This post is to discuss how to write good posts in the FS forums. I’ve been reading the forums almost every day since MSFS was introduced last year. Most of the posts are well written and helpful, even those requesting help from the user community. However, a lot of posts are poorly written lack meaningful content.
In this post, I want to list a few tips for writing a good entry. And I suggest that respondents add to the list as they see fit.
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One of the most important things to do when writing a post is to give it a clear title. The title should tell the reader what the post is about so that he doesn’t have to open the post to find that out. Titles like, “What’s going on?”, “Please Help” or “Am I Going Crazy?” aren’t all that helpful. A good title might specify an aircraft type and question about a component or another aspect and let the user know why to read the post. Most of the time, when I see a post that does not specify a good title, I skip it to read one that does.
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In the post, tells us what you want us to know. Don’t assume that everyone will automatically understand a general comment about your problem or a simple photo. We don’t all share the same knowledge, so if you just put a picture and ask, “Why do I see this?” chances are many people are going to wonder what it is you are seeing.
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If you are discussing a bug, give us the details. What steps did you follow to expose the bug? What do you have installed, etc.? These kinds of details help users know how to help if they can.
I’m sure other things can help us communicate better, but these are a few things I’ve noticed that stand out. I hope this helps us write better topics so we can be more useful to the simmer community.
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Where and how do i create a post on a question about an aircraft bought from Marketplace?? Thank You
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Great Post! I would like to add a pet peeve of mine regarding responses to posts.
Unless you’re responding to the post directly above yours, please first quote the relevant phrase you’re responding to. I get annoyed reading responses like “That plane requires a very light touch on the brakes…,” and having to scroll through dozens of posts to try and find which plane they’re talking about.
First quote, then respond.
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If you are wanting to ask a support help question, the best thing to do would be to find out where the 3rd party developer offers support. You may find it on this list: 3rd Party Support & Bug Reporting
Or, if you are posting a generic help question on how to use the aircraft, you can look to see if they have a Mega-thread about the plane via the search tool, or create a new post in #gd-commsupport:anc if you do not find a mega-thread or another thread about the same question.
When suggesting hardware or software that may help resolve an issue, don’t use abbreviations unless you link to that product’s webpage and give a brief explanation of why you are suggesting that product. If you are contributing, do a little extra work up front. Screenshots can be helpful, especially if you are willing to go the extra mile by annotating the screenshot.
For example: “I disabled HPET and installed ILSC in it’s place and got better FPS.”
Most people know what FPS is, but may not know what the other two are.
Also, when asking for more information, don’t assume that people know how to find it.
For example: “What is your nVidia driver version?”
Many people don’t know how to find it.
Another example: “Make sure Resizable Bar is enabled, and enable it if it isn’t.”
How do they do that?
A link to a webpage explaining it will help immensely.
In short: What, Where, Why, How.
For our friends who don’t speak or write English well: Use Google Translate, rather than trying to write your post in broken English with misspelled words.
And if you are the one having the problem, and people are being helpful, thank them.