[Droid X General] infazzdar:
XDA depends on posts and threads. Making decent posts and threads is key to helping someone out and making XDA a much better place to be.

The original guide can be found here.

However, I am going to edit a few of these points to better associate it with XDA and forums in general.

To restate, this is not of my creation, and I highly recommend reading the original before reading this thread.

Stephen King has made a career of writing thousand-page-long books about ancient evils haunting divorced writers in Maine that are rich in detail to help the reader get absorbed with the story.

However – spoiler warning – you are not Stephen King. Thus, just because you write a wall of text that doesn’t mean people are going to read it. In fact, it’s a great way to get your post sent directly to the rubbish bin…

Keep it short and simple. Write it like you would a Tweet, but with better grammar. And pay attention to those squiggly lines – with today’s technology there’s no excuse for bad spelling. Remember in school when they taught you about paragraphs? Use them!

RULE 2: White Space is your Friend.

Along with short and simple, be sure to include white space. Separate your 3 main parts with double spacing. The words themselves aren’t always as important as your formatting and it being easy to read. Think of a sign or a movie poster. Does it convey the information quickly and clearly? Or is it a mess?

RULE 3: Who you are. What you do. What you want.

This is the most important part. 9 times out of 10 you’re not just responding to a thread to say “I love your work” but because you want something. Therefore you need to be very clear about this in your post and not get bogged down in detail.

Your post should include 3 things: your firmware/rom version, your kernel, and what you want. Follow these simple things, and write them with ONE LINE EACH:

1) Your firmware/rom version: MIUI 2.8.28? AOKP Milestone 5?

2) Your kernel and version: Franco 241, Faux 19b6, also include what recovery you are using.

3) What you want. Don’t be afraid to ask because the person already assumes you want something. Just write it as plain and simply as possible. There should be no question as to what you want – one problem with a wall of text is the person might not understand what exactly you’re asking for. Also, search as much as possible before posting.

However you should be somewhat specific, ie, “What are differences between rom X and rom Y?” instead of “What rom is the best?” Roms are different for everyone, so you should really try what you think will fit you best.

Finally, add a brief thanks. I usually include this with the request line, to keep the entire post 3 lines long.

Also, hitting the thanks button when someone answers your post/question is much kinder than just saying "thanks".

Some final tips:

Never post a question you could have researched on your own, especially if it’s outside the expertise of the person. Example: “I see you’ve never modded a rom or theme. How would I go about doing that?” How would I know? I’ve never done it!

Use correct spelling and grammar. Nothing says “I don’t take care in what I do / I can’t afford what I’m asking for” like bad spelling. Also the first word of sentences should be capitalized.

Your first post is a request – not a discussion – so skip the fine details until they reply. A billboard for Pepsi doesn’t list all the ingredients.

A good signature line, with your name, title, company, contact info. Even if it’s made up, it looks official and you’re taken more seriously.

Once again, this guide is not mine, but is taken from the above link and edited to fit XDA.