slash7 with Amy Hoy » Blog Archive » Help Vampires: A Spotter’s Guide

Help Vampires

Keep troubleshooting . Often we learn that it’s easier to give up and ask for help rather than persisting—when we’d get our breakthrough if we’d only delay giving up for another 10 minutes. Respect yourself, go a little further before giving up. Google , of course. Google partial error messages, add software names to your queries, and generally try at least 3 or 4 searches before you give it up as hopeless. Mailing lists, forums, and newsgroups . Chances are, you’re not the first person on the Earth to have this problem. Luckily we live in an age where we can search the past. Check out these resources next. Docs . Sometimes they seem impenetrable, but give it a whack. The more you learn, the easier the documentation will be to understand and decipher. Ask your question—but phrase it differently . Instead of asking your question directly, ask “Has anyone has seen this probl...

Full article: http://slash7.com/2006/12/22/vampires/