Support and Help posting guide
In addition to the guidelines below, make sure that you always follow the Ubuntu Code of Conduct when posting.
When asking for technical support:
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Search for posts on the same topic before posting a new question. You can use tags to allow you to see only posts that are relevant to your question.
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Give clear, specific information in the title of your post. Also, please resist the urge to use a sensationalist, extreme, and flame-baiting title like “I’ve had it with Ubuntu!” “Does Ubuntu even test their software?” or “Ubuntu sucks”.
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What is the problem that you want solved? Please make sure that this is clear in your post. (It’s quite easy to get so involved in the details that the actual goal is overlooked.)
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When posting long outputs from terminal commands or from certain scripts, or the contents of configuration files, select the text and click on the preformatted text icon (which looks like </> ). This is to preserve essential formatting and to prevent the posting of large difficult-to-read walls of text. (It forms a separate box with scroll bars for the text, so that it doesn’t take up too much screen space.)
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Another option is to use “spoilers”, which hide text until clicked on. Use the “Hide Details” item in the “cogwheel” menu. This allows the full content to be expanded or collapsed at will.
- If an output is really long, it may be best posted on a pastebin site. Post the link to the item in your message. Avoid this unless necessary, which will be indicated by an error message about the post length.
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If you include screenshots, use the site attachment facility rather than an offsite host such as imgur or Google Drive.
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Include as many details as you can. For example: software version numbers or computer hardware specifications. If you do not know how to find out the information that a user is requesting of you, ask them how to find the information they have requested.
- If you use the Support and Help template, a lot of this information is asked for up front.
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If a post answers a question, please check the “solved” box. It means that the poster is recognised for their help and it makes it easier for others to find the solution.
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When you learn something, use that knowledge to help another user later.
- While we are happy to serve as a resource for hints and for asking questions when you get stuck and need a little help, this site is not a homework service. Please do not post your homework assignments expecting someone else to do it for you. Any such threads will either be deleted or closed, and warnings or infractions may be issued.
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There is no requirement to write your post in English on this site. However, doing so, or providing an English translation, means that you will likely receive help more quickly.
- If there is a LoCo area that offers support in your language, you are welcome to post there.
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Refrain from using “leet” speak, or excessive or unclear slang.
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Do not shorten your words to acronyms or abbreviations or use URL-shortening services, as is often done when texting or in a Twitter-style update. It is very difficult to read and understand and on this platform you are not limited to a small number of characters.
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Use font properties for highlighting portions of your text, and not for all of the text in your post. Be aware that ALL CAPS is interpreted as screaming and use it very sparingly.
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Do not cross post, or post the same thing in multiple locations.
- If you have previously posted elsewhere, and have not received an answer after a reasonble length of time, it is OK to post here. Please link to your off-site post.
When answering technical support issues:
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Be considerate to the person asking the question. Yes, some users are harder to help than others, but please be respectful to all users.
- If you’re not feeling like you’re in the proper frame of mind to deal with a particular support issue, there is no requirement to respond. Move on to the next one and let other volunteers help out. We are a community, after all, so we will support one other.
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Avoid acronyms and jargon when giving instructions.
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If the user’s question has been covered in one of the community documents, please give them a description and the links. Some useful sites to point “green” users are the official Ubuntu documentation, and any tutorials on this site.
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If you wish to remind a user to use search tools or other resources when they have asked a question you feel is basic or common, please be polite. Any replies for help that contain language disrespectful towards the user asking the question are unacceptable and will not be tolerated. This includes things like STFU, RTFM, and LMGTFY as well as the obvious forms of disrespect.
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Always assume the the user has a default installation unless you are told otherwise. Refrain from telling people to use an application outside of the official Ubuntu installation, unless they are advanced users with very specialised needs.
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Always assume that the user is a new user unless you’re certain the user is not.
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As noted above, please format lengthy portions of text with the preformatted text icon or use the “spoiler” option.
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Remember to do things the Ubuntu way. Often there is more than one solution to a problem. Choose the one you think will be the easiest for the user, and the method most commonly used in Ubuntu.
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Never instruct users to do anything that might break their system.
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Explain each step of the solution. If possible, teach the user while giving a solution to them. Teaching begets more teaching.
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If you’re uncertain if a procedure is correct, please tell users so. If your procedure has inherent risks, please tell users what they are.
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Replies to questions that ask for help running legitimate software (albeit closed source or proprietary) that do not answer the question, but instead instruct the user that they should not be using that software on the grounds that it is not free, serve only to frustrate and confuse the user and may be removed. The goal of this forum is to first provide technical assistance and then to educate users on the benefits of free software.
- Similarly, if a question asks for help with running a Snap package, do not reply with instructions on how to remove the Snap and install a deb or other package format (or vice versa). Please answer the question posed, and avoid confusing everyone.
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Your answer should be yours and not just something you have regurgitated from the internet. By this we mean that you have tried it (or something very similar) and you have a good idea of what it will do, won’t do, and when it might not be appropriate. This includes using search engines or AI to help you come up with an answer.
- If you know how to make good use of AI and are sure that your result is valid, you may use it in helping you to formulate your answer, but please acknowledge that you have used it. Any posts which turn out to be entirely or largely AI, especially without acknowledgement, will be removed and infractions may result.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to former Ubuntu Forums staff and others for compiling this document over a number of years, and for bringing it up to date for this site.