Launchpad Help > Answers > Asking for help

Overview

Using Launchpad to find help is easy. First off, visit the Answers page for the project or distribution you're using.

Example: if you want help with the NULL project, you'd visit https://answers.launchpad.net/null

Follow the Ask a question link and choose the language with which you're most comfortable.

{i} Tip: to improve your chances of getting an answer, choose a language that is marked with an asterisk. These languages have support volunteers whom Launchpad will notify of your question.

Next, type a summary the problem you're having. If you've ever reported a bug using Launchpad, you'll find the following steps quite familiar.

Let's say you're having trouble getting Exaile to minimise to the system notifications area of your Gnome panel (the systray). You enter the question:

Launchpad will now search for existing questions that look similar. If it finds any, it will show you them.

If Launchpad doesn't find any similar questions, or those it finds are unhelpful to you, you can write a more detailed description of your problem and submit your question.

What happens next?

Once you've added your question, Launchpad emails anyone who's volunteered to be an answer contact for your language. They can then ask you for more information or offer an answer. Launchpad will then email you whenever your question changes, such as when someone suggests an answer.

Based on your actions and theirs, Launchpad will change the question's status, to help other people to see what action, if any, they should take.

Question statuses

Each question can have one of six statuses:

Actions that change a question's status

Next step

If you're already familiar with a piece of software, and want to help other people use it, you can offer support using Launchpad.

< Answers overview

Offering help >

Answers/AskingForHelp (last edited 2010-12-05 05:52:57 by pool-71-178-243-22)