I had this idea that I would use the #tech-support posts to produce high quality, useful docs.
But I don’t want to support Windows users. But they hardly ever get to choose. But it isn’t my problem. But them not using Firefox is a problem for me. But I have to learn useless things. But I learned from Mortal Kombat, “there is no knowledge that is not power.” But who does it actually help, will I ever know, and does that actually matter to what I’m doing here?
In my time in profesisonal technical support. We called the wierd border cases where we tried to help people with shit that we couldn’t honestly be expected to actually help with “best effort”.
So maybe #tech-support should have a stickie which indicates that we provide best effort support for proprietary operating systems, but we recommend all such users (if able) to switch to a list of recommended OSes for which we do have experts for?
Categories are essentially a way to kinda segregate conversations to be more manageable. Though I do want Slow Tech Support to default to maximum inclusion.
Oh, I like that! Incorporated.
Here’s an example, okay: you get a fix to your issue, but it didn’t provide instruction. I know how to do it. I read your instructions, and despite not using Windows for years, in five minutes of research, with the data you’ve given me, I’ll figure it out.
In support forums we’d prod for a solution, right? So we autogenerate our FAQs and create a database of answers. In my mind, that is a dangling thread… but as I went to snip it(!), I had this reaction described in the first post. It was strange, said something about me. Do I not want to support Microsoft with my time, and why do I think of MS when I should be considering people?
We teach Clover high level concepts ya know, love, honesty, community. Our family’s belief system is best described as “rules light”. But we do have a, hmmm, sense of service. We teach that if we are safe ourselves, we help others. That is the purpose.
If someone walked up to me in the Hub and said, “hey, my laptop keeps making Chrome my default browser, and I want to keep it Firefox, I heard you could help…” I’d cut them off with a smile and ask where their laptop is. And yet, I do not want to spend any more of our time on this issue, now…
Maybe that’s what it was: fatigue. I want to produce knowledge, but the context for this issue doesn’t generate the activation energy required to get excited. And without a sense of helping or learning, wtf would someone do casual tech support, ne?!
The practicality of these questions helped me discern how I wanted to steer talkgroup, and in v2 I don’t think I’d have this same dilemma.
Seeing how talkgroup works is similar to multiple people using a lake: everyone can kinda see what anyone is doing, but they need to get closer to become involved, while also being affected by the waves being made by anyone on the lake… I’m the kind of person to take a egregiously large ship onto the lake, broadcast my pirate radio broadcaset, and invite anyone aboard, “if you can be cool”.
Hope that helps, future generations!
Also, anyone seeking or providing technical assistance may want to check out the computing talkgroup: https://v2.talkgroup.xyz/c/computing/6. We used it to buy a car!
But we do have a, hmmm, sense of service. We teach that if we are safe ourselves, we help others. That is the purpose.