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frustrated efforts

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by orpheum 1 view

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to all the ambitous members in hardware support forums,

i've recently come across a discovery which upset me to say the least. i, for one have joined tech republic's forums to avoid paying a more skilled technician than myself hefty sums for techsupport in areas i haven't mastered yet.i often browse through the questions posted on this site quite often i find questions which i can guarantee were answered correctly by our helpful members only to find that the 'member' posting the question has neglected to rate the answer(s).
shame on you who do this! if you were to call microsoft tech support and pay $200 an incident you would not receive such accurate and sincere support as i have found here in our forums.
all i'm saying is when you offer points for this vital assistance, and you are presented a concrete answer, don?t try and find some bull reason why it didn?t work. Most of the time even i can clearly assess that the rebuttal is quite inept. give up the points when it is obvious you are trying to weasel out of compensation.

10 replies

by timwalsh

Orpheum,

Welcome to the world of TechRepublic.

You have discovered one of the many frustrating points that we all experience. This is nothing new. Unfortunately, there are those out there who feel they have to get something for nothing (eventhough TechPoints don't cost anything - nor are they really worth anything). I guess it makes them fell good that they can "beat the system." Whatever!

Over time I think you will find that posters fall into 4 categories:
1. Those who never rate answers to their questions.
2. Those that reject all answers and close the question(thereby not awarding points), even though one or more answers were obviously correct.
3. Those that do rate answers and close the question without any comment.
4. Those that take the time to say thanks, or even send a personal email expressing thanks.

For me, all it takes is a couple of those in the last category, to wipe out all the rudeness of those in the first two. I currently have 285 answers posted that were never rated. There is another large number of answers that fall into the second category above (there are other regular participants who have far more than I).

If you're concerned about accumulating points so that you can ask questions, check out the FAQs to find the other ways you can get points. If you have lots of questions, it's just a matter of rationing the points. I will (usually) put as much effort into answering a question regardless of whether it is worth 5 or 500 points.

Given that TechPoints are really only good for "bragging rights" (or asking questions), for me it's not about the points. It's about helping others. I know that sentiment is shared by many of the others that frequent this forum. Yes, allthe rude people will continue to frustrate us, but the few who really express their gratitude for being helped out of a sticky situation make it worthwhile.

by orpheum

good outlook, man. i respect your angle.
however, i had to reject, otherwise the discussion would automaticly close and could receive no more replies.

by dcosgrove

Great reply Tim, I echo your sentiments. I rarely, if ever, take the time to check the point values or the poster. It would be nice if this was a perfect world, but it's not. I think by nature, the people who answer these questions are not seeking much in return. Think of your question, "i, for one have joined tech republic's forums to avoid paying a more skilled technician than myself hefty sums", being an independent IT pro, helping you here may be costing ME those hefty sums of money. Iappreciate the sentiment, but it's more complex than it appears. Don't let it get to you.

by dragonnite

Orpheum,

Many members of this forum share the same disappointment in those that try to "beat the system". Tech Points is a wonderful program of this forum that I have not really takes advantage of. Although the acculation of points personally does not mattered to me other then the benifit of having enough points to ask questions (which I haven't yet -being a member for over 4 years). On a lighter note, I see that you have not rated your posting either!!!! hehehe I WANT THAT "0" POINTS.

Dragon

by orpheum

i'm glad you find my comment amusing. i won't even poke fun at your pedestrian use of the english grammer system. but some of us take this forum quite seriously. i've browsed through topics which certainly did not pertain to my work or hobbies at all, however , i always took away something from what i've read which sometimes stuck in the back of my mind and later helped me solve another crisis.

as for not rating my answer...i don't believe this is a q & a session which merits an acceptable/unacceptable answer.. but thanx for your 2 cents anyway.. i couldn't see myself stooping to your level to reply to that..but yet i just did.

by timwalsh

Note to Orpheum,

Since you have now stated that this question was meant to be a discussion and not a question worth rating as either Acceptable or Not Acceptable, it would have been more proper to post this question in the Discussion Center.

Note 2: You can rate an answer as being Acepted without closing the question. According to the FAQs there is an option to "Leave Question Open."

Note 3: Please be nice to those who take the time to post an answer. Dragon was merely pointing out (chidingly) that you were exhibiting the same behaviour about which you were complaining (i.e. rejecting ALL answers regardless of the points (0) being offered).

by orpheum

hey there tim,
first : i don't know how many people from the q&a forum read discussions, specifically people who answer high point value questions. i never checked them out. and SO WHAT if i'm into the whole rewards program more than you are or the next guy?! doesn't make me less of a source for valuable support, does it? as a matter of fact, one may argue that when performing a task for payment, one feels more obligated to complete the task avidly, more so than one who feels they're doing another guy a favor (i.e. microscoffed tech supp).
so let's not weigh and measure our intentions for posting q & a's, okay?

second : really?!?
when i look, all i see on the bottom of the page is
"Submit ratings and close question (no more answers can be posted)
Submit only unacceptable ratings and leave the question open for more answers. "
i don't have a 3rd option. do you?
how bout you post a question, accept the answer, and see if the board lets you keep accepting more correct answers and payout the points you posted to multiple people. wouldn't make sense would it?

and 3rd i have awarded many, many points to correct answers, so being called a hippocrite as well as being misquoted by you was quite insulting....
but i realize you are just voicing your opinion so it's all good.

PS i said nothing about 'rejecting ALL answers regardless of the points (0) being offered'. i think if you scroll up to the top of this page, you'll read what i said and clearly what i meant.

thank you all for your wonderful input and output here.

this topic was meant to be opinionated and not personally critical of anyone.

by orpheum

oh
and here's a conditional apology for dragon.
i'm sorry for ripping on your lingual skills, however, you have to swear to read your own words before submitting them and aside for spelling errors, make sure the words come together as a sentence before submitting, okay?

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