Frequently Asked Questions


The following set of questions offers some basic information about our website. Please read this before posting questions or answers if you are unfamiliar with this sort of community interaction. Click on any question to see or hide the answer.
What kinds of questions does answers.informer.com tackle?
Your question should be related to computer software in some way, or at least imply a software-based solution. Your question should be written in English.

Before you ask, please be sure to search for a similar question. You can search for questions by their title or tags.
What is a good Title for a question?
It's a good idea to provide a shortened version of your question or problem in that field and include some keywords in it. Titles like "Photoshop for Mac crashes upon loading any custom brush set" are preferable to overly generalized questions like "Problem with Photoshop".
What are those Tags under my question?
These are the keywords that other people will use to find your question. E.g. if your question is related to the Mac version of iTunes, it may be a good idea to include "osx" or "mac" as one of the tags and "itunes" as another.

Tags should be separated with single spaces.

Complex terms consisting of several words (this includes specific versions of software) should be hyphenated to be treated as one tag: "internet-explorer", "macbook-pro", "microsoft-office-2007", "windows-7".
What should I avoid in my questions?
  • Avoid asking questions that are not related to our community, are too subjective or controversial.
  • Avoid writing your questions in ALL CAPS or displaying excessive emotional distress (either verbally or via excessive amounts of "?" and "!" throughout your question).
  • Don't ask your question in any language other than English.
  • Avoid asking for illegitimate downloads, serial keys, cracks, etc. of copyrighted software or encouraging their distribution.
  • Do not include too much personal info in your question. Providing your full name is usually fine, but be sure to keep your e-mail address, location, and telephone number secret.
  • Do not provide links to third-party resources. Your links should point either to informer.com domains or to websites held by the developers or copyright holders of the software in question.
  • Avoid using, referring to, or even implying obscenity of any kind.
  • Avoid questions related to adult-themed software.
  • Try not to sound disrespectful, patronizing, or opinionated.
  • Avoid promoting specific software products in your question, or forcing others to promote a particular product in their answers, without providing genuinely useful advice or insight. Questions like 'How do I install X?' or 'Where do I find Y?' are often regarded as spam - especially if their implied answers don't go beyond 'Run setup.exe and see what happens.'
How do I improve my chances of getting an answer?
  • Be sure to use the "More information" field to provide as much relevant info as possible. This usually includes: bug reports, crash logs, error codes, software versions, system configuration, description of what you've already tried and know to be of no use, etc. Providing screenshots is also known to help.
  • Be reasonably specific in your question title. People don't tend to click on general-sounding questions to see if there's more info in them; they usually just skip those questions.
  • Make sure your tags cover all the topics pertaining to your question.
  • Spare a minute to check your question for grammar and format it properly.
What should I avoid in my answers?
For the most part, follow the same rules as when you're asking a question.

Remember that answers.informer.com is a website for asking questions and getting answers; and it is not a discussion group. Please avoid encouraging debates with your answers. For brief discussions (or if you want to thank someone for their answer), please use comments, not answers.

Also, avoid so-called piggybacking: don't post things like "I have the same problem!" or follow-up questions as answers to a question.
Is there anything special about those questions listed as Interesting?
The "Interesting" tab on the main page shows recent questions that have been checked by our editors and marked as noteworthy. While we cannot possibly assert that those questions will seem interesting to you in particular, you can be sure that these questions are properly worded and can indeed be answered without too much fishing for additional info.

Note that answering a question listed in the "Interesting" tab will give you twice as many points as answering a regular question.
Who moderates this community?
The short answer is: you. This website is moderated by the users. The points system allows users to earn rights to perform a variety of moderation tasks.
How does the points system work?
When a question or answer is voted up, the user who posted it will gain points. These points serve as a rough measure of the community trust in that person. Various moderation tasks are gradually assigned to the users based on those points.

For example, if you ask an interesting question or useful answer, it will likely be voted up. On the other hand if the question is poorly-worded or the answer is misleading - it will likely be voted down. Each up vote on a question will generate 10 points, whereas each vote against will subtract 10 points. The following table lists points gained per activity:

Posting a question: 20 points
Selecting an answer for your question: 30 points
Per up vote on your question: 10 points
Per down vote on your question: 10 points
Max points earned from upvotes per question: 100 points
Max points lost from downvotes per question: 30 points
Posting an answer: 40 points
Having your answer selected as the best: 300 points
Per up vote on your answer: 20 points
Per down vote on your answer: 20 points
Max points earned from upvotes per answer: 200 points
Max points lost from downvotes per answer: 50 points
Per up vote on your comment: 0 points
Per down vote on your comment: 0 points
[options/points_c_voted_max_gain] 100 points
[options/points_c_voted_max_loss] 30 points
Voting up a question: 10 points
Voting down a question: 10 points
Voting up an answer: 10 points
Voting down an answer: 10 points
Registering an account: 100 points


The following table lists point requirements for each type of moderation task.

How to change my picture (gravatar), and what is gravatar?
The picture that appears in user profiles is called a gravatar, which means globally recognized avatar.

Here is how it works: You upload your picture (or your favorite alter ego image) to the website gravatar.com from where we later retrieve your image using a cryptographic key based on your email address.

This way all the websites you trust can show your image next to your posts and your email address remains private.

Please personalize your account with an image - just register at gravatar.com (just please be sure to use the same email address that you used to register with us). The default gray image is generated automatically.
Still have questions?
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