How to Write a Post That Gets Your Questions Answered!

[Ajax]

I wrote this once and deleted it. I had to get a few things off my chest & I hope that it helps the people here and generally raises the level of posts on the board. Sorry it's long--but I had a lot to say!

How to Write a Post That Gets Your Questions Answered!

I think that this might help the members of this board (especially the new ones) get the most out of the time they spend here. I have noticed that there are a lot of poor posts being slapped up and that’s not helping anybody--it wastes the expert’s time and doesn’t get people’s questions answered for the people who need answers.

I put together a few tips on how to post more effectively in the hope that, if read and followed, it will help people with questions get the attention of the people that have the answers and thus, get their questions answered.

The four main points to writing a good post are:

1) Always do your research first.
2) Write a good subject line!
3) Use the body of the post to clarify your subject line and give details.
4) Make sure your post is readable!

So here it goes...

1) Always do your research first.

Many questions--especially “newbie” questions have already been answered. PLEASE don’t post a question on a topic that has been discussed to death already. We tire of answering, “Can I drink Winny” (Yes.) and “Is there an Effective Oral-Only Cycle?” (No!)

(New guys take note: we love to answer questions, but after the fifth time, it gets a little old, after the tenth time it gets real old. After the twentieth time, it just gets to be a running joke... So help us help you by doing your research first!)

Read the drug profiles and search previous posts in the forums before you post a new question. It saves time and will help you get a better answer. It’s not just a matter of etiquette; it’s also practical.

Research is faster!

The odds are that your question is not all that unique. The same questions crop up for everybody at different points in our AS learning curve, so somebody has probably asked--and answered--you question (or a very similar one) at least once before.

If it has been asked before, you are in luck--do a drug profiles and you get an immediate answer, no need to wait for a reply!

It will frequently get you a better answer.

The people here on this discussion board are generous in sharing their knowledge, but nobody wants to waste their time answering the same questions over-and-over. If it has been ‘discussed to death’ already and you post it AGAIN, the ‘experts’ will ignore the post, thus your question will not get the answer you want! (Somebody who asked the same question before, however, did get the answer and you would have found it if you had done a search.)

An additional bonuses for doing your research:

When you do research before posting a question, you gain additional background information and perspective that will help you ask better questions when you post.

You also develop a better reputation on the board if you ask “smart questions.”

2) Write a good subject line!

With hundreds of new posts a day, nobody can read all the posts. A good subject line is far more likely to get the attention of the person who has the information you need.

I can't emphasize this enough: A good subject line helps insure that the people you want to read your post WILL read it! Alternatively, a bad subject line almost always means that your post will be skipped by the majority of the people readinghte board.

Take a moment and make sure you write a good subject line --it is the single biggest factor in getting the attention of the people that can answer the question. Most people will only read a post if the subject line grabs their attention; if there’s nothing in the subject line to get he reader’s attention, they will skip the post. That’s just reality.

A good subject line is a complete question or statement.

Be specific about what you are asking. The more specific your subject line is, the better chance you will get the answer you need.

The worst subject lines are vague questions or statements. For example:

“Check this Out!” “Important, Please Read!” “Everybody Read This!” “Has anybody experienced this?” “Help Me!” “I Need an Expert’s Advice!” “My First Cycle” “What’s Wrong?” or the dreaded “??????”

These subject lines are too vague; they could be about almost anything. The subject line gives us no clue about the content of the message or what the question actually is. If the subject is vague, how does a person reading the forum know if the information in the message is of interest to them?

Most people just scan for interesting looking posts and skip over the vague ones and the person who has the answer, the person you want to read you post, might just cruise on by without ever knowing he has the information you desperately need!

The next worst subject lines are ones that are too broad:

“Anadrol Question!”

What is your question about Anadrol? Do you want to know if the pills you just bought are real or fake? Is the manufacturer reputable? Is Anadrol effective? Is Anadrol a dangerous? Does Anadrol have serious side effects? Is Anadrol a good choice in a ?/?/? stack?

