You may have noticed the odd rant now and again when I get frustrated at people on forums who need help but seem incapable of doing even the tiniest thing to help themselves in the first place. If you haven't and are sufficiently voyeuristic here are a selection:
Well, now I have a solution in the form of a link to a Microsoft Knowledge Base article. It is clear, it is polite, and it tells people almost everything they need to do in order to obtain free help from forums.
And here it is: How to ask a question
NOTE: This was rescued from the Google cache. The original date was Tuesday, 10th April, 2007.