How to write a good post/question

About the Community Getting Started
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To effectively engage in the community, you will need to write quality posts and questions. Higher quality posts are those that are helpful, informative, and do not violate the Code of Conduct in any way.

Best Practices for Quality Posts:

  1. Use descriptive titles: A helpful title is a short preview of your message or question. The best titles are written so that search engines can find the post and allow it to turn up in search queries. Searchable titles attract new users and increase community engagement.

    • Poor title: “This program isn’t working anymore.”
    • Good title: "Trying to use X program to perform Y task on my Z device.”

  2. Include relevant topic tags when starting a new discussion. Tags provide additional context to help other community members discover your post. For example, a new post in the Drivers and ODMs category might be about aggregation using the golang driver.

  3. Proofread every post: Spelling and grammar mistakes are distracting and can take away from your message or point. Consider if you can improve the formatting of code or log snippets. If other users are spending more time deciphering what you wrote rather than reading and responding to your post, you’ve lost engagement. For long posts, give yourself a couple of minutes break after you finish writing and then scan through your message one last time before posting.

  4. Stay on topic: If your message doesn’t belong in the category you’re reading, don’t post it there. Off-topic and misplaced posts distract readers and take away from the impact of the original topic.

  5. End with a call-to-action: If you want other users to respond and engage with your post, ask them to.

  6. Limit jargon and slang: Inside jokes, slang terms, and other references with a limited audience distract from the topic and make it difficult for outsiders and new users to follow along. It can also make it hard for users from other cultures and different native languages to engage with you.

  7. Include images when appropriate: Images can be helpful if you are trying to explain an issue such as an unexpected application or web site interaction (Be sure to follow the Code of Conduct when selecting your image to be sure it is appropriate for a professional environment.). Code and log snippets are best shared as inline text rather than images.

  8. Give credit: If you’re building off a different user’s information or a post on another site, give them credit in your post. You can also use this to draw a user into the discussion. Use the quote tool in the editor to use a direct quote.

  9. Don’t abandon your discussions. If you started a discussion, respond to comments quickly and make sure your responses are helpful and thoughtful.

  10. Search online first: Experienced users get tired of answering the same questions multiple times. Before you ask a question, try searching first.

The most important aspect of writing quality posts is not violating the MongoDB Community Code of Conduct. If your posts are repeatedly flagged by users or moderators for violating the Code of Conduct, you may receive a warning, suspension, or account closure.

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