“Need Advice on My Cycle”

Again, the question is too vague--and one that is posted all too often. What advice do you need? What steroids are you using? Is it about the stack? Dosages? When to inject? Results to expect? Is it your first or tenth cycle? Is it a question about using Anadrol & Test to bulk or Test/Deca /Winny to cut?

Here are a couple examples of specific questions that make good subject lines:

“Does Anadrol Cause Hair Loss?”
“My Second Cycle (for cutting) using Test/Deca/Winny. Suggestions?”

3) Use the body of the post to clarify your subject line and give details.

Give the reader all the details he needs to answer your question intelligently.

Often, if you write a really good subject line, you won’t even have to have anything in the body of the post. But there are many cases where the body is a good place to give extra details that can help the members give you a better response to your question.

In particular, if you want experts to give you advice on your specific situation, give them some background on yourself: your age, height, weight and body fat %, how long you have been lifting, how many cycles you have taken, any other drugs or medical conditions you have, or any other details you think might be relevant.

Here’s an example of a well thought out post to ask advice about a cycle:

“My Second Cycle (Cutting) using Test/Deca/Winny. Suggestions?”

Good subject line! Very specific. You know what the question is about--and the experts will know if it’s a question they can help with just by looking at the subject line.

The Body of your post might be something like this:

I am a 38-year-old bodybuilder with 5 years experience lifting weights. I am 6'2“, 220 lbs and 12% body fat. I have had great results on my first cycle 6 months ago (a bulking cycle, Test/Dbol for eight weeks), I gained 20 lbs and kept about 16 of that.

In my second cycle I want to put on a little more muscle, but my main goals are to achieve muscle hardness and definition and lower my BF to less than 8%. I want to be ripped!

Here the person is giving basic but critical background on himself, his experience and what goals he is trying to achieve. We need good background information to give good advice--so don’t leave it out!

My cycle plan so far is:

Test. Enathate 250mg /Week, weeks 1-10
EQ 400mg/week, weeks 1-9
Winny (Zambons) 50mg ED Weeks 8-12
Clen , 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off, ECA (Xenadrine) on the off weeks.
Clomid 24 hours after I finish the Winny.

Here he gives us the cycle he is thinking about. You can tell he has done his research before he posted because he has done a pretty good job crafting a cycle. He includes the drugs AND dosages per week or per day. That’s good!

Just saying, “what should I use for a cutting cycle?” shows that you have not done taken the time to do your research--so why should a person take the time to design a stack if you didn’t take the time to research it first? We are not here to compensate for your laziness!

Saying “I have 2 bottles of X and 3 bottles of Y and 100 tabs of Z what should I do with it?” will also get you very few answers for the same reason above.

I want to keep the dosages of steroids as low as possible (for health reasons, I am older and I don’t want to cause liver damage. Lose more hair or raise my blood pressure), however I don’t want to be so stingy that I don’t achieve my results. Are the dosages OK?

I am pretty set on the Test/Deca/Winny combo (it’s a money issue, I can get the gear very cheap) but if somebody can suggest a different stack and a good reason for switching, I am open to that suggestion.

Here he tells us what his cycle parameters and limitations are; this is very helpful. If we know money is an issue, so we can work with that!

Some specific questions I have:

I will be eating a high-protein/low-fat diet at about 2000 calories a day (300 grams of protein, the rest complex carbs). I am doing cardio four times a week @ 45 minutes a day (stationary bike). Is this good for my cutting cycle?

Should I run Clen (2 weeks on/2 weeks off) during the stack to help lose weight? If I continue the Clen after I finish the Clomid, will it help me keep my gains?

Since I am trying to lose weight and get ‘ripped’ should I focus more on doing sets of 12-15 reps to failure, or stick with my standard 6-10 reps per set?

Are there any supplements that you would recommend that might improve results or keep side effects to a minimum?

Here he lists some specific questions he wants answered. Asking specific questions is always better than asking ‘open-ended’ ones. People either know the answer to specific questions--or they don’t. If they do, they will generally answer them!

