Dedicated tech support forum needed.

DirtyHarry

Well looking at the computers forum here, its just full of problems that ppl have. To be honest i think there should be a dedicated tech support forum / section. Would be more help to ppl i think.

Anyway, its good that this scetion is being used for such questions but a dedicated section would be better. then the real purpose of the "computers" section would be used. For like new technologies and ppl asking about setups and "is this a good graphics card" and so on.


So to the mods out there that take care of this section, any chance of a change???


Cheers

SickBoy

Sounds like a good idea.

Vikings

Then why not have a section for just graphics cards? You could split the computers section up into every little bit of hardware/software and have dedicated forums for them, in the end it just takes people longer to find what they need and will make the mods do more work moving posts to the right section.

The way it is now is fine, i think.

Ruu_Old

im not a mod but i think theres plenty of help here for everyones problems. I dont know but i check here when i log onto boards and run through the new topics and see if i can answer them. Good idea but well i think its fine as it is, just my opinion

hostyle

How about a Tech Support forum that redirects to google instead?

Webmonkey

hostyle wrote:

How about a Tech Support forum that redirects to google instead?

Thats true, most of the questions here can easily be googled

po0k

hostyle wrote:

How about a Tech Support forum that redirects to google instead?

Or a link to a RTFM page.

DirtyHarry

no need for any other sections, just one more, just a tech support section! its clear we need one. this section is swamped with questions.

who is the mod for the computers section?

SickBoy

Plus people who read the tech support forum won't be so quick to jump down someones throat screaming GOOGLE!!! or RTFM!!!

po0k

DirtyHarry wrote:

its clear we need one. this section is swamped with questions.

I don't think we do.
This forum is swamped with questions, but most of them are the same same thing over and over and over again, or would be solved far faster if the poster just googled for 2 minutes.
Regular posters on this board have great time to give to people looking for advice or who have an actual problem (ie. is not documented in a manual or readme.txt file).
It's downright annoying and bordering on insulting to see people posting silly questions because they're too lazy to simply read the documentation that was provided with their product or piece of software.
The thread-turnover rate on this forum is far too high as a result, with many interesting threads getting lost in a storm of "How do I do X" or "Y isn't working" type threads when the answer is an intelligent google search or a perusal of a readme.txt file away.

Laziness and ignorance are not tech support problems.

Hobbes

Without actually reading in exactly what is going on, I believe this question was posted on feedback in relation to the biki.

I know cloud was messing with the biki to see if such a thing could be done. Not sure what status it is at.

Ivan

SyxPak wrote:

I don't think we do.
This forum is swamped with questions, but most of them are the same same thing over and over and over again, or would be solved far faster if the poster just googled for 2 minutes.
Regular posters on this board have great time to give to people looking for advice or who have an actual problem (ie. is not documented in a manual or readme.txt file).
It's downright annoying and bordering on insulting to see people posting silly questions because they're too lazy to simply read the documentation that was provided with their product or piece of software.
The thread-turnover rate on this forum is far too high as a result, with many interesting threads getting lost in a storm of "How do I do X" or "Y isn't working" type threads when the answer is an intelligent google search or a perusal of a readme.txt file away.

Laziness and ignorance are not tech support problems.

Some very valid points there Syxpak, but imagine. If we had a tech support forum, all the goomba's would just go there to post their stupid, easily googleable, problems.

Then we have a nice, efficient forum, to ignore.
I'm for it.

MartMax

i'm a lazy b*****d myself, but i think there are out there! :cool:

things like :

- never put an effort to see there is a "Search" button.

- couldn't be bothered to read the manuals/guide

the above is not an exhaustive list but again... i'm lazy to list down all!

p/s : Also, there's is a "Edit" button to of course "Edit" the post!!!

Cabaal

Ivan wrote:

Some very valid points there Syxpak, but imagine. If we had a tech support forum, all the goomba's would just go there to post their stupid, easily googleable, problems.

Then we have a nice, efficient forum, to ignore.
I'm for it.

No the bloody wouldn't,
As it is their too lazy to post wndows problems on the windows forum.

Yes it sucks that the turnover rate for here is so high, I'm for making this forum more strict then making a new forum

Post a stciky "read before posting" if somebody posts stupiod stuff then the thread is locked.


