Both teaching and rational inquiry, at their creative and inspired best, thus lead us to the very threshold of ultimate mystery and induce in us a sense of profound humility and awe.

~~~ Theodore Meyer Greene

Please, everyone: Leave your egos behind when you login to MSE. Being knowledgeable and experienced in Mathematics does not, in itself, "a good person make."

Practice patience; and please be nice not only to users you already know, but especially to newcomers to our site.*

Rudeness and belittling language are not okay. Your tone should match the way you'd talk in person with someone you respect and whom you want to respect you. If you don't have time to say something politely, just leave it for someone who does.

Don't expect new users to know all the rules — they don't.** And be patient while they learn.

If you're asking a question here, make it as easy as possible for others to understand your question and earlier efforts so that we can be most helpful to you. Everyone here is volunteering (even the site moderators are voluntarily donating their time) and no one responds well to rude demands for help. Nor do answerers want to feel as though they're working harder to explain or solve your problem, than you are.

Now I speak for myself, here, and of my own preference when deciding which questions to attend to, and still more, which questions I will invest myself in answering. For me, the most enjoyable part of assisting askers is when the asker is fully engaged in communicating with me and/or other users, and/or, is fully engaged in the material he/she is attempting to tackle, but none the less, is willing to do his/her own part in his/her own learning. This ties in with how askers can be " nice and respectful" of other users.