Return to Answer

A lot. Asking a question on Stack Overflow should be the last step in your process for finding an answer - if the information that you need already exists, then you very much want to find it.

You want to

• Search. Like mad.
• Test your code.
• Troubleshoot.
• Read blogs.
• Find books.
• Follow tutorials.

After you have reached the end of your rope with the pain of not having the answer, that's when you can go ahead and ask. Because at that point, you will have done whatever research necessary to make it a good question worth asking. You'll have notes you can share to help inform the folks answering as to what you need. You'll have the necessary background information to understand those answers when they arrive. You won't have to contend with a poorly-written duplicate of a better answer that already exists somewhere else on the site. And you won't get frustrated by having your question closed, and the folks reading it won't get frustrated by having to close it.

The important point remains that we absolutely want you to do your homework. Understand that our time is not free, though we do not charge for it. Answering low quality, poorly researched, or duplicated questions becomes tiresome.

And if the critical comment you're receiving is indeed rude - you should flag it. But you should also assume good faith, try to understand the frustration that motivated it, and strive to do better in the future. Searching and researching is a skill, mastery is achieved through practice - the abilities you gain on the road to asking questions here will serve you well long into the future.

A lot. Asking a question on Stack Overflow should be the last step in your process for finding an answer—if the information that you need already exists, then you should be able to find it before asking.

You want to

• Search. Like mad.
• Test your code.
• Troubleshoot.
• Read blogs.
• Find books.
• Follow tutorials.

After you have reached the end of your rope with the pain of not having the answer, that's when you can go ahead and ask. Because at that point, you will have done whatever research necessary to make it a good question worth asking. You'll have notes you can share to help inform the folks answering as to what you need. You'll have the necessary background information to understand those answers when they arrive. You won't have to contend with a poorly-written duplicate of a better answer that already exists somewhere else on the site. And you won't get frustrated by having your question closed, and the folks reading it won't get frustrated by having to close it.

It is important to emphasize that we want to help you, but you also need to help yourself. The more effort you put into your question, the more benefit that you and future readers will get out of the answer(s). Understand that our time is not free, although we do not charge for it. Answering low quality, poorly researched, and/or duplicated questions becomes tiresome and does not contribute meaningfully to our goal of building a knowledge base, so please do your part to avoid this.

That said, if the critical comment you're receiving is indeed rude—you should flag it. But you should also assume good faith, try to understand the frustration that motivated it, and strive to do better in the future. 

Searching and researching is a skill, and mastery is achieved only through practice. The abilities you gain on the road to asking questions here will serve you well long into the future.

A lot. Asking a question on Stack Overflow should be the last step in your process for finding an answer - if the information that you need already exists, then you very much want to find it.

You want to

• Search. Like mad.
• Test your code.
• Troubleshoot.
• Read blogs.
• Find books.
• Follow tutorials.

After you have reached the end of your rope with the pain of not having the answer, that's when you can go ahead and ask. Because at that point, you will have done whatever research necessary to make it a good question worth asking. You'll have notes you can share to help inform the folks answering as to what you need. You'll have the necessary background information to understand those answers when they arrive. You won't have to contend with a poorly-written duplicate of a better answer that already exists somewhere else on the site. And you won't get frustrated by having your question closed, and the folks reading it won't get frustrated by having to close it.

The important point remains that we absolutely want you to do your homework. Understand that our time is not free, though we do not charge for it. Answering low quality, poorly researched, or duplicated questions becomes tiresome.

And the quoted comment in the OP was indeed rude - you should flag it. But you should also try to understand the frustration that motivated it, and strive to do better in the future. Searching and researching is a skill, mastery is achieved through practice - the abilities you gain on the road to asking questions here will serve you well long into the future.

A lot. Asking a question on Stack Overflow should be the last step in your process for finding an answer - if the information that you need already exists, then you very much want to find it.

You want to

• Search. Like mad.
• Test your code.
• Troubleshoot.
• Read blogs.
• Find books.
• Follow tutorials.

After you have reached the end of your rope with the pain of not having the answer, that's when you can go ahead and ask. Because at that point, you will have done whatever research necessary to make it a good question worth asking. You'll have notes you can share to help inform the folks answering as to what you need. You'll have the necessary background information to understand those answers when they arrive. You won't have to contend with a poorly-written duplicate of a better answer that already exists somewhere else on the site. And you won't get frustrated by having your question closed, and the folks reading it won't get frustrated by having to close it.

The important point remains that we absolutely want you to do your homework. Understand that our time is not free, though we do not charge for it. Answering low quality, poorly researched, or duplicated questions becomes tiresome.

And if the critical comment you're receiving is indeed rude - you should flag it. But you should also assume good faith, try to understand the frustration that motivated it, and strive to do better in the future. Searching and researching is a skill, mastery is achieved through practice - the abilities you gain on the road to asking questions here will serve you well long into the future.

A lot. Asking a question on Stack Overflow should be the last step in your process for finding an answer - if the information that you need already exists, then you very much want to find it.

You want to

• Search. Like mad.
• Test your code.
• Troubleshoot.
• Read blogs.
• Find books.
• Follow tutorials.

From how to ask, emphasis mine:

Sharing your research helps everyone. Tell us what you found and why it didn’t meet your needs. This demonstrates that you’ve taken the time to try to help yourself, it saves us from reiterating obvious answers, and above all, it helps you get a more specific and relevant answer!

After you have reached the end of your rope with the pain of not having the answer, that's when you can go ahead and ask. Because at that point, you will have done whatever research necessary to make it a good question worth asking. You'll have notes you can share to help inform the folks answering as to what you need. You'll have the necessary background information to understand those answers when they arrive. You won't have to contend with a poorly-written duplicate of a better answer that already exists somewhere else on the site. And you won't get frustrated by having your question closed, and the folks reading it won't get frustrated by having to close it.

The important point remains that we absolutely want you to do your homework. Understand that our time is not free, though we do not charge for it. Answering low quality, poorly researched, or duplicated questions becomes tiresome.

And the quoted comment in the OP was indeed rude - you should flag it. But you should also try to understand the frustration that motivated it, and strive to do better in the future. Searching and researching is a skill, mastery is achieved through practice - the abilities you gain on the road to asking questions here will serve you well long into the future.

A lot. Asking a question on Stack Overflow should be the last step in your process for finding an answer - if the information that you need already exists, then you very much want to find it.

You want to

• Search. Like mad.
• Test your code.
• Troubleshoot.
• Read blogs.
• Find books.
• Follow tutorials.

After you have reached the end of your rope with the pain of not having the answer, that's when you can go ahead and ask. Because at that point, you will have done whatever research necessary to make it a good question worth asking. You'll have notes you can share to help inform the folks answering as to what you need. You'll have the necessary background information to understand those answers when they arrive. You won't have to contend with a poorly-written duplicate of a better answer that already exists somewhere else on the site. And you won't get frustrated by having your question closed, and the folks reading it won't get frustrated by having to close it.

The important point remains that we absolutely want you to do your homework. Understand that our time is not free, though we do not charge for it. Answering low quality, poorly researched, or duplicated questions becomes tiresome.

And the quoted comment in the OP was indeed rude - you should flag it. But you should also try to understand the frustration that motivated it, and strive to do better in the future. Searching and researching is a skill, mastery is achieved through practice - the abilities you gain on the road to asking questions here will serve you well long into the future.