On a related note, shouldn't this have been posted on the forums board?

Tom Dunne

Hobbes wrote:

Without actually reading in exactly what is going on, I believe this question was posted on feedback in relation to the biki

I think it was Seamus who posted it - something along the lines of a knowledge base (biki?).

Personally, I think it would be a great idea, and I for would would certainly be willing to contribute. As other posters have said, keep the regular, repetitive fluff out of the main computers forum.

tba

tom dunne wrote:

I think it was Seamus who posted it - something along the lines of a knowledge base (biki?).

Personally, I think it would be a great idea, and I for would would certainly be willing to contribute. As other posters have said, keep the regular, repetitive fluff out of the main computers forum.

I think that would work better alright.

Fibonacci

is a biki a big database of 'how-to's..... if so, that would be great. Probably don't have the expertise to be much of a contributor, but would definitely use it a lot....

Second the vote for a tech support forum....

the boards should be categorised by end-use (new technologies, tech support, ........) rather than product (windows, broadband, wireless,.....)

BoB_BoT

I don't think a tech support form is required, perhaps a sticky or thread on how to solve your own problems first / most common problems and their fixes or a biki if possable. If the sticky was mod operated and users could submit fixes to recent and most common problems, i.e. graphics card driver problems, quick link to a site or two with newer drivers i.e. www.ati.com or www.nvidia.com.

Though the only problem I can see with this is the thread filling up quickly. people can just search the thread with keywords, but as seen before people don't search the forum for related topics as it is and just post anyways, so perhaps it's a problem that just won't go away.

Also if there's a seperate forum the likelyhood is that it will be ignored for the most part by people who might have the answers.

Capt'n Midnight

Cabaal wrote:

No the bloody wouldn't,
As it is their too lazy to post wndows problems on the windows forum.

I've no problem with stuff getting moved, or maybe make the windows forum more visible - maybe a sticky subject,

Yeah a biki for the top 10 windows problems would be nice - maybe even just one good one on how to clean up and protect windows - not tweaks - bit like the way that microsoft tech support won't talk to anyone who isn't patched up to date - then we can have a windows sticky that says - do this before posting ...

Nukem

Hobbes wrote:

Without actually reading in exactly what is going on, I believe this question was posted on feedback in relation to the biki.

Ah only 6hrs late with that one,this is been discussed at the mo in feedback as said.
Who's the mods of the Comp forum? see the end of the Forum for the list.
Is it worth breaking the computer forum into specific parts Gfx,CPU....etc.....i dont think so,there is enough of a turnover of answers to questions posted as it is.Splitting it up would just confust people even more.

Nukem

DirtyHarry

good feedback so far!

As stated before there is a huge turnover of questions and so on. because of that, questions are not getting there full attention by users. problems are not getting fully fixed or sorted. Secondly a sticky telling ppl to google there problems first, just isnt going to work. Ppl will just post here and not bother to read any sticky or even rifle through some biki to try find there answer to their problem. Generally ppl are lazy. They will just continue to post in this forum.

Last, only a tech support section needs to be opened. Theres no need to split it up into sub-sections such as CPU / GPU / MOBO etc. You can just lump all the problems in the one section. As this isnt a hardware site, theres no need to split it up.

the mods for this section are Kali, Gerry, Khannie, Trojan. So i suppose its up to them to decide what to do. (if they can)

Would be great to have a tech support forum tho! (hint hint!)

DirtyHarry

*bump*

Any update on this mods?

Lump

Yes, it's a crap Idea....

Seriously though, the computer board is swamped with questions cause that's where people come to ask them. If there was another board for asking Computer related questions, then the computer boards would be dead in my opinion.

What do you suggest would be discussed here.

Also I would be reluctant to offer assistance on a "Tech Support" forum, because if on there it'd be all serious, and if I said something that caused you to break your computer I'd hate it to fall under the pretence that it's "Tech Suppprt" as opposed to some one offering help.

I wouldn't be as open to offering advice.

They're my feelings.

John

Nukem

A tech guide rather than support.If its interactive then thats not gonna work and the Comp forum does that job. What i was hopin was a list of bits/advice/ratings.......... but able to edit(not everyone) it like the Biki.

Harry-suggest this as a Forum and outline the idea or take a Ticket at the helpdesk(admins have been busy)