Frequently Asked Questions

Welcome to UnityAnswers! We've been trying this new thing and we think we quite like it. We think you guys might like it too, so please go ahead and try it out!

What is UnityAnswers?

UnityAnswers is a place for asking questions and finding answers - all about Unity! UnityAnswers co-exist with the Unity Forums, but they have different functions:

• UnityAnswers is a place for questions that can be answered! Avoid asking questions here that are subjective, argumentative, or require extended discussion.
• Unity Forums is a place for discussions, opinions, showing off your work, getting feedback, and general community chatter.

One problem with the Unity Forums was that old threads tended to get buried, so users ended up asking the same questions over and over again. We hope that UnityAnswers can function as a more efficient place for that kind of question and answer exchange, while the Unity Forums is still great for all the rest!

What kind of questions can I ask here?

Unity questions, of course! As long as your question is:

• detailed and specific
• written clearly and simply
• of interest to at least one other Unity user somewhere

... it is welcome here. No question is too trivial or too "newbie". Oh yes, and it should be about Unity.

Please look around to see if your question has already been asked (and maybe even answered!) before you ask. If you end up asking a question that has been asked before, that is OK and deliberately allowed. Other users will hopefully edit in links to related or similar questions to help future visitors find their way.

What are the guidelines for writing good questions?

We want UnityAnswers to become a comprehensive database of questions and answers related to Unity. When you ask your questions, it can be helpful to keep a few things in mind:

• Don't post multiple unrelated questions in one post. Make separate posts instead, each with one question.
• Don't write things that will be irrelevant in a few days. Writing that "This is urgent!" will probably not get you faster answers, but it may make people frown at your question.
• Be specific. If you want specific answers, ask specific questions. If something "doesn't work", write what exactly it does that is wrong.
• Use specific tags. unity, scripting, editor, etc. are very non-specific tags. Feel free to use them, but please consider also using some tags that are more specific to your exact question.

It's also perfectly fine to ask and answer your own question, but please post just the question first, and then reply to it below with your answer.

Be honest.

Above all, be honest. When you see good questions or helpful answers, vote them up! This will help getting the best answers and the most interesting questions be listed first.

If you see misinformation, vote it down. Insert comments indicating what, specifically, is wrong. Even better — edit and improve the information! Provide stronger, faster, superior answers of your own!

If you ask a question and someone writes a helpful reply, make sure to mark that reply as the answer. This is both your privilege and duty as the person who asked the question.

Do I have to log in or create an account?

Nope. You can answer and ask questions to your heart's content as an anonymous user, much like Wikipedia. However, there are some things you won't be able to do on the site without logging in. But it's easy to register if you want to. All you need is an OpenID account, or you can use your existing username and password from the Unity Forums if you have an account there.

What is reputation?

Reputation is completely optional. Normal use of UnityAnswers — that is, asking and answering questions — does not require any reputation whatsoever.

Remember, UnityAnswers is run by you! If you want to help us run the site, you'll need reputation first. Reputation is a (very) rough measurement of how much the Unity community trusts you. Reputation is never given, it is earned by convincing other users that you know what you're talking about.

Here's how it works: if you post a good question or helpful answer, it will be voted up by your peers: you gain 10 reputation points. If you post something that's off topic or incorrect, it will be voted down: you lose 2 reputation points. You can earn up to 200 reputation per day, but no more. (Note that votes for any posts marked "community wiki" do not generate reputation.)

Amass enough reputation points and UnityAnswers will allow you to go beyond simply asking and answering questions:

At the high end of this reputation spectrum there is little difference between users with high reputation and moderators. That is very much intentional. We don't run UnityAnswers. The community does.

What if I don't get a good answer?

In order to get good answers, you have to put some effort into the question. Edit your question to provide status and progress updates. Document your own continued efforts to answer your question. This will naturally bump your question and get more people interested in it.

If, after two days, you still don't have an answer you like, you can offer a bounty. Slice off a bit of your own hard-earned reputation -- anywhere from 50 to 500 -- and attach it to the question as a bounty. We'll even throw in 50 reputation to sweeten the deal. The bountied question will appear with a special icon in all question lists, and it will also be visible on the home page Featured tab.

Once initiated, the bounty period lasts seven days. If you mark an accepted answer, your bounty is awarded to the answerer (do note that accepted bounty answers are permanent and cannot be changed). If you do not accept an answer in seven days, the top voted answer will automatically become the accepted answer, and half your bounty will be awarded to that answer. You will always give up the amount of reputation specified in the bounty, so if you start a bounty, be sure to follow up and accept the best answer!

Of course, bounty awards, like all accepted answers, are immune to the daily reputation cap and community wiki mode.

Other people can edit my stuff?!

Like Wikipedia, this site is collaboratively edited. If you are not comfortable with the idea of your questions and answers being edited by other trusted users, this may not be the site for you.