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| Usually, you can find help with free software by asking on mailing list, web forums or IRC. | Mailing lists, web forums and IRC are great places to find help with free software. Usually, you'll find someone who can answer your question or, at the very least, point you in the direction of a useful web page. |
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| Launchpad Answers improves the way tha | These methods of finding and giving help have a couple of shortcomings, though: |
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| Launchpad Answers take the best ele | * there's no way to track the progress of a question * knowledge about the software is spread across different places. Launchpad Answers helps to solve these problems by: |
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| That support is often offered through mailing lists, forums and IRC. | * tracking user questions in a similar way to bug reports * notifying volunteer support contacts of new questions * building a searchable knowledge base of good answers * allowing people to ask questions and offer support in different languages. It also serves as a simple ticketing system for tracking admin requests. |
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| Many projects use mailing lists, forums and IRC to | = Asking for help = |
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| Use the first two paragraphs to summarise all the important points about this article. | Using Launchpad to find help is easy. First off, visit the Answers page for the project or distribution you're using. |
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| Tell the reader if this is the information they need as soon as possible. | '''Example:''' if you want help with the exaile media player, you'd visit https://answers.launchpad.net/exaile |
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| = Instructional text = | Follow the ```Ask a question``` link and choose the language with which you're most comfortable. |
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| Where appropriate, use step by step instructions: | {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. |
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| '''Step 1:''' Give concise and unambiguous instructions. | 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. |
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| '''Step 2:''' Try not to state the obvious, unless you're writing for a novice user. | 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: |
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| {i} '''Note:''' Highlight important information with a note. | ''How do I minimise Exaile to the systray?'' Launchpad will now search for existing questions that look similar. If it finds any, it will show you them. |
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| '''Step 3:''' Use a well cropped screen shot if it will help orient the reader. Don't let the screen shot replace instructional text: not everyone can see your screen shot. Don't worry about borders or annotation for small, cropped screen shots such as this. | 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. |
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| {{attachment:screen-shot.png}} | == What happens next? == |
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| {i} '''Warning:''' If you're about to tell the reader to delete or otherwise change something that would be hard to restore, warn them. | 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. |
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| 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. | |
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| == Full screen shots == | === Question statuses === |
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| ||<tablestyle="float:right; font-size: 0.8em; width:30%; background:#F1F1ED; margin: 0 0 1em 1em;" style="padding:0.5em;">{{attachment:proj-announce.png}}|| ||<style="text-align: center;">'''Describe the screen shot here'''|| |
Each question can have one of six statuses: |
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| Some screen shots will be better placed to the right of your text. As they're not placed directly below the text that they support, use a border and short description. | * '''Open:''' this question needs an answer, either because it is new or because a previous answer didn't completely solve the problem. * '''Needs information'''. * '''Answered:''' someone has answered the question but the original reporter hasn't yet said whether or not it solved their problem. * '''Solved:''' one of the answers to the question has solved the original reporter's problem. * '''Expired:''' Launchpad automatically expired this question because it stayed in the '''Open''' or '''Needs information''' state, without activity, for more than two weeks. * '''Invalid'''. |
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| Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aliquam sagittis. Aliquam eros dui, scelerisque id, consequat in, accumsan vitae, pede. Suspendisse neque ligula, scelerisque ac, mattis ut, aliquam quis, odio. | === Actions that change a question's status === |
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| Proin nunc nisi, fringilla ac, congue ac, luctus eu, lacus. Maecenas ac purus. Cras felis metus, ultricies non, euismod ac, accumsan eleifend, leo. Quisque imperdiet tempus tellus. | * '''Someone, other than the reporter, has asked for more information'''. When the question's status is ```Open```, this will change it to ''Needs information''. * '''The reporter provides more information on the problem'''. When the status of the question is ```Needs information```, this will change it back to ```Open```. * '''Someone answers a question'''. When the status of the question is ```Open``` or ```Needs information```, this will change it to ```Answered```. * '''The original reporter tells Launchpad they have found a solution'''. The status moves to ```Solved```. * '''The reporter confirms an answer given by another user'''. The status moves to ```Solved```. * '''After receiving an answer, the reporter replies that the problem still occurs'''. This reverts status to ```Open```. * '''Two weeks have passed without a change to the question'''. If the question is in the ```Open``` or ```Needs information``` state, Launchpad's robot - the Launchpad Janitor - will automatically mark the question as ```Expired```. * '''An answer contact or administrator rejects a question which contains spam or is a duplicate'''. This changes the status to ```Invalid```. = Next steps = |
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| Ut euismod, diam nec adipiscing interdum, tortor orci fringilla nisi, vel blandit erat magna at nisi. Fusce hendrerit odio non metus. Mauris nisl massa, dapibus id, feugiat quis, blandit a, quam. Integer tincidunt feugiat nunc. Curabitur iaculis egestas elit. Nam imperdiet suscipit odio. | If you're already familiar with a piece of software, and want to help other people use it, you can [[Answers/OfferingHelp|offer support]] using Launchpad. |
DRAFT: this page is a work in progress. Please seek further help or check the wiki index for a complete page on this topic.
Overview
Mailing lists, web forums and IRC are great places to find help with free software. Usually, you'll find someone who can answer your question or, at the very least, point you in the direction of a useful web page.
These methods of finding and giving help have a couple of shortcomings, though:
- there's no way to track the progress of a question
- knowledge about the software is spread across different places.
Launchpad Answers helps to solve these problems by:
- tracking user questions in a similar way to bug reports
- notifying volunteer support contacts of new questions
- building a searchable knowledge base of good answers
- allowing people to ask questions and offer support in different languages.
It also serves as a simple ticketing system for tracking admin requests.
Asking for help
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 exaile media player, you'd visit https://answers.launchpad.net/exaile
Follow the Ask a question link and choose the language with which you're most comfortable.
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:
How do I minimise Exaile to the systray?
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:
Open: this question needs an answer, either because it is new or because a previous answer didn't completely solve the problem.
Needs information.
Answered: someone has answered the question but the original reporter hasn't yet said whether or not it solved their problem.
Solved: one of the answers to the question has solved the original reporter's problem.
Expired: Launchpad automatically expired this question because it stayed in the Open or Needs information state, without activity, for more than two weeks.
Invalid.
Actions that change a question's status
Someone, other than the reporter, has asked for more information. When the question's status is Open, this will change it to Needs information.
The reporter provides more information on the problem. When the status of the question is Needs information, this will change it back to Open.
Someone answers a question. When the status of the question is Open or Needs information, this will change it to Answered.
The original reporter tells Launchpad they have found a solution. The status moves to Solved.
The reporter confirms an answer given by another user. The status moves to Solved.
After receiving an answer, the reporter replies that the problem still occurs. This reverts status to Open.
Two weeks have passed without a change to the question. If the question is in the Open or Needs information state, Launchpad's robot - the Launchpad Janitor - will automatically mark the question as Expired.
An answer contact or administrator rejects a question which contains spam or is a duplicate. This changes the status to Invalid.
Next steps
If you're already familiar with a piece of software, and want to help other people use it, you can offer support using Launchpad.
