Post Clearly; Read Posts Carefully; Repsond to Them Intelligently

[DBF]

Recently, in this newsgroup and in other forums, I posted a problem I have
been having with my computer. That problem has been solved, but the process
was horribly frustrating. Most of it was the fault of the people reading my
posts, but a small amount was mine.
IF YOU RESPOND TO SOMEONE'S REQUEST FOR HELP:
Here is how you can help others from being frustrated:
1) Please READ the problem carefully and completely. Even after I would
place the words, "Please read carefully before responding!", at the
beginning of the post, I received numerous replies which indicated that the
responder hadn't read it completely.
2) UNDERSTAND the problem before responding. Make sure you know what the
person needs and what the person is asking before you respond.
3) DON'T GUESS! If you need more information, ask for it.
4) If YOU DON'T KNOW THE ANSWER, don't answer! (See #3 & #4 above: DON'T
GUESS!)
5) NOT EVERY problem is solved by:
a) Reinstalling the operating system,
b) Going to the web site for the latest drivers (especially when XP
doesn't need the drivers for the particular item)
c) Flashing the BIOS
d) Reformatting the hard drive
e) Doing a VIRUS scan.
Some problems are solved by just finding the right person who knows the
right answer.
6) Make sure you are sober and can respond coherently when you answer a
post. There is one response that I have no freaking idea what the guy was
trying to say. He may have had the solution, but I'll never know.

IF YOU POST A QUESTION OR PROBLEM:
For those of you who are posting problems to be solved, you have to give a
lot of information and make it as clear as possible in case the people who
try to respond don't read 1-6 above.
1) Use as much of the space as possible in the "SUBJECT" or "TOPIC" line to
explain the problem in a way that will attract someone who knows the answer.
"Hard drive problem" doesn't tell anyone anything. "Hard drive error
message:' The specified service does not exist as an installed service'."
says a lot more.
2) Tell the reader everything you can about your problem. Leave out nothing.
But do it in a way that it can be read as quickly as possible. You don't
want to lost your audience. STICK TO THE FACTS.
3) Tell the reader everything you can about your system. I keep a notepad
file with just my "signature" line:
Intel D865GBF MoBo, P4, 2.8GHZ, 512MB
Maxtor 160GB HD, WDC 160GB HD, Iomega Zip, MysteryBrand CDRW and DVD,
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200.
WINXP Home, fully patched and upgraded.
All software and hardware patches installed and updated; checked
monthly.

....and I constantly add to it, when I find something is missing. (Like
I just noticed that I have no modem info in my signature).
4) There are a lot of tech support forums out there. I posted my problem at
the microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware newsgroup (four or five times; never
got an answer; got lots of bad advice and guesses). I also used:
Tech Support Guy - http://forums.techguy.org
Hardware Analysis - http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/
TechSupport Forum - http://www.techsupportforum.com/

Tech Support Guy found me the answer in a matter of hours.

Anyway, if people POST intelligently and READ intelligently, solutions will
come faster and easier.

Dave

 

[DBF]

Right after I posted this I saw a post where a guy did a very good job of
explaining his problem and his first line read:
"I have a System running Windows XP Pro with **all patches and updates
applied**." (** added by me for emphasis)
The first and only line of the response, posted by an MVP no less, was:
"You need to **update** to Windows XP SP1...."
To which the courteous poster replied:
"Sorry, it has XP Pro with Service Pack 1a and **all updates and patches
already applied**"
He had no need to apologize; he had already pointed this out once!
Just one example.

Dave

 

[JAX]

"Most of it was the fault of the people reading my posts, but a small amount
was mine."

That's interesting. Who messed up your machine in the first place?

JAX

 

[Cerridwen]

"Most of it was the fault of the people reading my posts, but a small
amount was mine."

That's interesting. Who messed up your machine in the first place?

JAX

PMSL!! Well said, JAX, I couldn't have put it better myself!

 

[DBF]

Jax,
I'm not sure what your question means.
I meant the fault of the responding posts not correctly addressing the issue
was mostly the fault of the responders, and to a lesser degree mine.
The issue of who is at fault for the problem on my computer was never a
factor.
The problem with my computer, **which is irrelevant to this topic**, is one
that has occurred to other users, and is not attributable to user action,
but some odd anomaly within WindowsXP. It causes this error message: ' The
specified service does not exist as an installed service'. It causes the
system to keep trying to install drives and other devices with the New
Hardware Wizard each time the system boots and leaves a yellow "BANG" symbol
next to the device in the device manager, even thought the device works
perfectly. i.e. stores data, partitions, defragments, etc with no problem.
It is resolved by deleting a LowerFilter (and sometimes, the UpperFilter) in
the corresponding key in the registry.

(BTW, I noticed that my dyslexia caused me to spell "Respond" incorrectly in
my subject line. )

 

[DBF]

Jeez, get a grip, guys. I wasn't trying to blame anyone with the problems on
my computer. And for the record, I am an above-average computer user and if
I had knowingly caused the problem I would have known the solution, too.
But that wasn't the point of my post anyway.
The point is that, during the course of several weeks of trying to find the
solution, people would make posts without having read the entire problem or
without having enough understanding to answer the question intelligently. Or
they would give "boilerplate" answers which wouldn't have solved the problem
if I had followed them.
When I finally did get the answer, it was someone who knew exactly what he
was talking about and in 5 easy steps explained what no one else could. He
had read the problem fully and understood it.

 

[Guest]

We all dont need to help the people that post a question here. We do it with kindness and respect to the people that are in need of assistance like we all were at some point
People on this and anyother newsgroup might not know how to properly post a question, they **learn** by the replys we send them

I go these newsgroups to help not to be lectured............

All the best.

 

[JAX]

This is a P2P news-group. It is up to the reader to determine what applies
to them. Many times the OP thinks they have made the point perfectly clear,
it may be clear, only to him. Sometimes, the OP rambles on to a point where
people get tired of reading it and think they have the gist of the topic and
quit reading.

With the exception of a few who post insults, etc., the suggestions are an
honest attempt to help the OP. Many posters are new computer users and think
they have the answer to questions they don't fully understand. Unless
someone sends you to the registry with bad information, there is little harm
done anyway.

I am glad to hear that your problem was finally resolved.

BTW, you get a D in spelling! <grin>

JAX