Guidelines to OPs:
Before you start a thread:
Starting a thread is a critical task. It is so because it demands time and attention of other forum members. A thread should only be started when you have done enough drill to find your answer else where.
You should always be searching the answer with a help of a search engine (like Google) before you attempt to start a new thread. It is very unlikely that you won't find answers on the web. If you have not researched about a topic before hand, it is quite probable to get very uninviting response such as RTFM or STFW [1].
Sometimes, a search engine such as Google may not cache pages accurately and hence you should not hesitate to use the Site Search feature.
If the problem is actually a homework, you should honestly make an attempt first. Simply restating the question and demanding help just won't do.
Starting a thread:
Only after you are sure that you have rigorously and religiously searched the web and other resources, you should start a thread.
A thread should hold a meaningful title. Use of titles like "Help Me", "Urgent", "Homework Due" or perhaps, "Can you help me?" will tend to repel good respondent from your thread. Always create concise and meaningful titles like "Help regarding IPC mechanisms" or "Creating a standalone exe".
Describing the Problem:
Remember that, a nicely plotted problem will let other understand it better and find the best solutions.
Be honest about what you have attempted and what you haven't. Simply stating "There is a problem" won't help you rectify it.
Stick to the point: don't just dump all your code and hope us to find the error and the solution for you. Try to remove the extraneous code as far as you can. Try to reproduce the error with the minimum code. This will help you find the solution quickly.
Posting no code is also not a nice thing to do. Describing problem without code is quite difficult for you and even for the people who are attempting to solve your problem.
Try to realise what all additional information may be required like format of the input file or the output file if any.
Use code-tags:
All the code must be posted within code tags and proper indentation.
You must not forget that a wrong indentation can lead to wrong interpretation of code.
By the way the code tags are:
[code=python]
#your code goes here
[/code]
Using the code=python highlights the Python syntax and boosts the readability.
Copping up with replies:
Different members will give different replies. It is you liability to choose the one you like. Then too, good replies are clearly visible when one have proper reference and citation. Other characteristic of good replies include acknowledgments from other member.
Note that often, the solution given by one replier may be misjudge by his tone. Many member gives very good advices albeit they may sound rude and insulting.
To the respondents:
There are few values which should be taken into consideration while you reply to a thread. Although you are not getting paid to help others, it is very demanding that if you do help them, do it elegantly. That is, you should not punch in few lines without knowing the problem satisfactorily. It is a nice to cite your comments with appropriate references.
Generally, you should try to help them learn and not just get their job done anyhow.
Don't directly solve their problem. Make them read and understand enough so that they could solve it themselves. Yes, this is the hard part. We know that you may fix a bug in some program in matter of seconds and post the corrected solution right away but the real pain is in explaining things.
As for the background of Python is concerned, the above rule can be relaxed a bit. It is often easily to give the 'actual' solution if it is a one liner or so. But if you do so, miss no opportunity to stuff the OP with appropriate links to read from.
[1]: STFW stands for "Search The Fucking Web" while RTFM stands for "Read The Fucking Manual". If you get responses like these, it is because you have not done enough research before posting your problem. Don't take it personally. Follow the advice and keep going.