Here are a few general things to keep in mind:

Be polite

Take your time and think it through

Good spelling and grammar help a lot!

Do not curse

Don't use all capital letters - people will think you're "yelling"

If it helps illustrate your point, include an image

Don't just say "I don't know" or "If you do a search, you can find the answer" - It just isn't a very helpful answer, and often times people are asking here because they've already tried to use a search engine and still couldn't find what they wanted.

Cite your sources - people are more likely to believe you if you can back up what you say. The best way to cite a source is to paste the link right into your post

When giving a link to a page with the answer, also provide a summary the answer. This way, if the site you're linking to goes down, people on Answerbag will still get a good answer, not just a broken link

Stick to the facts - if you can cite specific facts, events, or your experience, your answer will appear more authoritative

Do not belittle the questioner. Everyone deserves an answer

"OK I admit I did not adher to all those conditions in the past, but I will absolutely do so in the future."

alan

thanks Alan, this is very good advice. I'll try to stick to it myself!  :)

OK ALAN! THANK YOU FOR THE ADVICE!  ;D

Hi--

Let's decide that we can't delete our whole post without posting a reason

AND we will PM anyone who has posted discussion related to that post so that they can modify or delete their now useless comments.

Bets,

I take your point but I deleted said post before it  could be deleted by the "master"

alan

Hi Alan,

I wasn't saying that to you, since several others posts have recently been deleted too.
It just seems like an idea whose time has come  ;)---that we leave a note when we take off a post.

Love, Bets