"Please check your syllabus before asking a question."
You've probably read or heard that, and it's never quite sat well with me. When I heard it, I felt like I'd accidentally walked into the ogre's swamp, and was somehow getting scolded for trespassing. (And no matter how hard I looked to answer a question, it was always plain as the nose on my face once the professor pointed it out). No matter how hard I try to review the material, I still miss one or two things!
Now, as faculty, I get why professors can get irritable about it, though: it takes time, some students really haven't bothered to read in the first place.
There's another issue, though: the most important thing I can do as faculty is connect with a student, yes? So then if I'm wasting time emailing students about easy-to-find answers, isn't that a drain on my most precious resource?
Here's what I came up with--two very important rules.
Be ye squeaky.
If you can, squeak in the right order.
More below.