Re: MVP - CHEAP SHOT

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OK, I understand your philosophy, and from the standpoint of an uneducated
user looking for help, a complete description, showing step-by-step actions
is exactly what I'd like to see. That saves me from having to navigate web
sites, reading jargon (i.e. terminology) I'm unfamiliar with, and making
changes to my machine, that I'm afraid will make things worse (still happens
to me, and I'm far from being an uneducated user). I'm sure some fearful
users will simply choose to live with the problem before taking steps to
resolve it. Therefore your position of 'if you're going to provide support,
then provide support' is well-taken.

However, from the position of the guy (no offense, Kath) who deals with the
exact same problem, day-in and day-out, and hopes to help as many folks as
possible, it's expedient to direct users to a site with the objective of
helping them help themselves. Maybe it would be appropriate to add a note
to the (MVP) response saying "if this site doesn't resolve your issue,
please post back".

This discussion reminds me of when my wife was learning to write batch
files. When she got stuck, she would ask me for help instead of trying to
work it out herself. After what I thought were too many requests, I gave
her a book that included information/examples on writing batch files. After
that, she only asked for help if something wasn't in the book.

Thanks for the response.

Toyman
_____________________________


<Webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1114698868.347810.124630@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi Toyman

A little background first. I was a member of the official on-line
support group for Microsoft Chat software for 5 years and became very
practiced in providing support to literally thousands of folks. OK
enough of that.

Now the "philosophy' behind the comment.

As I see this thread on Google groups, the first post in this thread (
still on the server ) is Mr. Russo's response. So I have no idea what
was going on before that post (OP isn't on the server any longer.)
So the first post I see in the thread is a quoted error message and
Mr. Russo's response of simply posting a link. Did you follow that
link? If you have you notice that the page doesn't address the issue of
server timeouts AT ALL. The closest thing to a resolution I saw on the
page was to reinstall the software ( battle cry of the clueless ).

Back to the "philosophy". If your going to give support, give support
not redirects. You notice it took all of one paragraph to answer the
question that was asked ( I also don't try to " second guess " people
that ask questions ). It took me FAR less time to answer the question
than it's taking me to explain myself to you. So my basic feeling on
the subject is, if Mr. Russo doesn't have the time to answer the
question, I do! And maybe if Mr. Russo doesn't have the time, he should
just skip the group for a day.
From my support days I learned from feedback from users that most
folks don't have the background or expertise to wade through all the
info on a MS support page and figure out what solution is right for
their problem. Isn't that EXACTLY why they come to a newsgroup and ask
questions? Aren't they looking for answers from folks that have a
better understanding of the software?
Now to the point, what Mr. Russo posted is not support. It wasn't even
a answer. And posting links to the MS "Knowledge Base" isn't what got
Mr. Russo in as a MS MVP ( and I think he knows this quite well ).
Was the comment a bit sharp? Yes indeed! Does Mr. Russo know why I
made it? I think he does now.
Sorry if it rubbed you the wrong way Toyman. It was meant as a comment
from one former MVP to another.
I guess my "attitude" is a direct result of the support philosophy
that was instilled in me by our MS-MVP Team Leader ( yguy AKA Steve ).

M.Stepelton ( MS-Chat support nick MickeyM© )


.

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