whole point about developing s/w is to do it yourself, yes? And then maybe not? //The only alternative to attach code is to put it in zip, and that's a pain.

QuoteOriginally posted by: AlanA couple more thoughts that might be added to the locked thread:- Posting long stretches of code and asking for someone to debug it: most people will pass, even those who mighthelp if the issue were narrowed.- Sometimes a perfectly decent question will go unanswered for no good reason. If you sincerely feel that's happened to you after, say, a couple weeks -- bump your question to the top with perhaps some small elaboration.One more suggestion for the list:- A little Latex goes a long way. If your question has a few equations, and you have taken the time to typeset themwith the equation editor, you are much more likely to get an answer.