Do the right thing, and be the right person.
Stop! Think about what you are about to do. This is essential and extremely easy to do when writing, especially when responding to a request for assistance.
Do the right thing. Ensure you are reaching that point where you are providing a benefit to the person asking the question or reaching out for assistance.
Be the right person. Recognize that some conversations may start from a very stressed individual that first needs to be talked off the ledge they are peering over and then providing the information they need to take a step back and resolve their issues.
In almost all cases, your response should be designed to step up to the edge with the person and then walk them back to a point where they can see the problem for what it is. Then, you can move towards the best solution to sort out the circumstances they have found themselves in where they reached out for help.
Do the right thing. Find and relay the simplest solution, and more importantly, remember this may not be the most straightforward, but it will be the one that works best.
Be the right person. Know that taking care of a request for assistance rarely has any relevance to take personally. Making every effort to empathize with the request for assistance and the person making the request will go a long way in helping them accomplish their goals.