svn commit: r795336 - /websites/staging/jena/trunk/content/jena/help_and_support/index.html

[bu...@apache.org]

Author: buildbot
Date: Mon Sep  5 22:36:57 2011
New Revision: 795336

Log:
Staging update by buildbot

Modified:
    websites/staging/jena/trunk/content/jena/help_and_support/index.html

Modified: websites/staging/jena/trunk/content/jena/help_and_support/index.html
==============================================================================
--- websites/staging/jena/trunk/content/jena/help_and_support/index.html (original)
+++ websites/staging/jena/trunk/content/jena/help_and_support/index.html Mon Sep  5 22:36:57 2011
@@ -123,7 +123,65 @@
 
   <div id="content">
     <h1 class="title">Getting help with Jena</h1>
-    
+    <p>We are always happy to help you get your Jena project going. Jena has been around
+for many years, there are many archives of past questions, tutorials and articles
+on the web. A quick search may well answer your question directly! If not, please
+feel free to post a question to the user support list (details below).</p>
+<h2 id="email_support_lists">Email support lists</h2>
+<p>The <em>main user support list</em> is <code>jena-users@incubator.apache.org</code>. To join this
+list, please send an email to: <a href="mailto:jena-users-subscribe@incubator.apache.org">
+<code>jena-users-subscribe@incubator.apache.org</code></a> from the email account you want
+to subscribe with. This list is a good place to ask for advice on developing Jena-based
+applications, or solving  a problem with using Jena. <em>Please see below for notes
+on asking good questions</em>. The list is archived at
+<a href="http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox#incubating">mail-archives.apache.org</a> or
+<a href="http://markmail.org/search/?q=list:org.apache.incubator.jena-*">markmail.org</a></p>
+<p>The <em>developers</em> list is <code>jena-deval@incubator.apache.org</code>. To join this
+list, please send an email to: <a href="mailto:jena-dev-subscribe@incubator.apache.org">
+<code>jena-dev-subscribe@incubator.apache.org</code></a> from the email account you want
+to subscribe with. This list is a good place to discuss the development of the Jena
+platform itself, including patches you want to submit.</p>
+<h2 id="other_channels">Other channels</h2>
+<p>Some Jena developers hang out on <code>#jena</code> on <code>irc.freenode.net</code>.</p>
+<h2 id="other_resources">Other resources</h2>
+<p>The <strong>old</strong> Jena users list was <code>jena-dev@yahoogroups.com</code>. Please use the above lists
+in preference to the old list. The
+<a href="http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/jena-dev/">archives of the old list are available</a>.</p>
+<p>There are curated collections of Jena questions on <a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/jena">StackOverflow</a>
+and <a href="http://answers.semanticweb.com/tags/jena/">answers.semanticweb.com</a>.</p>
+<h2 id="how_to_ask_a_good_question">How to ask a good question</h2>
+<p>Asking good questions is <strong>the best way to get good answers</strong>. Try to follow these tips:</p>
+<ul>
+<li>
+<p>Make the question <strong>precise</strong> and <strong>specific</strong>. <em>"My code doesn't work"</em>, for example, does not help us to help you
+  as much as <em>"The following SPARQL query gave me an answer I didn't expect"</em>.</p>
+</li>
+<li>
+<p>Show that you've <strong>tried to solve the problem yourself</strong>. Everyone who answers questions on the list
+  has a full-time job or study to do; no-one gets paid for answering these support questions. Spend
+  their goodwill wisely: <em>"Here's the code I tried..."</em> or <em>"I read in the documentation that ..."</em> shows that
+  you've at least made some effort to find things out for yourself.</p>
+</li>
+<li>
+<p>Where appropriate <strong>show a complete test case</strong>. Seeing where your code goes wrong is generally
+  much easier if we can run it our our computers. Corollaries: <strong>don't post your entire project</strong> - take some
+  time to reduce it down to a minimal test case. <strong>Include enough data</strong> - runnable code is no help if
+  critical resources like <code>*.rdf</code> files are missing. Reducing your code down to a minimal test case
+  is often enough for you to figure out the problem yourself, which is always satisfying!</p>
+</li>
+<li>
+<p><strong>Don't re-post your question</strong> after only a few hours. People are busy, and may be in a different timezone
+  to you. If you're not sure if your question made it to the list, <a href="http://markmail.org/search/?q=list:org.apache.incubator.jena-*">look in the archive</a>.</p>
+</li>
+<li>
+<p><strong>Adding lots of exclamation marks</strong> or other punctuation will <strong>not</strong> move your question up the queue. Quite the
+  reverse, in fact.</p>
+</li>
+<li>
+<p>Ask questions <strong>on the list, rather than emailing the developers directly</strong>. This gives us the chance to share the
+  load of answering questions, and also ensures that answers are archived in case they're of use to others in the future.</p>
+</li>
+</ul>
   </div>
 
   <div id="footer">