Best Practices For Starting A New Topic & Getting Help

A community forum's ability to be effective at providing help is only as good as how well the information is organized.  That being the case, please make sure you follow these few small but VERY important policies:

Try Searching First
BYC has over 5 MILLION posts... that's a LOT of information.  We have some very powerful search tools and encourage you to start by searching for existing questions and answers.  In some cases you'll find the exact answer you're looking for.  In other cases you'll find existing topics / discussion threads where you can jump right in and participate. 

Put your question or post in the appropriate forum
We have many very detailed sections of our forum.  Please familiarize yourself with the list and post your questions in the appropriate section.  If you post in the wrong section it only causes more work for our staff to have to move topics to the correct section.

Make Detailed Subjects / Titles
You might be tempted to start a topic with "PLEASE HELP!!!"   Unfortunately, that doesn't help anybody to help you.     You should fill the subject line of your new topic with as much information as can fit!   For example, you'll be helping the community help you if instead of a subject like: "EMERGENCY HELP"  you instead say something like "Hen's leg caught in a rat trap - Leg not broken but bleeding"
 

Please remember, if your posts aren't getting a response, it could be for a TON of different reasons.  Usually having very detailed subjects and posting additional information and details about the situation will often help get a reply.

Following these simple steps will help you get the information you need faster and will make it easier for you and many others to get the help they need.

A huge "THANK YOU" to everyone of our members that have been following these practices over the years and have helped make BYC such a wonderful place to get the help they need!

This is part of the "Required Reading" for all members found here: http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16110

We also link to that thread (which links to this one) from the welcome email that each new member receives. 

Good points!  It is a tricky balance between encouraging members to use search while also making sure they feel comfortable with posting new topics.

Each situation is different and it is hard to say, "In these cases don't start a new topic, but you can in these situations."  Hopefully each member will know that the search tools exist and will give them a try before posting... if anything, having more information before posting your question will usually help you form a better question.  For example:

No searching - Poor Forum Post:

Subject:   "HELP ME NOW!!!"
Message: "My chicken has a lump on her neck!!! HELP!!!!!!!!!!!"

Has searched - Good Forum Post:

Subject:  "I think my chicken's crop is impacted, what should I do?"
Message:  "I've searched the forum and I learned that the lump on the side of a chicken's neck is their crop.   My chicken's crop has been large and full for 3 days and she hasn't been eating.  I read on another topic that..... and I tried..... but now I don't know what to do about....."

That is a FANTASTIC idea!    Imagine if every member that had a question and resolution did that?   Wow that would be amazing.

Even better:  If the original poster (OP) went back to edit their first post and added something like:

----- UPDATE <date> -----
I was able to fix my problem, here is a link to the post with info about what I did: <link>

You can link directly to a post!   Just hover over the date / time of each post... example: "Today 8:09 am" right above your avatar.   That is the link to your post:

http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=5617207#p5617207