That didn't come out the way I typed it. Wonder why. Didn't even bold what I highlighted. Oh well.

absolutely EVERYTHING I've learned has been from FAQ's or trial and error. It's just sad that though I'm in the computerage, I have less knowledge shared han then the oral traditions people used to use to pass on knowledge. >

Odd everytime I come on, I help 3 to 4 people... hmmm... i don't notice people getting ignored since I usually help them... if I don't know the answer I will pass it on, and if no one else knows, well then they won't get an answer. No one gets paid to give customer support here, we are doing this free on our time, trying to help, and contribute, it's unfortunate, but if they have a problem with something, and don't get help here they should check with the vendor, namely Stardock, or winamp, or whatever program it is that they have the trouble with.

I would hope that the latter half of my message was the one more heeded. A reply that implies scorn is just as damaging to a community that is honest about their need for subscriptions to do enhancements and upgrades. I know that "No one gets paid to give customer support here." but I paid because I believe in everything that's going on here.

Sadly even an honest post worded to show both frustration and support gets flamed.

and as I said, I am one of the ones that helps here, myself and many others...

i started typing this after reading post #8
there has been some cross-posting going on, which explains how i started this:

Aneaka Frature, please take a deep calm breath.

personally, i class help threads into three groups, which need handling separately:

a) technical / software support questions (or problems) with stardock software

threads called "help", "HELP", "i need help", "please help me"

c) general question threads with meaningful titles.

i think that covers most to all of them

for class A, this is not the official support method for stardock products. so, paying customers come here, get no support, and get upset. often they are directed to email support @ stardock . com (spaces inserted so you can read it without it being converted) since there are people there who are paid to help. i suspect that is what the reference to getting paid is about.

B. once upon a time when i was new to this board i read and tried to answer all of those threads. somewhere in the last 2 years i have reached the point where i have concluded that if the person cannot give the thread a better title, i don''t want to read it. so, personally, i don''t read these threads, so i don''t try to help. i suspect this is also the case with some of the other helpful people.

C. if the question is about ObjectDock (which most of them seem to be) i ignore it since i don''t use ObjectDock. i once installed it, and used it for 3 minutes, before returning to my ObjectBar theme

however, if the question is about one of the topics i consider myself knowledgeable about then i will do my best to help. however, these are fairly rare of late.


on top of all i have just said, of late the message board has been a lot less friendly than it used to be. many of the people who have been here for ages have commented on this, and some have gone into hiding as a consequence.

so, considering that there are a lot of distressed "elders" (for want of a better word ) around, perhaps some of the posts are more terse than is normal.


bottom line from my perspective. this is a very helpful place, and the help given normally increases with the effort you make. so, if you make no effort to help yourself, people aren''t impressed.

but if you have done everything in your power, i have been known to perform minor miracles in my attempts to help

hopefully this helps answer your question
[Message Edited]

Flamed? I see no flames here. I've been on some boards where flaming is a regular exercise and so far nothing on this thread comes even close.

I think the best way if you're concerned is not just to watch what others do or don't do, but pitch in yourself and help others if you can. Some of us don't have the answer, some questions are best directed to Stardock support (which this is not). As far as I know no one expressly has board duty 24/7 and an obligation to respond to every inquiry. And some people don't just have a simple question, but want to be handcarried through things when they can't be bothered to read the site here or learn about the products they're using and want people to "help" them without making an effort to learn on their own. That does get rather frustrating.

So if you're concerned, start helping others yourself. Certainly there must be some questions you can answer or help with. Don't assume it's everyone else's responsibility.

Hey, they don't get ignored, only lets take 6 questions.

2 out of 6 are in the faq,
1 is entiridly (what keep the spellchecker so long? typed with CAPITALS
1 is already posted on the messageboard
1 is to difricult to answere,
and the last 1 we answer

I think if more people did their homework before just downloading skins without thinking about finding out how to use them (a program is necessary to use them and that is evident if one reads the info and links available on the library pages) or trying new apps there would be fewer "what program do I need" questions and such for which info is already available on this site and at Stardock's site. Have you visited the Stardock newsgroups? I browsed there for quite some time before trying any Stardock product. I also read the info about the products available via links from here to Stardock before I downloaded them. And there is much more info available now IMO than there was when I first tried WindowBlinds almost two years ago.

So for just starting out with Stardock products, yes, the basic info is there if people avail themselves of the support resources already available.

And also some people, as DavidK mentioned, try out new apps without having basic knowledge about the computers they're using. I recall one poster blaming the product for problems when he/see didn't haven't a clue of how to download and install apps to their PC. Took a while for those of us trying to help that that was actually the problem. So of course, it wouldn't work. No one trying to help was sarcastic just puzzled until through putting question after question to the poster we realized the poster hadn't actually installed the program on their PC. We explained that one couldn't run the program from the Stardock CD, the program had to be actually installed on the hard drive. And poof! the poster then disappeared.

Again, it's no one's job or obligation here to help out or provide product support. That's not really the purpose of this board. It's the user's obligation to do some of their own homework since it's their PC. People can point them to resources but no one can do it all for them. Some people just need a nudge to info or a quick answer and that's fine. I don't think people begrudge that. And some people do extend themselves beyond that to provide assistance. But that's their choice, not their obligation to do so.

Also, if you've ever tried to help someone who doesn't want to listen and turns nasty, that also discourages people from spending their own time and energy to provide assistance to those who come here frustrated and want to take it out on others. Again, this is a message board, not a support forum. As DavidK said, that people do extend themselves to help is a positive. But it's a gratuitous kindness, not an obligation.

Aneaka....in response to #17....Skinning is a comparatively 'new' entity which, though popular more and more now with the users, the skins are only being made by a relatively few people. For example, with 700,000 [nearly] members interested enough to register and make use of the skins available, even if there were 1000 skinners that would effectively average out at perhaps 700 answers to the same question/s by each.

It's fair to say that some, or many 'may' tend to feel less inclined after the first 100 or so...

Quite often the quality of answer is limited by the quality of the question...a bit of the 'GIGO' problem...

I was curious to find the post you might have made that went unanswered. Earlier today, I used that function to find Jafo's old post about the fires in Australia (I wondered how things went, I would have bounced it up... but I thought better of it) and I know it works. I couldn't find anything under your name. So, I don't know how to answer or even figure out what went wrong. If you had another name, it would be most helpful to always use the same one.

So when people who really do care a lot, and really do try a lot to help come and read a question like that, and then spend some time soul searching and maybe even getting a little defensive.. then they find the question was really only a 'what if' our of curiosity... They are not supposed to feel even a little more frustrated than they already were? How about the ones who went looking to see what happened. What about their time and concern? And how do you balance your interpretations of conjecture against their interpretations of actually living out the situations and yes getting blamed and raked over the coals many times for only trying to help?

Maybe better mousetraps would be more transparent... maybe they would be more real.

Sheesh....