Helping people online

A helpful post by Ned Batchelder on how to overcome the communication limitations of the internet and actually help people:

Helping people online is difficult. We expect technical questions and discussions, but everyone involved are just people, so it doesn’t always go smoothly. There’s no way to guarantee a good outcome, but there are things we as helpers can do to improve the interactions.

The highlights:

1. Answer the question first
2. No third rails
3. No dog-piling
4. Meet their level
5. Say yes
6. Avoid absolutes
7. Step back
8. Take some blame
9. Use more words
10. Understand your motivations
11. Humility
12. Make connections
13. It’s hard