What follows is extracted from my comment 1543 days ago to exactly this question, and lightly edited.<p>You do know that pretty much every page has a search box ...<p><a href="https://hn.algolia.com/?query=green%20usernames&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story" rel="nofollow">https://hn.algolia.com/?query=green%20usernames&sort=byPopul...</a><p>It's even the top result (for me) on Google:<p><a href="https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=green+username" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=green+username</a><p>You can many, many, <i>many</i> answers from Google if you also add "hacker news" to the search string:<p><a href="https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=green+username+hacker+news" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=green+username+hacker+news</a><p>I know that here on HN it's generally regarded that if you start with "I know I'll get downvoted for this ..." then you simply shouldn't say it.<p>But having said <i>that,</i> there are times when unpopular things need to be said. I'm genuinely not trying to be snarky, I'm genuinely not trying to be rude, and I'm genuinely not trying to be superior. I genuinely think people really ought to do some homework before asking questions.<p>When we create a web site we often provide a FAQ, and we hope that people will do some homework and check the FAQ before calling the support line, or sending an email.<p>Why don't we ask the same of ourselves? Why shouldn't we ask that people at least wonder if the answer has been asked before, and then search.<p>So I'm not providing the fish, I'm trying to teach you how to fish. I'm not going to give the answer yet again, I'm telling people how to get the answers for themselves. It shouldn't be necessary, and yet it is.<p>It's possible that people will downvote me, but understand that I'm actually trying to help the community. The question is, and it's a genuine one, how <i>can</i> we say RTFM without sounding snarky?