Guidelines for posting software support questions

We love hearing from users of our software, even when things aren’t working quite as expected. Here are some guidelines for creating an effective post and getting timely software support.

  1. Use the search tool on this forum to see if anyone else has encountered the same issue, maybe there’s already a solution available.

  1. If searching did not turn up a solution, create a “New Topic” and choose the “Software Support” category.

  1. Choose a descriptive title, maybe include the name of the model or software library you’re using, and a phrase describing the problem or error.
  • :x: Bad: “Carbon model error”
  • :green_heart: Good: “IndexError: index 6 is out of bounds for axis 1 with size 5”
  • :x: Bad: “Help with SDR outputs”
  • :green_heart: Good: “Stream-like blank areas would appear in the output of the SDR module”
  1. In your post, give as many details as possible about solutions you have already tried, or the information you are looking for. Single sentence posts like “please help me with …” are not productive.

  2. If you’re asking about an InVEST model issue, always upload the logfile from the model’s output Workspace (the file with a long name that ends in .txt). Use the “Upload” button to do this when creating a topic.

  3. If someone responds with a solution, consider marking their post as the solution using the ... button next to Reply. If you encounter a new unrelated issue, please create an New Topic for the new issue. That makes it easier for others to find later.

Keep It Tidy

Make the effort to put things in the right place, so that we can spend more time discussing and less time cleaning up. So:

  • Don’t start a topic in the wrong category.
  • Don’t cross-post the same thing in multiple topics.
  • Don’t post no-content replies.
  • Don’t divert a topic by changing it midstream.

Thanks for posting!

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