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How do i ask a Minecraft Question as to avoid being downvoted/closed.
Here on Arqade we expect a certain degree of research effort when it comes to asking questions as with any StackExchange Site. Below is a guide to hopeful help you in knowing what to look for, where to look, and how to ask question relating to Minecraft.
If your question is not about Minecraft crashing, see further below for information not pertaining to crashes.
When Minecraft Crashes the first thing you need to do is investigate as to why it crashed. If you ask a question like
Minecraft has crashed while i was playing, HELP ME!
it won't be well received (downvoted and/or put on hold/closed). We need much more information than this. The following paragraphs provide an overview of how to get that information, either to help yourself, or for us to help you.
The first thing you should do is chase up your Minecraft Crash Dump. Hopefully you should be present with the following screen
What information does a Minecraft crash dump contain on its own?
As explained in the answer in the link above, this file can have a lot of useful information. While it can be overwhelming and a confusing read if you are not experienced, you can sometime diagnose the problem yourself by looking though here.
You can fine the crash dump at
Windows 7/XP/Vista: %appdata%/.minecraft
Windows 8.x/10: Users/<Username>/AppData/Roaming/.minecraft
Linux: ~/.minecraft/
Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft
Library is normally hidden, you can use ⌘+↑+G to access it
The first thing you should do is compare the error you got to this list. If you can find your error, do a quick Google search in order to see if a solution has already been found.
Another thing you can do is to compare some information found in your crash dump to what you were expecting. For example:
If they do not then investigating these issues first before asking a question, likewise using Google.
You should also check out the Mojang's Support Page and Mojang's Official Issue Tracker if you are playing an unmodded version of Minecraft. It's possible that your bug is an existing problem or may have been fixed already.
Still haven't fixed it? Now it's time to look here on Arqade! But once again, before you ask a new question, use Arqade's own search function in the top right corner of the page (Take care to use the one on the main (blue) site, not the one here on the META (grey) site). Google is not all-powerful, so this might just solve your problem. Some commonly asked and answered questions are:
If your question still hasn't been answered then it's time to ask a new question.
How do I ask a good Minecraft Bug/Crash question?
The above link is what we expect from any question. If you have a crash dump, some of the points in the link are already present (Mod List, Minecraft Version), but the more information you provide the better. Not all bugs/crashes have a crash dump (e.g. a player skin not loading correctly).
Installing Mods into versions of Minecraft much newer than what the mod recommends (e.g. a mod says it's for version 1.6 and you run it in 1.8)
Running a Pre-Release version, these are in-development releases meant to help make the next proper release more stable, mods are normally not made to run with these versions and even Vanilla Minecraft can be prone to crashing.
Be Patient. Arqade's users are all over the world and not everyone is on at the same time.
Minecraft is a huge game and some people are more knowledgeable of the inner workings. Before asking a general knowledge Minecraft question review the Minecraft Gamepedia Wiki.
This will contain information on blocks, how Redstone Circuits work and what is different between minecraft, minecraft-console and minecraft-pocket-edition.
It also has a comprehensive list of what has been fixed in Development Releases and what has been added.
Of course we don't expect you to have memorized the entire wiki but sometimes, a quick wiki search will help you answer your question yourself.
Also remember to do a search for existing questions before asking a new one. Some commonly asked questions are:
If you are thinking of asking Recommendation Questions, Questions which would be primarily Opinion Based or Questions that are too localized ie.
Then it may be better to Ask in the Minecraft Chat Room, of course, just like any other StackExchange Chat Room you'll need the Privilege to be able to post (you can view what's in the chat room regardless of rep)
minecraft is generally used for PC Minecraft Questions. If you are running minecraft-pocket-edition or minecraft-console and use the wrong tag you may not end up getting an answer that will work for you.
Be Patient. Arqade's users are all over the world and not everyone is on at the same time.
