A Guide To Asking Questions on 
icon_tutorial:
DO be specific. Tell us exactly what your question is - if you're vague, it becomes much more difficult to help.
DO use proper grammar and spelling. It isn't hard, honestly! Check your punctuation and spelling, for it can change the whole meaning of a question. Also, it makes us that much more likely to answer you question. Of course, everyone makes mistakes (I can count at least five I’ve gone back and corrected in this) but the basics are good.
DO check the memories AND the FAQ. The memories and FAQ are really easy to understand, and dead useful. They're there for a reason, not for you to say you checked them but you didn't. We can tell. We know what's in there because we've been there before.
DO check the most recent entries - at the very least, check the first page and the second page. Most likely, your question has already been answered.
DO provide specific examples. No questions of 'how do i get a light pretty colour lol!' SHOW US what you need to do. Don't send us to one icon post (or even worse, one icon maker) because often an icon maker varies their styles and it's hard to figure out which style you want. Also, no one wants to go looking to help you. We're doing you a favour - the least you could do is help us.
DO thank people. Again, we're doing you a favour - at least acknowledge that we helped you with a short 'thank you!' reply, and that you learned/going to think about it and our time wasn't wasted helping you. We do like helping you, but we don't want to waste our time.
DO ask the icon maker how they did it before you come here. Because I guarantee if everyone did that, then there'd be a lot less questions.
DO be polite! Because that's important, yo.
DO use LJ cuts when necessary. They are your friend, especially if you have a long question/multiple questions, etc.
DO tell us what program you're using. 'Cause if you didn't know, PSP and PS are DIFFERENT. They have different settings and names and tools. It's much easier to help you if we know what directions to give you.
DO tell us how experienced you are. Because if you're a beginner and we tell you 'Okay, so duplicate, screen, soft light, beige on multiply and blue on exclusion.' and you're like: o.O WTF? It’s not so good.
DO read your program's help files. Honestly. They WORK. They're there for a REASON. So don't ask us 'how do I do this insanely simple and basic function like changing the brightness and contrast?' because it is IN THE HELP FILE. Sure, if it's a specific effect or icon related thing... but if it's something that can easily be answered by pressing 'Help' (clearly labeled and all), don't ask.
DON'T say 'I'm stupid, I can't understand...' or 'omgz im a retard i dont know how to use psp/ps!'. Because if you say it, then it comes true. But yeah, self-deprecation is so not in fashion right now, as much as you'd like to think so. I can't count the number of questions that start with that. And believe me, it's really annoying.
DON'T use your special super tiny font. Really, we have our flists set up the way we like them, because we enjoy reading our list at that size. If you make it smaller, then it is really annoying. Plus, on my flist, I have it at the smallest size that is readable - if you go one smaller, I CANNOT READ YOUR QUESTION. And I'm sure lots of the members have their fonts small too. It's a community, guys - that means your posts should fit the community. Do whatever you want on your own LJs.
DON'T hotlink. If you're going to show us an example, upload it to your own account. Why? BECAUSE HOTLINKERS SUCK AND NEED TO DIE, K? Also, credit the icon maker - it's just polite.
DON'T preemptively accuse people of attacking you. Because then you're just inviting attacks.
DON'T strike out your question once it's been answered. Because it's in the rules, duh.
DON'T say 'I'm too lazy to look in the memories, but can you answer my question anywayz? lol' Because then you just need a good smack. And we'll tell you, 'GET OFF YOUR ASS AND CLICK THE MEMORIES. NOT HARD.'
Other notes:
A fake cut looks like ( FAKE CUT ) (something that looks like a real cut but is in fact a link to your LJ), not like a link. I know, because I've done a fake fake cut before. And it's kind of embarrassing to discover that you've actually been pretending something's a fake cut when it's just a plain link.
If you guys can think of anything else to add, I'll edit it and add it to the list :)
icon_tutorial:DO be specific. Tell us exactly what your question is - if you're vague, it becomes much more difficult to help.
DO use proper grammar and spelling. It isn't hard, honestly! Check your punctuation and spelling, for it can change the whole meaning of a question. Also, it makes us that much more likely to answer you question. Of course, everyone makes mistakes (I can count at least five I’ve gone back and corrected in this) but the basics are good.
DO check the memories AND the FAQ. The memories and FAQ are really easy to understand, and dead useful. They're there for a reason, not for you to say you checked them but you didn't. We can tell. We know what's in there because we've been there before.
DO check the most recent entries - at the very least, check the first page and the second page. Most likely, your question has already been answered.
DO provide specific examples. No questions of 'how do i get a light pretty colour lol!' SHOW US what you need to do. Don't send us to one icon post (or even worse, one icon maker) because often an icon maker varies their styles and it's hard to figure out which style you want. Also, no one wants to go looking to help you. We're doing you a favour - the least you could do is help us.
DO thank people. Again, we're doing you a favour - at least acknowledge that we helped you with a short 'thank you!' reply, and that you learned/going to think about it and our time wasn't wasted helping you. We do like helping you, but we don't want to waste our time.
DO ask the icon maker how they did it before you come here. Because I guarantee if everyone did that, then there'd be a lot less questions.
DO be polite! Because that's important, yo.
DO use LJ cuts when necessary. They are your friend, especially if you have a long question/multiple questions, etc.
DO tell us what program you're using. 'Cause if you didn't know, PSP and PS are DIFFERENT. They have different settings and names and tools. It's much easier to help you if we know what directions to give you.
DO tell us how experienced you are. Because if you're a beginner and we tell you 'Okay, so duplicate, screen, soft light, beige on multiply and blue on exclusion.' and you're like: o.O WTF? It’s not so good.
DO read your program's help files. Honestly. They WORK. They're there for a REASON. So don't ask us 'how do I do this insanely simple and basic function like changing the brightness and contrast?' because it is IN THE HELP FILE. Sure, if it's a specific effect or icon related thing... but if it's something that can easily be answered by pressing 'Help' (clearly labeled and all), don't ask.
DON'T say 'I'm stupid, I can't understand...' or 'omgz im a retard i dont know how to use psp/ps!'. Because if you say it, then it comes true. But yeah, self-deprecation is so not in fashion right now, as much as you'd like to think so. I can't count the number of questions that start with that. And believe me, it's really annoying.
DON'T use your special super tiny font. Really, we have our flists set up the way we like them, because we enjoy reading our list at that size. If you make it smaller, then it is really annoying. Plus, on my flist, I have it at the smallest size that is readable - if you go one smaller, I CANNOT READ YOUR QUESTION. And I'm sure lots of the members have their fonts small too. It's a community, guys - that means your posts should fit the community. Do whatever you want on your own LJs.
DON'T hotlink. If you're going to show us an example, upload it to your own account. Why? BECAUSE HOTLINKERS SUCK AND NEED TO DIE, K? Also, credit the icon maker - it's just polite.
DON'T preemptively accuse people of attacking you. Because then you're just inviting attacks.
DON'T strike out your question once it's been answered. Because it's in the rules, duh.
DON'T say 'I'm too lazy to look in the memories, but can you answer my question anywayz? lol' Because then you just need a good smack. And we'll tell you, 'GET OFF YOUR ASS AND CLICK THE MEMORIES. NOT HARD.'
Other notes:
A fake cut looks like ( FAKE CUT ) (something that looks like a real cut but is in fact a link to your LJ), not like a link. I know, because I've done a fake fake cut before. And it's kind of embarrassing to discover that you've actually been pretending something's a fake cut when it's just a plain link.
If you guys can think of anything else to add, I'll edit it and add it to the list :)