4) Make Sure Your Post is Readable!

For your sake and ours, make it easy to read! People are more likely to answer a question that is easy to read. If members can’t quickly and easily make sense of your question because you didn’t take the time to make it readable, then why should the people you are asking the question to take the time to try and understand (and answer) them?

Use proper capitalization. Forget the caps lock key! Capitalize the first letter of a new sentence, it makes reading so much easier!

Be careful about using too many abbreviations and slang terms. Not everybody gets your lingo. (Some of us farts just ain’t that hip any more!) Even if it’s an discussion between friends, maybe somebody will search on the post a year later and the terms you use might not make sense.

Take the time to look up the correct spelling for words, especially technical /chemical terms. Again, if you don’t care enough to take the time to spell it right, why should anybody take the time to answer? We have computers; we have word processors; we have spell checkers; we are all smart people with more than average drive and discipline. Surely we can spell! I often write my posts / replies in a word processor, do a spell / grammar check then cut and past to the form for posting.

Make an effort to organize your thoughts clearly. Don’t just dump your thoughts on to the computer screen, organize them. When you are finished composing the question (or a reply). Read it out loud to yourself to see if it makes sense. (That may sound hokey, but it’s an old writer’s trick that works!) A lot of wisdom is wasted when a smart person doesn’t communicate what he/she knows effectively!

A few tips on researching information before you post:

1) If you are asking a question about a specific steroid , look it up in the drug profiles section of this or another board.

Often just looking up the background info on a drug will give you the answer to your question or point you to the right information so you can answer it on your own. At the very least, it will give you the proper spelling (and some alternates, generic or standard names) and enough background knowledge to ask the question without sounding like a complete fool.

2) Write a good subject line, pick out the key words and do a search with them.

“Does Anadrol cause hair loss?” might give you keywords like “Anadrol hair loss” for a search.

3) Try searching on a few alternate but related key words.

Also try searches on “Anadrol balding” “Anadrol baldness” “Anadrol hair”

Try the searches with the generic name “Oxymetholone” instead of “Anadrol”

4) Don’t just search the forums, use all the resources you have available.

Do a search on Google. Check out a couple other good anabolic steroid web sites. There are a lot of resources at your disposal!

Finally, and probably most importantly:

5) Read the AnabolicReview.com board regularly.

You will gain a great deal of knowledge by just reading and participating in the forums here. In a month or two you will be amazed at the knowledge you will build up. On top of that, you will probably make a few friends who will go out of their way to help you when you need it.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and thanks in advance for writing a good post!

[TNT]

Originally posted by Ajax
2) Write a subject line that gets the attention of the people you want to read your post... A good subject line is a complete question or statement.

This is probably the most important thing in Ajax's guidelines.

When I shut the computer down and return to it 6-8 hours later, there may be hundreds of new posts, and that's how many of us resume from where we left off earlier: By looking at the list of new posts. And when we see hundreds of posts in front of us, you can bet that many of us read them selectively.

Especially the moderators. As everyone knows, our days are divided into several periods. Scheduling them around several parties, our time is specifically blocked out to take action on posts that have been reported, delete those that are against the rules (such as source posts and flames), and ban members. In fact, there is a quota system under which each moderator has to ban at least five members a day. All of this, of course, occurs when we're not engaged in our bizarre moderator rituals or practicing our secret mod handshakes.*

You can bet that when I see a post with the generic subject line, "?" or "Please read," I do not click on that post. (I sometimes click on the "Check this out" posts, but that's only to make sure the writer isn't posting some advertising hype or source information. If it's a typical post that doesn't have to be deleted, I then hit the Back button.)

In other words, the best answers I provide are to the best questions I read. And Ajax makes a great point about providing complete information. There is a different answer to each question, and it depends on whether you're 20 or 40 years old, whether your 5'6" and 130 lbs. or 6'2" and 250 lbs., whether you have a solid diet or workout routine, any underlying medical conditions, and what your specific goals are. Without that information, we cannot provide a complete and accurate response.
____________________________

* Yes, this entire paragraph is a joke. Mods are, however, required to have at least three college credits in warped humor.

