skillissue.lol

× Don't do this

spoodyz

2:15 PM

hi, my code isn't working

Avery

2:19 PM

hi spoody! what specifically isn't working? what are you trying to do?

spoodyz

2:20 PM

the login function, I click and nothing happens

Avery

2:20 PM

Any error messages? What have you tried so far?

2:21 PM

use chatgpt plz

Note that spoodyz could have got their answer minutes sooner, and needn't have kept Avery waiting. In fact, Avery could have started thinking about the question right away!

People who do this are generally trying to be polite by not jumping right into the request, like one would in person or on the phone - and that's great! But it's 2025 and chat is neither of those things. For most people, typing is much slower than talking. So despite best intentions, you're actually just making the other person wait for you to phrase your question, which is lost productivity (and kinda annoying).

The same goes for:

"It's not working"
"I'm getting an error"
"Something's wrong with my code"
"Can someone help me?"
"Is anyone available?"

Do this instead

spoodyz

2:15 PM

Hi, I'm trying to implement user authentication but when I click the login button nothing happens. I'm getting this error in the console: "TypeError: Cannot read property 'value' of null". I've checked my form IDs but can't figure out what's wrong. Here's my code: document.getElementById('login').value

Avery

2:16 PM

That error means the element with ID 'login' doesn't exist in your HTML. Double-check that you have an element with exactly that ID.

When asking for technical help, include:

What you're trying to accomplish
What's happening instead
Specific error messages (copy and paste them exactly)
What you've already tried
Relevant code snippets
Your environment (browser, OS, versions)

Level up your debugging skills

Next time you encounter a problem, take a moment to gather all the necessary information before asking for help. Your future self (and everyone trying to help you) will thank you.