Getting Help/Forums

Question 2

What is Rubber Duck debugging?

Answer 2

• Explain your problem to a rubber duck
• In the process of explaining, you often identify the solution
• In describing what the code is supposed to do and observing what it really does, the solution becomes apparent.

This has been a tactic of many solo coders

Question 3

Tips for posting to forums

Answer 3

1. Pick an exceptional title. Focus on the very specific core problem you are having. The more specific the question, the faster the answer. What you are doing and what the problem is in the title are key pieces of information necessary in the title.
2. Post on only one forum and only one time and be patient. If you post on multiple forums or multiple times in one forum this will not be appreciated.
3. Post to the correct forum
4. Read the forum guidelines
5. Be concise. Provide the minimum information necessary to describe and replicate the problem.
6. Be very specific about the question you are trying to answer
7. Note steps you have already tried to troubleshoot
8. Give details on how to re-product the problem and Include sample data where appropriate
9. Explain what your goal and expected output are in detail and what your output was instead
10. If you got an error, provide it in your post
11. Any relevant details about your operating system, version of the product you are using, etc.
12. Follow up on your post and post the solution. Thank the person who helped you and mark their solution as the correct one. Anyone who helped you deserves recognition and someone may need an answer to the same problem you had in the future.
13. If YOU found a solution, post it! Someone may be working on the problem for you and they need to know you no longer need an answer. If you have already marked a solution as the answer but a better one comes in, unmark the first one and mark the better one as the solution.
14. Don’t feel like you HAVE to award someone as the correct solution if no correct solution has been found and you have not been able to find a solution either.
15. Feel free to edit a persons solution to make it easier for others to read if it is necessary
16. Remember, this is in service for the community. Do what you can to make it better

Question 4

Forum Etiquette

Answer 4

• Remember, you are asking for help and hoping someone will take time out of their day to do so
• Be courteous. Often this is exhibited by asking a specific question, doing some troubleshooting of your own and giving problem solvers easy access to all the information they need to help you.

Question 5

What to do before posting on a forum

Answer 5

1. Make sure the questions hasn’t been asked before
2. Google for solutions
3. Look at the manual for solutions
4. Check the help files
5. Explain your problem to the Rubber Ducky
6. Exhaust as much options on your own as possible before posting to a forum

Question 6

Good and Bad question titles on forums

Answer 6

Bad
- HELP! Can’t fit linear model!

• HELP! Don’t understand PCA!

Better
- R 3.4.3 lm() function produces seg fault with large data frame (Windows 10)
- Applied PCA to a matrix - what are U, D, and Vt?

Even Better
- R 3.4.3 lm() function on Windows 10 – seg fault on large dataframe
- Using principle components to discover common variation in rows of a matrix, should I use, U, D or Vt?