I sense a disturbance in the force...

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May 16th, 2001, 02:56 PM
Pogi

I sense a disturbance in the force...

Was in another section of these, my beloved forums, where instead of giving a helpful answer to a good and legitimate question, the person "answering" the question ranked on the hardware and software that the original poster was using. Now, both of these involved were, judging by the number of their posts, new users. And as others before me have pointed out, most participants of the WinDrivers forums strive (and succeed) to assure the WinDrivers forums far surpass the average help site when it comes to genuine helpfulness and basic civility.

So, as a reminder to us all, especially the newer members of this great community, be constructive. We've been provided with this Tech Lounge section to let our hair down and to even sometimes rank on each other, but that is to expected in this area ONLY, and only in good spirits.

That said, if I've offended anybody in the past, I'm sorry. I think of many of you as friends, and no one wants to hurt their friends.

I'll climb off my soapbox now.
May 16th, 2001, 02:57 PM
Darren Wilson

Good call.
May 16th, 2001, 03:03 PM
ephmynus

Can I have your soapbox... it's pretty.
May 16th, 2001, 03:07 PM
Who Me

Well said.
May 16th, 2001, 03:07 PM
Deity

*applause*

Well said.
May 16th, 2001, 03:13 PM
Elbatcho

Bravo Pogi,
May 16th, 2001, 03:14 PM
Wayward Clam

Agreed, well said, the problem here is you are preaching primarily to the converted. Most of the regulars at Windrivers aren't a problem, or the Moderators would have dealt with them by now. It's the new guys who don't know what sort of place this is and what kind of company the people here are trying to be who rock the boat and risk causing trouble for the rest of us.

I'm not dissing this post, anyone who reads this will know how they are supposed to behave now. I guess maybe if I have a suggestion it might be a small reminder somewhere, like over the "Post a Reply" box, that flames or unhelpful comments aren't welcome... maybe one written by someone other than me, who can word things better than this... :confused: you know what I mean, though!
May 16th, 2001, 03:21 PM
Antimatter

I'll drink to that!
May 16th, 2001, 03:33 PM
TheoneDKS

Well said Pogi, our new members sometimes need to be informed of this. This unlike some other forums is flame resistant. Not a place to just jizz people off.
May 16th, 2001, 03:39 PM
PuterGeekGirl

GO POGI!!! :D :D
May 16th, 2001, 03:41 PM
SNAFU

Quote:

Originally posted by Antimatter:
I'll drink to that!

Said almost as well as Pogi!!
:D :D
May 16th, 2001, 03:43 PM
d0cman

here, here! ;)
May 16th, 2001, 03:53 PM
Melmac

Good call. I am in total agreement. Except...I motion that we still be allowed to pick on Insane Monkey. :D :D :D

LOL....j/k
May 16th, 2001, 04:45 PM
Cable Modem Tech

TRUE TRUE TRUE..... the lounge is for fun but the rest of the site should mantain some profesionalism!
May 16th, 2001, 05:12 PM
Lycia

Yeah, I hate when seeing a post from some one asking for say a good cheap card, and some one suggest a Gforce3 or a Radeon DDR!!
Or if some one asks for help, their only response is reinstall windows!
May 16th, 2001, 05:38 PM
Pogi

Quote:

Originally posted by Lycia:
Or if some one asks for help, their only response is reinstall windows!

That's a disease called "Reinstallzhimers".
May 16th, 2001, 05:53 PM
ShadowKing

Right, almost ALL problems should be able to be fixed without a reinstall. I know that if I do not know the answer to the problem, I don't attempt to answer it. To keep on topic though, we need to let the new people know that we are here to help, even the basic users, not put down.
May 16th, 2001, 06:37 PM
CobraTekMax

Quote:

Originally posted by ShadowKing:
I know that if I do not know the answer to the problem, I don't attempt to answer it.

Bingo.
May 16th, 2001, 06:51 PM
ShadowKing

Quote:

Originally posted by Cobra!:
Bingo.

I never ceases to amaze me how many people don't know and still tell them "Well just wipe and reinstall".

I know your dog pooped on the floor, just shoot him and buy another...
May 16th, 2001, 07:15 PM
BurnFEST

Quote:

Originally posted by ShadowKing:
I never ceases to amaze me how many people don't know and still tell them "Well just wipe and reinstall".

I know your dog pooped on the floor, just shoot him and buy another...

Good analogy shadowking, i like it :)

Maybe we should do something so that when a new user signs up, they are informed of this.

Well said Pogi, i'm in total agreement here :D
May 16th, 2001, 07:51 PM
ilovetheusers

Quote:

Originally posted by Pogi:
That's a disease called "Reinstallzhimers".[/B]

I have this disease. At least I did until I found Windows 2000. It seems to have gone away. I was actually able to fix something the other day on my server that another Reinstallzhimer recomended a reinstall for.

Oh, and I didn't feel any great disturbance in the force. A ripple maybe. Dunno. Jedi powers on the fritz again.
May 17th, 2001, 02:38 AM
Mr_Miyagi

good on ya.

this place (windrivers) has quite a rep, for solving problems and being real friendly. I've certainly found everyone "nice"; no mattter what their experience (# postings)

thats how it should be.
May 17th, 2001, 06:52 AM
LPetrarca

Good call! Not all of us can have the best of everything. That's why we need to rely on each other for help now and then. Flaming and dissing does no one any good. No one should be afraid to ask a question for fear of being flamed or dissed.

"Can't we all get along?"
May 17th, 2001, 08:06 AM
Radical Dreamer

We have problems like this from time to time, but the flamer ends up getting bored or getting banned
May 17th, 2001, 12:57 PM
Larommi

[soapbox]
This is a good thread that I hope everyone reads. That is my biggest pet peeve! