001 On Making Requests

Most people are quite good about making requests and asking questions of staff and other players within the JTS community. Overall we are a mature and polite bunch. Occasionally someone comes in, however, that is not quite used to how we handle matters of courtesy around here. While the basic rules of courtesy will get one through most matters, some specific pointers will help requests and questions work their way through the chain faster and with much less stress for everyone involved.

Read the Manual
Probably the biggest mistake made by those new to JTS is that many around here believe in a 'teach a man to fish...' type philosophy. That is to say, we think teaching people how to find answers themselves is a more effective use of time than giving them answers.

A common exchange may look like this: Questioner: What is the Law skill for? Answerer: +sinfo, so +sinfo Law

While it would be almost as easy to simply answer the specific question asked, that would be opening the floodgates for all kinds of questions, such as, "What does law enforcement do?" "What does energy pistol do?" and so on. However, by answering the question in this manner, we have allowed the one asking the question to easily look up the answers without further questions.

For those asking questions, it is often far better to ask how to find the information than it is to ask for the information itself. Help files are written with the intent of instruction, and typing out similar answers repeatedly is inefficient.

So when asking a question, remember:
 * 1) Try and look up the answer for yourself first, whether on the mush itself or by using the wiki.
 * 2) When asking, ask first on a channel, if possible, ask how to find the information. This is to prevent you from needing to ask several follow up questions, especially when the information is linked together and categorized, as in the case of a wiki.
 * 3) If no one knows where to find it, and no one on the channel knows, at this point the +str system is the best bet to submit a question. This will often be the case on highly specific incidents.
 * 4) Clarify your question as much as possible. A question that is thought out is much easier to answer (or at least easier to acknowledge one does not know the answer) than one that is poorly conceived.

On Requests
Similar to asking questions is making requests. The first step with these is to research and see what needs to be done before making a request. Making a request without preliminary steps being completed is often a waste of time and leads to disappointment. The wiki often has information on what is required for many types of routine requests. If not, refer to the section on asking questions to find out what is needed.

Second, try to be as specific as possible as to what is being requested. While some who staff are quite good at what they do, it is safe to say telepathy is not one of our talents, thus being explicit as to what is being requested will make it easier to respond to the request.

Third, use %r%r to make a double carriage return in requests that are long so that whoever is reading it does not have too much trouble doing so. Several requests come in that are simply difficult to read. Along these lines, proper punctuation and grammar makes a very good impression and often increases the speed of response. Poorly written requests are often misunderstood and do not reflect well upon the one making the request.

Finally, try and be polite, above all else. Being insulting or otherwise rude when making a request of a volunteer does not help things along.

With these tips, making requests and asking questions should go about much more smoothly.