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diff --git a/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE.md b/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE.md
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+Before submitting your issue, please check these hints!
+
+- **If you have a usage question**, please please post on [our mailing list](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/lasagne-users) instead of creating an issue.
+  Make sure to check the [Lasagne documentation](http://lasagne.readthedocs.org/en/latest/) and the [Theano documentation](http://deeplearning.net/software/theano/) first!
+  You can search the mailing list as well to see if your question has come up before.
+
+- **If you suspect you have found a bug**, please first try [updating to the bleeding-edge versions of Theano and Lasagne](http://lasagne.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/installation.html#bleeding-edge-version). It may have been fixed already.
+  If you are not sure whether the problem lies within your code, Theano, or Lasagne, first post on [our mailing list](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/lasagne-users).
+  In any case, try to provide a minimal code example that reproduces the bug, this will greatly speed up the process of tracking down the problem.
+
+- **If you have a feature request or idea**, please include a clear description of the use case(s) it would enable, referencing research papers if applicable, and indicate whether you would be willing to implement the feature yourself.
+  We are happy to discuss your suggestion, help refining it, and decide upfront whether it would fit the main library or our [Lasagne/Recipes](https://github.com/Lasagne/Recipes).
diff --git a/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md b/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
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+Before submitting your pull request, please check these hints!
+
+- If you are not familiar with the github workflow, have a look:
+  https://guides.github.com/introduction/flow/
+  In particular, note that in order to update your pull request to include any
+  changes we asked for, you just need to push to your branch again.
+- If your pull request addresses a particular issue from our issue tracker,
+  reference it in your pull request description on github (not the commit
+  message) using the syntax `Closes #123` or `Fixes #123`.
+  
+Pull request check list:
+
+- Install Lasagne in editable mode to be able to run tests locally:
+  http://lasagne.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/development.html#development-setup
+- Make sure PEP8 is followed:
+  `python -m pep8 lasagne/`
+- Make sure the test suite runs through:
+  `python -m py.test`
+  (or, to only run tests that include the substring `foo` in their name:
+  `python -m py.test -k foo`)
+- At the end of the test run output, check if coverage is at 100%. If not (or
+  not for the files you changed), you will need to add tests covering the code
+  you added.
+- It is fine to submit a PR without tests to get initial feedback on the
+  implementation, but we cannot merge it without tests.
+- If you added/changed any documentation, verify that it renders correctly:
+  http://lasagne.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/development.html#documentation