# Updated topic template for "Help" **URL:** \ **Category:** Site Feedback\ **Created:** [September 11, 2017, 8:17pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/updated-topic-template-for-help/42003 "2017-09-11T20:17:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jsha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/jsha/32/12_2.png) [@jsha](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/jsha)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2017, 8:17pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/updated-topic-template-for-help/42003/1 "2017-09-11T20:17:37Z")
I've noticed one of the most common patterns in this forum is that someone posts information with their domain name hidden, then a forum member has to ask for their real domain before proceeding, and wait for a reply. This is not an efficient use of anyone's time, so I've updated the topic template for the "Help" category to state that you must provide a domain name in orderto get help: > [@](#): > > Please fill out the fields below so we can help you better. Note: you must provide your domain name in order to get help. Domain names for issued certificates are all made public in Certificate Transparency logs (e.g. [crt.sh | example.com](https://crt.sh/?q=example.com)), so withholding your domain name here does not increase secrecy, but only makes it harder to provide help. > > My domain is: > > I ran this command: > ... ---
**Author:** ![ahaw021](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/ahaw021/32/14882_2.png) [@ahaw021](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/ahaw021)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 2:33am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/updated-topic-template-for-help/42003/2 "2017-09-12T02:33:51Z")
maybe break it out and make the domain thing in bold Suggestion: Please fill out the fields below so we can help you better. **Note: you must provide your domain name to get help.** Domain names for issued certificates are all made public in Certificate Transparency logs (e.g. [https://crt.sh/?q=example.com](https://crt.sh/?q=example.com)), so withholding your domain name here does not increase secrecy, but only makes it harder for us to provide help. ---
**Author:** ![schoen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/schoen/32/79_2.png) [@schoen](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/schoen)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 3:58am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/updated-topic-template-for-help/42003/3 "2017-09-12T03:58:40Z")
Do you have any interest in still making it optional but strongly encouraging it? That was what I was exploring with an earlier thread about DNS checkers (at least requiring people to use some kind of checker to eliminate causes of error that we could have found for ourselves if we knew the domain name), but we didn’t really settle on a good solution. Edit: I agree this is progress compared to the old status quo because people not providing their domain names definitely does waste a lot of time for little apparent benefit. ---
**Author:** ![ahaw021](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/ahaw021/32/14882_2.png) [@ahaw021](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/ahaw021)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 2:25pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/updated-topic-template-for-help/42003/4 "2017-09-12T14:25:16Z")
also it may be worthwhile asking the client used as part of the questionnaire. This is the other key fact that people leave out. It makes it hard to troubleshoot sometimes. It may need a link to the Let’s Encrypt Clients page. Andrei ---
**Author:** ![jsha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/jsha/32/12_2.png) [@jsha](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/jsha)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 4:26pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/updated-topic-template-for-help/42003/5 "2017-09-12T16:26:33Z")
> [@schoen](#): > > Do you have any interest in still making it optional but strongly encouraging it? This is my proposed way of making it optional but strongly encouraging. 🙂 Some people are likely to still continue to disregard the note anyhow, but this hopefully makes it a lot less likely. ---
**Author:** ![jsha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/jsha/32/12_2.png) [@jsha](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/jsha)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2017, 4:26pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/updated-topic-template-for-help/42003/6 "2017-10-12T16:26:44Z")
Closed on October 12, 2017, 4:26pm UTC This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.