[Cycleon]

sticky time!

[partyboynyc]

i was always wondering why, "answer my question fucko's and fuckette's" never seemed to yield the responses i was looking for.thanks brother.you're a lifesaver!!!

[Ajax]

If you guys think it's a good idea:

When you see a newbie put up a badly thought out post, point out how it fails to meet his needs and point him to this post so he can bone up on how ot make a decent post. Just cut & past the URL into the reply box and say something like:

Welcome to the board! No flame intended, but your question is a bit hard to understand and answer the way you wrote it. Read this the post below and try re-posting your question.

http://www.anabolicreview.com/vbulle...threadid=21148

[Terinox]

Damn man, that was a beautiful post!!! Wish it was here a long time ago

I hope people read this!!!

[Vegas Kid]

I knew it would only be some time before Ajax would finally snap. I'm always laughing when he tells people that their thread title sucks and then goes on to answer their q anyways cuz he's cool like that. All of his points are valid. I hate seeing the same "Important" or "Need help with cycle" threads, they usually contain the following "I'm new and want to do a cycle is this ok: 500 mg of test and some of that Winny stuff for 12 weeks.

[Little Jonah]

holy shit thats a long post.. but a good one

[The French Curler]

This is good post!

[pump man]

good info bro,it need's to be reposted!!!!!!!!!!

[maguilagorilla]

can you repeat that? j/k no really great post.

[BullDogg20]

One of the best posts i have ever read on this forum, its a very productive post man, good work

[alevok]

so can I drink winny?

[caseyviator]

i really hope people read and live by this post
no-more newbi questions!!
damm to sit a write all that out is got to be work if ya ask me,hell alota research just writtin that long instructful post.....hopefully now everyone will know how to write a good post!! SHOULD BE A STICKY........again wow!!! nice goin

[TheChosen1]

so can I drink winny?

Only with your Kool-Aid.....LOL

[Yung Wun]

Bump!!!!

[EXCESS]

Bump!!!!

You must have read chapter 6 of the Post Whore's Handbook: Bump a sticky.

[Yung Wun]

You must have read chapter 6 of the Post Whore's Handbook: Bump a sticky.

i didnt even realize this was a sticky, i ran a search cause i remembered this post when i first joined AR. i thought it could be a good refresher, but see u cant blame me. i dont come in this section that often.

P.S your going down in fantasy football

[BigMike J]

thought this could use a little bump

[BeefCakeStew]

Great post. Bump

[Money Boss Hustla]

Great post. Bump

You just bumped a sticky!? Haha.

[19inchpythons]

thanks for the advice man

[XxElitexX]

bump again

[tobii3]

So if I ask a question about how to start a cycle after being off for over 7 years.......

[itsdarock]

So if I ask a question about how to start a cycle after being off for over 7 years.......

you'll be thrown into the gates of hell just kiddin

[OldPLer]

From a newbie, thanks. Now if I can just remember all that when I post. Ha

[TADOLFI]

Worth a bump....

Flame me if you wish.

[*Narkissos*]

bump..

[Kale]

Excellent bump, this should be a sticky !!!

[fatrock]

great post everyone needs a little freshening up

[HSFootball]

im new. sorry guys but how do you make a post?

[bigpuppy]

well first of all i am 5 ft 7 inches and weigh 135.male trying to gain size and fastest way possible.i want to do steriods .but dont no if i should cycle on a couple or just one. iam 29 an test sounds good what should i try.

[Kale]

well first of all i am 5 ft 7 inches and weigh 135.male trying to gain size and fastest way possible.i want to do steriods.but dont no if i should cycle on a couple or just one. iam 29 an test sounds good what should i try.

Go here http://forums.steroid.com/anabolic-steroids-questions-answers/ click on New Thread and ask your question there. You will not get an answer here !!!

[ddiggler]

now iam scared to ask a question.but very good info

[Adam F]

Great post Deserves another bump for sure

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