What is a good forum question?
A good forum question gives people enough information to actually help you. Vague questions waste everyone’s time — including yours.
Here’s what makes a good question (and avoids common mistakes):
Be Specific About Versions
- Always include the exact Umbraco version number (e.g., 14.0.2, not just Umbraco 14).
- If you’re not on the latest patch of that major version, the first answer you’ll get is: “Update to the latest patch”. Many bugs are already fixed there.
Describe What You’re Trying to Do
- What was your goal?
- What did you try?
- What actually happened?
- What did you expect to happen?
- Include error messages verbatim (copy-paste them, don’t paraphrase).
Show, Don’t Just Tell
- Screenshots and short screen recordings can save a lot of back-and-forth.
- But: always describe what’s happening too. Images alone aren’t searchable and might not explain the problem.
Be Precise with Code
- If code is involved, paste a minimal, reproducible example.
- Format your code properly. Walls of unformatted text are difficult to read
- Don’t paste huge files; focus on the part where the problem is.
Search First, Then Ask
- Check if your question has been asked (and answered) before.
- If you found something similar but it didn’t help, say so and explain why.
Example: Bad Question vs Good Question
 Bad Question |
 Good Question |
|---|---|
| “My Umbraco site is broken after updating. Please help.” | "After updating my site to Umbraco 13.3.1, I’m getting a NullReferenceException when trying to save a content node. This happens in the backoffice when clicking ‘Save and Publish’. |
| (No version info, no details, vague problem) | It was working fine in 13.2.0. I’ve checked the logs and found this stack trace: [stack trace here]. I’ve also tried clearing the cache and restarting the app, no change. |
| Expected: The content should save without error. | |
| Actual: The page shows an error notification and nothing is saved. | |
| Environment: Running locally on Windows, SQL Server backend, no custom packages. | |
| (Screenshots of the error and stack trace attached) |
Why is this better?
- The good question gives the exact version.
- Describes what is being done when the error happens.
- Provides error messages and logs.
- Shares what they tried already.
- Gives the environment context.
- Provides evidence (screenshots).
This saves the helpers from having to ask more and more questions from you to be able to help/
In summary
A good forum question is like writing a bug report: version, context, steps to reproduce, expected vs actual result, and evidence (screenshots, code, errors). The better you ask, the faster you’ll get useful answers.
this item was written with the help of AI