I decided to start this thread, because I see a lot of the same things being posted over and over again:
1. Before you report an issue, make sure you read the entire documentation if has been supplied.
2. Search the official forums for the mod in question to see if the issue has already been reported, and checked archived threads too.
3. If you are having a problem with a new mod you installed, do not assume the mod has a problem. On it's own it may work just fine, more likely there is a conflict with another mod.
4. If there are .ini settings that go with the mod, see if maybe changing one of those settings fixes the problem, rather than just deactivating the whole mod and calling it a wash. We programmers know that there will be conflicts, and when we create .ini settings, it's not just for you to tweak the mod to taste, but to also provide options to make it compatible with another mod.
5. It is nearly impossible to make a mod compatible with every mod on the planet, so you may be out of luck and have to pick one or the other.
6. If living without is not enough (or you just want to be helpful), be polite when posting the issue.
7. Provide your load order.
8. Provide your load order.
9. If you forget rule 8, please refer to rule 7.
10. Because we modders have insanely busy schedules, and are squeezing in modding in our spare time, it is very difficult for us to download every mod and test them for conflicts ourselves. There are just too many of them. Here's where YOU CAN HELP! Please see if you can figure out which two mods conflict on your own.

How to determine which mods are in conflict: (this my personal preferred method, there are others)
SAVE YOUR GAME and back it up before proceeding.
a. Deactivate all the mods except for the unofficial patches and the new mod, and determine whether or not it works on its own.
b. Start adding back in mods that probably don't conflict, usually in groups by genre or commonalities. For instance, all the weather mods, all the unique landscape mods, etc.
c. At some point, you will get a conflict from a new group you added. Deactivate the new group.
d. Go through the new group, activate them one at a time (meaning after trying one, deactivate it and activate another).
e. You may get one or more conflicts. If you get none, that means the conflict only occurs when you have a pair or more from the new group activated.
(luckily that last part is probably pretty rare)
(It is also possible that the new group you actiavted may have a dependancy that hasn't been activated yet)
f. Eventually, you will figure out where the conflict seems to be coming from, and that will make it so much easier to pin down the specific issue and see if a fix is possible.

Okay, so that's my two bits on the subject. Feedback is welcome.

:thumbsup:

Here is one that I wish to add:

If you do post an issue and then later find the solution. Please do post that you found the answer (even if already known), so as to educate others and let people know you don't need help anymore. Doing just that makes more of the one off help me threads worth reading and even searching the archive for.

I find it annoying that an issue I search out is just left dangling or the person just posts - found the answer but not what the answer is.

We should work on this more and then have Tomlong incorporate into the latest website (forgot the name already).

other things to try before reporting might include:
Did you test with a new game?
Did you regenerate your ini?
Did you recently change game settings or settings in another mod?

I believe the name was TESCOSI. Like http://www.tesco.com/, but for Shivering Isles, is how I remember it.