Community and web resources/Guidelines for writing to the mailing list

#1. Before asking on the list

• use a search engine : the easiest way to search are the two search buttons on the left on this wiki which will search through:
  • wiki pages
  • mailing list archives
  • articles about ConTeXt

• prepare a minimal example , that is, small but complete document
  • it will greatly improve your chances of getting a quick response if people won't need to search for the problem caused on page 793 of your 1500-page document
  • copy-paste it in the middle of the message, so that people don't need to open an extra editor to see the contents
  • if encoding is important (even if some UTF-8 characters are present and relevant), it might be safer to use attachments
  • if external figures are needed, add "\setupexternalfigures[location=default]" to your example and use the sample files (for example "\externalfigure[hacker.jpg]") of the distribution
  • if other files are needed for reproducing your problem, provide them somewhere (small files in attachment, big files somewhere ready to download), but try first to use the sample files of the distribution

• check ConTeXt version you are using (esp. when sending bug reports)
  • check if http://live.contextgarden.net gives you the same results
  • very often new features appear or bugs disapper with new releases
  • The command \contextversion provides the version number of context

#2. Composing your message

• try to avoid sending PDFs or other huge documents
  • if the behaviour is the same on http://live.contextgarden.net that everyone can reproduce the document
  • if your document takes over 40kb, you'll have to wait for moderator to approve your message first
  • some people use modem, some save all the mails (which takes space), ... and unless they have special interested in your topic, they might prefer to receive plain text only
  • there might be some exceptions: when using fonts not installed on the garden, weired local settings, ... but even then try to:
    • upload the files to some temporary location (if someone finds some time to write a script, there might be a place on the garden for such files in the future)
    • send a small PNG/JPG (cropped screenshot) showing the little detail causing you troubles

• Do not start a new topic by replying to a message -- instead, simply compose a new message to ntg-context@ntg.nl. Inappropriate use of reply-to confuses threading mail clients and list archives.

• If you are reading ConTeXt mailing list in digest mode, please don't reply to the digest message, leaving unrelated messages in the same post. When using digest mode it might also help to add yourself to CC in your own message or to ask people to add you to CC, so that you get the answer directly, can reply in a clean way and don't have to wait for digest to arrive to solve your problem.

• On ConTeXt lists, bottom-posted replies are the norm. That is, if you are quoting part of the previous message, place it above your own text, rather than including the entire previous message at the end.

#3. Once you get the answer

• please provide feedback if the solution worked or not
• unless it was a bug report, please write something on the wiki, so that others will find the answer to the same question easier in the future

#4. If you didn't get any answer

• Was your question too general?
  • Questions like "How do I write a letter/manual/FAQ?" are likely not to be answered because nobody understands what exactly you want. There are 999 ways to write a manual. Give a clear description and an example.
• Was your problem too complex?
  • This doesn't happen very often, sometimes you get an answer stating that there's no solution known to the people reading the list. Think if you can simplify your problem.
• Try asking back after a week or so. Sometimes everyone is busy or on holidays.