# How to ask for help and get an answer. # _For helpful, constructive and timely answers to your questions, please read and then follow these guidelines <span class="colour" style="color:red">and the nested documents that they link to</span>._ ## Be nice. Consider that sometimes a question that seems stupid just may be because you've never thought about it that way before or the questioner actually knows far more about it than you but they still need help or maybe you've forgotten that you used to ask questions like that when you first started in electronics. Sometimes you can learn from the questions other people ask and not just from the answers they get. ## Show that you have already tried to answer the question you are posting about. Please bear in mind that many people who respond to forum posts are just other users who are prepared to give some of their time and experience to help answer your question. Looked at like this, you can see that it is unfair to ask others to do this if you have not already made every effort to try to answer the question yourself. You are much more likely to get help through the forum if you show that you have done so. There are many superb learning resources available on the web for everyone from novices through to experienced electronics engineers. Electronic component manufacturers have huge libraries of educational, applications and design notes, guides and datasheets, all freely available. PCB manufacturers including JLCPCB often have educational information about how boards are fabricated, their manufacturing capabilities and design rules and the terminology used. EasyEDA offers a huge amount of online help in the form of written and video tutorials, short video clips and informative forum posts. Therefore **before** posting in the forum please: **(1)** search the web for information and guidance relevant to your question. If you are a novice then more time spent learning about electronics will mean less time and money wasted on projects that, through simple inexperience, were never going to work. In particular, read and understand the datasheets and applications notes for every device you are using in your design; # **(2) read [<span class="colour" style="color:blue">Welcome to EasyEDA</span>](https://easyeda.com/andyfierman/Welcome_to_EasyEDA-31e1288f882e49e582699b8eb7fe9b1f) <span class="colour" style="color:red">and the nested documents that it links to</span>;** **(3)** search EasyEDA for previous posts that may address the same or a similar problem. **Using Google or Bing and adding the words "sites:easyeda.com" to your search terms may return a better selection of results than the built-in EasyEDA search tools.** ## If you are asking for help about EasyEDA Please take the time to read the EasyEDA Tutorials and FAQ before posting and refer in your post to the relevant section(s) of the Tutorials for which you are seeking help. Include screenshots or animated gifs to illustrate your question or issue. ## If you are asking for help about a Project ### Keep to the subject of your question Whilst it may be interesting to know a little about you, a question in the forum is probably not a good place to write your biography. If you would like to write something about yourself you can do that in your EasyEDA **Personal Profile** or maybe introduce yourself in the **General Discussion** section. ### Get to the point Of course you are bursting to tell everyone about the fantastic gizmo that you are about to unleash on the world but to save everyone's time, just give the facts about your project and state your question clearly. You should give more details about your project in the **Description** section of your project (see below). ## General Forum etiquette ### If you are asking for help with college or homework please say so at the beginning of your question. You will get answers to questions that will help you expand your knowledge but expect to have to do more work to do so. Do not expect anyone to do your work for you. That is lazy, dishonest and you will learn nothing from it. ### Include relevant information to demonstrate or illustrate your question or point Questions like: “I cannot replace the package for U5.” “How do I find a 10uF capacitor?” “Why does routing a track to my connector pin generate a DRC error?” are almost impossible to give a meaningful or helpful answer to because they give no context to the question. Any answer will be based on guesswork and the previous experience of the person trying to help you and as such wastes both yours and their time. * Include screenshots that show things like net names; * Do not assume that everyone “just knows” what your Project is and how you think it works. * Write a **Design Requirements Specification** (DRS) to describe what the project is for, what it is intended to do and within what specifications such as input and output voltage ranges, load current etc. it is required to work. Put this in your Project Description or add this to your Project as an attachment then refer to it in your post; * Write a **How It Works** document to explain how the Project or the circuit is supposed to work. Put this in your Project Description or add this to your Project as an attachment then refer to it in your post; * In screenshots, show a wide enough area to be able to understand at least how the circuit may be intended to be connected in that area; * Do not assume that everyone “just knows” all about the devices or techniques that you have used in or have based your Project on. * If you’re asking about a device or a module then include links to device datasheets and applications notes including dimensions from the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) or a reputable supplier. Please do not simply post the link to any old market or auction webpage since the quality of information from such sites is often not as good as from an OEM or suppliers such as DigiKey, Element14, Farnell, LCSC, Mouser, RS Components and so on. * If you have based your project on someone else’s work then include links to the original sources of information that you have used. * If your Project is private then only you can see it. **The best thing to do is to make your Project public, post the url to the Project and make it clear which schematic(s) and PCB(s) in the Project you are asking about so that anyone can see the whole picture.** If you don’t want to share it publicly then create a stripped down public example that demonstrates your issue. As a last resort you could try asking, either in your forum thread or by messaging, whether anyone would be willing to help if you add them to your project team. **Do not add people without obtaining their consent first.** * **How ta make a Project Public and share the links to it:**[https://easyeda.com/forum/topic/How-to-make-a-Project-public-and-share-the-links-to-it-9f006513b84b412580910905b0281d20](https://easyeda.com/forum/topic/How-to-make-a-Project-public-and-share-the-links-to-it-9f006513b84b412580910905b0281d20) * **How to share a Public Project: ** ### Don't hijack topics If someone has started a topic, don't start posting stuff into it about a different question. Keep your comments relevant, short and to the point. ### Don't resurrect old topics. EasyEDA is still developing very rapidly so if you do find a topic on the same subject in the forum but that topic is more than a few weeks old, please start a new topic because the old topic may well be irrelevant due to improvements in EasyEDA since it was started. ### Please post into the relevant section of the forum. For example, if you have a question about Spice Simulation please do not post into the Schematic Capture section. If you have a problem with a PCB order please post in the JLCPCB forum and not in PCB Layout.