"It doesn't work."

Every now and then, in chat rooms, support channels, and forums, someone shows up and says:

user123: it doesn't work

or maybe,

user123: my code is broken, can anyone help?

This is bad form. What doesn't work? Broken how? What were you expecting to happen? What actually happened instead?

The person asking has all of this context in their head. But the people they're asking have none of it. "It doesn't work" gives helpers nothing to go on. It's like calling a doctor and saying "I feel bad" and expecting a diagnosis.

What the person is really communicating is:

user123: I have a problem but I haven't put in the effort to
		  describe it clearly, so I'd like whoever helps me
		  to figure out what the problem even is before they
		  can begin to solve it.

People who might otherwise help will skip past because there's nothing to grab onto. A vague question turns a five-minute fix into a fifteen-message back-and-forth just to establish what the problem actually is.

What to do instead

Before sending, take a moment to answer:

• What exactly did you do?
• What did you expect to happen?
• What actually happened instead?
• What error message or output did you get?
• What have you already tried?
• Can you share a screenshot, a link, or an example?

Here's the same problem, sent properly:

user123: Hey — I'm getting a 403 Forbidden when uploading to
		  my S3 bucket. The bucket is public and my IAM role
		  has s3:PutObject. Here's the full error:

  AccessDenied: Access Denied
	at Request.extractError (...)

  I've checked the bucket policy and it looks right to me.
  Has anyone run into this?

This takes two minutes to write and makes it much more likely someone can help you — often without needing to ask a single follow-up.

Screenshots and error messages

If something looks wrong visually, attach a screenshot. Don't describe it as "the button looks weird" when you can just show it.

If there's an error message, paste the full text. Not "it says something about null." The exact message, verbatim. Error messages exist precisely so people can read them and help you.

Why this matters

When you write a clear, specific question, you respect other people's time — and you're far more likely to get a fast, useful answer.

So before you hit send: describe the problem as if you're explaining it to someone who has never seen your screen and has no idea what you're working on. Because that's exactly who you're asking.