What qualifies as ''good support'' and ''helpful''?

[borbole]

I have seen a lot of threads, here and at vb.com, where users complain and moan that the vb supports sucks, people are not helpful anymore like they used to be etc etc. Personally, I am very surprised at the selfishness of such persons. The staff here and at vb.com are very helpful, patient and try their best to help everyone to the best of their abilities under the circumstances. Seeing the great amount of the support threads being asked.

But most users don''t make things easier. I mean, have a look around, a lot of the questions asked are about basic things that don''t need coding knowledge. Things that can be found very easily at the Acp or through the search system.

For ex, questions like, does this mod exist? Or where can I find this in the acp etc etc of this kind. And when they receive no answer they bump their posts against the rules with something like, What no one can help, sounding very shocked. And when someone points them politely towards the search thing they react irritated like oh how unhelful people are now and how the support sucks and nonsense like this. If they did the homework and searched they would have saved themselves and all those that provide support a lot of time, rather that waiting around for others to the work for them and when that doesn''t happen, moan and complain.

Some other people don''t even bother to give out details as to what they need help with. For ex, I have seen some threads with questions like How can I do this, or I have a problem with that, how to fix it? But what this and that are, god knows. We are not mind readers or mediums here to read minds

Other folks after they get what they need, they don''t bother with a follow up post to let us know that they got their problems fixed, god forbid to say a thank you But if the solution doesn''t work they are quick to bump their threads like there is no tomorrow.

So in short, it is not the support here that sucks, but the way the support is asked. Is anyone else bothered by this fact or it is just me? I would really appreciate if all of you guys and gals expressed your thoughts on this subject.


In my humble opinion, the best way to go about asking for support would be like the following:

1) Do a search before you ask for support. i.e. Search the forum to see if your question has been asked and replied already. I have seen a lot of threads here with questions about basic things that can be found in the acp and/or their answers can be found easily with a search. Doing that you will save yourselves and those that provide support a lot of valuable time.

2) If you didn''t find the answer to your problems in the forums, then try to ask your questions the smart way. Starting by giving a describing meaningful subject title. Try to avoid using dramatic words like help me, urgent, how to do this or that, and so on.

Try to describe your problem in as much details as possible. Provide the url to your forum with a test account or a screenshot.

Don''t bump your threads until 24 hours have passed as per the rules. You should also note that the number of support threads here is big and the staff can''t be everywhere at the same time. So wait patiently until you are helped. Be polite, thank the person who helped you.

[Speysider]

I agree with this. I have a sticky on vB.com regarding the 3.8.5 hash stuff, yet people couldn't be bothered to go and even read it and end up making dud threads.

[borbole]

Originally Posted by Speysider

I agree with this. I have a sticky on vB.com regarding the 3.8.5 hash stuff, yet people couldn't be bothered to go and even read it and end up making dud threads.

Indeed. There is no point in making stickie threads anymore as no one bothers to read them.

[Speysider]

It's like the purpose of stickies on any forum are redundant. I have a few stickies on my forum myself, yet they are never read.

[ChopSuey]

Remeber, bots are still there to read them

[Xencored]

Well am done with helping or even trying to help anymore on here

The people asking for help dont appreciate anything anymore

ahh i miss the good old-days

[borbole]

Originally Posted by Animemike

Well am done with helping or even trying to help anymore on here

The people asking for help dont appreciate anything anymore

ahh i miss the good old-days

Can''t say I blame you after reading the exchange you had with that user this afternoon. Some people are like that, very selfish and un appreciative of the persons who tryt o help them. What can you do?

[Speysider]

Yeah, I miss those times too (even though I wasn't here, I looked through the history of posts made).

We post the solution 5 times and they ignore the posts.

[BirdOPrey5]

To the original poster...

I do try and search before posting but there are limits to the search that make it unpractical to use at times- such as searching for a common term that is used all over, or searching for a 2 letter word or phrase which isn't allowed... need help on an "if' statement? Can't search for it...

As to the threads here that go unanswered, you know it does bother me and I don't know why it should but it does... when I do search for something I inevitably find many threads where the question (or some other question) was asked and no one ever replied... and I'm sure someone knew the answer, hell half the time I know the answer but the thread is a year old... anyway this happens all the time. A question is posted, I know for sure someone here would know the answer to but for whatever reason it never get answered... reading the BTT's brings a tear to my eye- a question lost to the ether... what did these people do to deserve to be ignored? I guess I'll never know... but I do know even if someone doesn't know the answer it's better to reply and say that then nothing at all... even if all you say is "I read your question but really can't help you" is better than nothing and really anyone halfway knowledgeable in vB can probably at least point someone in the right direction.

And of course complaining that people BTT against the rules is ridiculous because people can't BTT because of the merge post mod.

[TruthElixirX]

I see a thread like this at least once a year longing for the good old days.