Read this before you write your questions to the public channels! It's in your own interest to respect those to get the best results for you. If you want good & fast answers, ask smart questions. The easier you make it for us, the easier we can (and want to) help you.

"after": return what you get.

• When you've been served well, stay long & prosper to help others (in MuttChannel or MuttLists and add to MuttWiki)!

"before": help make docs more useful for you, your problem probably has been already solved!

• Check manual.txt, MuttGuide, MuttFaq and MuttWiki before you ask:

use search instructions of MuttFaq if you don't know where to look.

• Search the ARCHIVES of all channels available: MuttLists have external ones, MuttChannel uses this MuttWiki.
• Analyze yourself what you can per DebugConfig before you ask.
• If you've already found the answers on your own by now, then tell us which docs helped you (not?)!

: Please search those before you repost what has been covered before! : Save resources and time better spent dealing with new problems.

"while": Help us help you. We can help you only as much as you help us understand you: "it doesn't work" or "what I see" is not enough!!!

• Be supportive: tell us your operating environment and what made you think it should work as you expect?

What: is your technical context and setup? * - is your goal, - did you expect (why?), - was the result instead? * - are your used versions of: application, client, server, libs, external components, operating system, terminal? How: we can't read your mind nor see through your eyes: explain as if to a blind person. * Give exact details as you experience them (where you start, each single step: action + result), not your summaries! * Be most specific + clear + exact + concrete + complete with your statements. * Don't guess, verify! Get facts, exclude ambiguity + misunderstanding. Why: the more you provide, the better we can help you, you decide how helpful you are to yourself. * For in depth reasons: "how to ask  smart questions"\

(<-- Must read this! Complain about that text to MuttChannel, not the authors!).

• Show commitment: this is not a (paid) service hotline, this is a do-it-yourself environment.

You are supposed to do the actual work, you get advice and pointers. Look up references yourself, use existing docs, learn to help yourself.

• Be patient: just wait, eventually someone will answer, don't count on instant reaction.

This is a global channel: people live in different timezones, more or better response might happen at other times. See MuttMaps and \

 WorldTimeZone or \  TimeAndDate or \  WorldClock

• Be respectful + merciful (with yourself + fellows): answers are favours, not your right, and not all of us know everything, so beware of sub-optimal answers.

"technical": don't annoy bystanders!

• Every channel has its own additional specific technical clues to make all sides happier: the ones asking for help and those granting it.
• Please return to the referring page and read those, too, before you shoot.