Frequently Asked Questions

How do I ask a question?

Once you’ve joined, just type in your question (and the topics that describe it) and press “Ask Fluther”. Here’s a good example:

Question

Be specific: How deep should I plant my summer squash?

Details

Add depth: I have a small garden in Northern Vermont, and my summer squash have never grown well. What should I do?

Adding a description is optional.

Topics

Use commas: Los Angeles, cooking, horticulture

Fluther Guidelines

Fluther is a collective of people sharing answers, insights, and advice. Please respect the time and energy of the people in the community.

Browsing the site is the easiest way to get a sense of our culture and of what kinds of questions and answers are appropriate.

Well-written, genuine questions provoke the best and most thoughtful answers.

Our trusty moderators will remove anything that is:

  • Tragically misspelled
  • Totally open-ended or poorly thought out
  • Trolling (or thinly masked propaganda)
  • Self-promotional (No peddling, promos, or marketing)
  • Egocentric attention-grabbing
  • Hateful, abusive, or bigoted
  • Deceitful
  • Vague, confusing, or generally non-sensical
  • A personal attack
  • Off-topic chatter or an inside joke
  • Excessive txtspeak ("ZOMG r u 4 real?!?!?!!? LOL")

Of course, we also remove the obvious stuff:

  • Illegal content
  • Spam, or anything that smells like it
  • Pornography or obscenity (R-Rated is okay, just keep it tasteful)

Banning

If we believe that a user has consistently or flagrantly acted against these guidelines, we may ban that user from Fluther.

Asking Great Questions

Here are some tips to help you get the best responses and earn the respect of the collective:

  • Be Specific

    • "Who likes Saabs?" isn't nearly as productive as "Why will my 1994 Saab only start when it's out of gear?"

  • Be Genuine

    • We understand that some people want to ask a question just to see how Fluther works. However, having hundreds of questions like "What's 1+1?" brings down the quality of the site. Please ask questions that you really want people to answer.

  • Add Great Topics

    • Topics are the backbone of Fluther's matching technology, so adding the appropriate topics will ensure your questions go to the right people. For example, the question "How can I help my parents adopt a healthier diet?" might have topics like food, health, diet, family.

Of course, when all else fails just remember to respect the collective and use common sense.

p.s. In case you’re looking for it: here are our terms and conditions.
Have questions or suggestions about these guidelines? Let us know.

Markup

We use a limited version of Textile for markup in questions, comments and responses. Here’s the list of markup options:

Phrase Markup

  • _emphasis_ → emphasis
  • *strong* → strong
  • --whisper-- → whisper
  • -strikeout- → strikeout

Links

  • "link":http://www.fluther.com → link

You can also use shortcuts for Google, Amazon, and imdb. Just remember to use brackets for multiple keywords:

Punctuation

  • "quotes" → “quotes”
  • 'quotes' → ‘quotes’
  • it's → it’s
  • em -- dash → em — dash
  • en - dash → en – dash
  • 2 x 4 → 2 × 4
  • foo(tm) → foo™
  • foo(r) → foo®
  • foo(c) → foo©