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Adobe forums posting guidelines

Before posting messages to Adobe forums

Please familiarize yourself with the following resources before posting in the forums:

Information about Adobe technical support programs and other options is also available.

Adobe forums posting guidelines

When posting messages...

Do...

  • Help us help you. When asking a question, please include as much information about your computer and software as possible. Be sure to include the specific version of your software, such as "7.0.1" -- not just "7", and the platforms that it is running on, such as "Windows XP and 98" -- not just "Windows". This will help other readers of the discussion group in determining a resolution to your issue.
  • Stay on topic. Please post only messages that are relevant to the subject of the Online Forum.
  • Include the necessary information. When asking a question, please include the necessary information about your machine, software, and issue. This includes the exact software and OS versions, as mentioned above. It is also helpful if you include exact steps to recreate what you are experiencing. This will help other readers of the Online Forum to determine a resolution for your issue.
  • Indicate whether you've asked your question elsewhere. If you pose your question through other channels, such as a third party mailing list, Adobe technical support, and so forth, please indicate in your message all the places you're posting the question so that we can try to answer your question only once. This saves effort and enables us to answer your question and other people's questions faster.
  • Be nice. Please refrain from posting both inappropriate language and content on Adobe's Online Forums. Personal attacks and insults are never appropriate.
  • Use a descriptive title for your posts. This will help subsequent visitors to the Online Forum successfully identify your topic. Vague subjects such as "HELP!!" or "Urgent question!!!" are often passed over by experienced users, as they provide no indication as to what your issue may be.

Don't...

  • Don't cross-post or double-post. Posting a message to more than one forum (i.e "cross-posting" is unnecessary, and creates extra traffic for you and others to read through. If you've already posted a question, please don't repeat your posts in order to get more attention- this makes it very difficult for others to see if and/or where your question was answered.
  • Don't 'bump' post. If you haven't gotten a response to your question, please do not post a blank, or 'bump' message to move it to the top of the listings. These messages only add unnecessary noise to the threads and create extra clutter for those browsing our Forums with newsreaders. Wait a day or two, then repost your original message if no one responded to your first posting.
  • Don't quote previous messages. Only quote when absolutely necessary. Readers can easily view previous messages in their newsreader when needed. If your newsreader has a setting to toggle quoting on and off, set it to off.
  • Don't post serial numbers. If you do this, you simply enable software pirates to use our products for free. Messages containing serial numbers will be deleted.
  • We gave at the office! No advertising or solicitation is permitted on Adobe's Online Forums. However, if you have an announcement to make that is of direct interest to a particular forum topic - a single post is acceptable, as long as you add 'ANN' (for 'announcement') to the beginning of your subject line. This way people who are not interested can easily skip past your post.
  • Don't include graphics or files in your forum posts. We ask that you do not post attachments with your posts, regardless of whether your newsreader or web forum supports them. Most users don't want to download a file when reading your post for time and security reasons, and attached files are not available for users connecting with newsreader software. For those that have high connect costs, your post can become quite expensive. Please explain your point in writing and include a URL to the file in your post so others can view and/or download it only if they wish to.
  • Don't duplicate threads. Before posting messages, please familiarize yourself with the forum, and use the Forums search feature to locate any prior threads that may have already answered your question.
  • Don't get too personal. Remember, all messages are public and will be viewed by many others. When you post on the Adobe Forums, your post is also syndicated via Usenet to other newsgroup servers and indexed by search engines such as Google Groups. Posting personal information such as email addresses and/or contact information may result in unwanted contact and/or email, so be selective.
  • Don't perpetuate off-topic threads. If someone makes an inappropriate or "spam" post, please don't add more noise by replying to the forum. Criticize the poster in private e-mail if you must. Adobe will delete spam postings from the Online Forums.

Adobe reserves the right to delete or move (to a more appropriate forum) messages which do not follow these guidelines. For more information on net etiquette, there are many net etiquette guide pages available.

Getting the right answers in the Adobe Online Forums

Help our product communities help you answer your questions quickly, and completely. When asking a question in the Online Forum, or when contacting Technical Support, please include at least the following details so that we know as much about your situation as possible and can answer your question effectively. This will eliminate the need to ask follow-up questions to give you a complete answer.

We suggest that you use the format below:

Issue description

Summary:

 

Steps to reproduce:

What went wrong?:

 

What should have happened?:

 

Product version:

  • Product:
  • Version:

Platform information:

  • Hardware:
  • OS Version:
  • RAM:
  • Color Depth:
  • Display Card:
  • Resolution:
  • Digital Video
  • Sound:

Responding to messages in the Adobe Online Forums

Avoid excessive quoting of prior messages

If you respond to a message, remember that its entire text is still available in the Online Forum, and your readers have probably just read it. If you are responding to a small part of another message, only quote that part of the message. If you are responding to an entire message, don't include any of it. This helps keep the cost of reading your post low, and increases the chances of people absorbing what you have to say.

Be specific

Make sure to include all necessary steps of the workaround you are proposing. If possible, number these steps to make them even clearer.

For example:

  1. Restart your Macintosh.
  2. Hold down the Shift key as the machine is restarting until you see the "Extensions Off" message.
  3. Relaunch the application.
  4. You should be able to run the application normally now.

Get details

Ask questions to get more information. If you need more information in order to accurately answer a prior post, ask the author of the first post for details. This will help you post a more accurate response.