Hiya, I think you might find this Rules Rountable interesting and some time ago I made a similar thread as well:)
The Roundtable Luke linked is a good one, but make sure to also check out this one, and most importantly this one, which I'll repost here as the whole thing is archived.
###Making Not Dumb Questions More Not Dumber
So far we've been looking at common pitfalls to questions, but now let's talk about how to avoid them, and how to make your questions really stand out! Asking good questions can often be harder than asking not dumb ones, but to return to Carl Sagan, a little self-criticism can go a long way.
To reiterate from the earlier installment, our rules are quite broad when it comes to how they are phrased, but if you ask most any flaired user on the subreddit, they will tell you that they get the most enjoyment out of answering questions where they feel that the Question Asker cares about the answer. Obviously people aren't coming to this subreddit because they don't want their question answered, but putting a bit of time and thought can greatly improve a question, both helping to make your question get noticed in the first place, as well as sound interesting to a potential respondent. While there is always an element of chance, both from experience and observation, these are a few things that we hope users will keep in mind when asking their questions!
###AskHistorians Helps Those Who Help Themselves
Before you ask your question, put some thought into it! Consider the pitfalls detailed before and use a bit of self-criticism to evaluate what you are asking and what you have written. Do just a couple minutes of research and see if you can build a fuller picture of what you're asking about. Think about how you are framing your question, and what lead you to ask it as you write out the title and the body. None of the following are rule requirements for the sub, but they are suggestions from the mod team based on years of seeing questions both succeed and fail:
####Premises
As we explored in the last installment, we don't usually remove falsely premised questions, nor questions which are seeking basic facts. But this doesn't mean you should necessarily settle for that! Rather than, say, asking "What is the oldest building in the world?", do some quick searches, and perhaps ask a question about Barnenez Mound in France or Knap of Howar in Scotland. It appeals more to the interest of respondents, and also helps them formulate a better response.
####Titles
The most important thing is the title of course! The best titles put forward a clear question that will tell a potential respondent not just what you want to know, but the period and place you are looking for (Who, What, When, Where). If you have multiple sub-questions, it is usually better throw those in the body of the post rather than fill the title to the character limit. A few examples of good titles:
During World War II, how successful were Japanese codebreakers at deciphering American communications?
What was the reasoning behind the Western Roman Empire’s decision to allow such massive German immigration?
How did Anthony Comstock become such a powerful figure that his name became a verb?
After opening their borders to foreign trade in 1633, why did Japan change course and close them again only a few years later?
And some less than stellar examples:
*Even if the body text includes information to narrow it down and thus avoid breaking the "Example Seeking" Rule, the title doesn’t advertise what you are asking! The title should convey what you are asking about. Similar common mistakes such as "Is my friend wrong about this?", or one that gives a general sense of the topic without a specific question - "Status of women in Athens during the 'Golden Age'" - are also advised against.
This is the opposite direction! A cluttered list of questions that should have been in the body, with only the first one being the title by itself!
While we are understanding of the fact English isn’t everyone’s first language, attempting to use proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation can make a big difference.
Remember, the title of the question is the first thing people see, so making it a good one is the most important step!
####Body
So you have an awesome title for your post, but you can still add some body text. It is by no means required to do so, especially if you have a nice clear title, but if you have any background information - Why you are interested in the question, what you have already learned about the topic, relevant image, etc. - or if you have subquestions to include, this is the place for them! To use one of the example titles, a good body text for the first question might be:
So I recently read about the Battle of Midway and how the US intelligence played such a key role in the fleet being ready to take on the Japanese. It got me wondering how successful the Japanese were in their own efforts. So a few questions on the matter I’d love to see answered!
- Were the Japanese able to break the American codes?
- If so, how aware were the Americans of this fact?
- Did they enjoy any success against other Allies powers in the Pacific, such as the UK or the Netherlands?
- Were there any notable successes in the war that could be attributed to their code breaking?
These all can help the person answering the question get a much better sense of what you are asking, and also, as noted before, they help demonstrate that you've put time and effort into crafting the question as well. Those are qualities that make a flair, or any respondent, more interested in answering a question! Answers which go beyond a simple recitation of facts, or make the writer think about their topic are the ones which warm a flair's cockles.
####Keywords
While this rehashes much of what we’ve already gone over, as some of you know, many of the flaired users on this site subscribe to an alert system that will tell them if a question has shown up in their field! It works by doing periodic searches for words or phrases that they have specified. So if you are asking about the Civil War, make sure that you have “Civil War” in the title or the body of the post. Again, as a rule of thumb, “Who, What, When, Where” should all be readily apparent to the reader and any potential respondent (unless of course one is totally not applicable). Use of common scopes for location and period, as explained here, can be very useful in this respect.
###Come Again?
OK Mr. Speedreader, to recap... We try our best not to police how people ask questions, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't put some thought into your questions anyways. Poorly thought out questions often don't get attention, or else don't lead to quality answers. Taking the time to think about a question before posting it can often do a lot of good, so always make sure to think about the “Who, What, When, Where” of your question.
Tell why you're asking, or what made you think of the question! I'm happy to tailor the answer to general interest level and background. If you're asking a question about eunuchs because you saw a certain show on TV, I'm going to answer it a lot differently than if you've read 9 academic articles this weekend and you still don't totally understand how masculine identity was constructed around generative power in Renaissance Italy in the context of contemporary medical understanding. Sometimes I'll assume you are coming from an entirely higher state of background knowledge on a subject and commenters will reply like "WHOA whoa back up." Likewise, I don't have unlimited time and I don't want to type my little fingers off telling you things you already know. So help me out by giving me a clue if we should start in the standing pool blowing bubbles, or if I can lead you right up to that high dive and push you off. As it were. :)
Ask specific questions. "Europe" is a big place; this answer I gave on plague care only focuses on a few select cities in Italy. I have no idea if that's what the asker was interested in.
Tell me where you got your question from, or at least clearly state what it is you're confused about. If I know what you've been reading, I can better formulate an answer. In this answer on a renaissance actress I only realize after my first post that the asker seems to equate performing before high society is the same thing as being a regular member of high society.
Do not submit an answer without a willingness to change your preconceived notions. In this astoundingly long thread, the asker keeps going back to the notion that his ancestor must have been fighting alongside the Normans, and doesn't seem to care about my explanations on economic, social, and political ties between Sicily and Greece.