# Respect

If you are asking others for the favour of help, you need to understand it is exactly that: a favour. You are not entitled to priority. You must always be grateful to those who attempt to help you, don't be rude or heckle them, no matter how frustrated you become.

***

## Effort

You should always do your due diligence and try to solve an issue on your own. If you ask for help and it looks like you haven't debugged or tried anything on your own, that's the first thing you'll be told to do.

{% hint style="info" %}
See the [Errors](/syntask/issues/errors.md) and [Debugging](/syntask/issues/debugging.md) pages to learn how to solve errors and debug your code.
{% endhint %}

The people volunteering their time are there to help, but they are not here to regurgitate what's available in tutorials or the documentation, especially if you've refused to look through these resources. They are also not here to debug your code for you. Always do your own research and debugging prior to asking for assistance.

{% hint style="success" %}
See the [Documentation & Wikis page](/syntask/resources/documentation-and-wikis.md) and the [Debugging page](/syntask/issues/debugging.md) and the [Errors page](/syntask/issues/errors.md) to look for ways to work on something yourself.
{% endhint %}

***

## Patience

All peer-help is strictly volunteer-run. The helpers are all volunteers. They are there because they want to be. They do this because they want to. But that also means they do it *when* they want to. Others are not obligated to help you, much less are they to drop what they are doing and treat you as their number-one priority.

These wonderful people are, shockingly, people. They have lives of their own, and thus will not be available 100% of the time, or instantly available. If someone doesn't solve your issue or respond immediately, accept that they are busy, and be patient.

The world does not revolve around you or this issue. You will be helped when someone has the time to sit down and look through your code. If you have put yourself in a situation where you are racing against time, that is a result of your own actions. You should not take that out on others, or unfairly expect them to sacrifice their own schedule to accommodate for your mistake.

### Notifications

Understanding that most people will be busy throughout the day, you should also be able to understand that notifications can be interruptive and irritating, especially during something important.

{% hint style="info" %}
Some people say that notifications are a part of social media, and that you must live with them. While there is some truth to this, not every message needs attention immediately.

If you have a cell phone, does that mean someone can call you every five minutes? In the middle of the night? Obviously you wouldn't like that. Say what you need to, and then wait for a response.
{% endhint %}

If someone asks you not to DM or ping them, you shouldn't. No matter how important your issue may seem, it is not worth disrupting another's life. If you continue after being asked to stop you are being inconsiderate—there's no debating that.

{% hint style="warning" %}
The reply feature on Discord will automatically ping people. To disable this, hold shift before replying, or toggle the ping with the button right above the message bar.
{% endhint %}

***

## Lobbying

Do not privately message people for help. If someone is willing to help they will come by your thread or post. Besides, by working on your issue in private messages, you lose the advantage of peer-help: numerous perspectives & inputs. No-one is perfect, and one person may miss what another won't.

You should also not beg others to help you, especially in others' posts. Wait patiently for your turn and help.

***

## Initiative

Don't be a nuisance; repeatedly asking what you should do next when it was already laid out for you is pointless. If someone outlined certain steps and you haven't yet completed them all, do those before asking how to move forwards. Only ask for assistance if you have completed all suggestions and the issue persists, or you need clarification on a certain step. Asking others to repeat what they already said is impolite, especially when you can just scroll up and re-read their messages.

Sometimes people also will ask if the tweaked or improved code would work. While you may be unsure, you could always try it. Trying it is the only way to know for sure, and is faster than bugging someone. This happens so often in programming communities someone purchased a domain to host this clip: [tryitands.ee](https://tryitands.ee). (Original from [Bill Wurtz's YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/user/billwurtz))


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