Jon Skeet's [Writing the perfect question][1] is an excellent guide to asking questions. There's also a complementary post [Answering technical questions helpfully][2] which is well worth a read. [1]: http://msmvps.com/blogs/jon_skeet/archive/2010/08/29/writing-the-perfect-question.aspx [2]: http://msmvps.com/blogs/jon_skeet/archive/2009/02/17/answering-technical-questions-helpfully.aspx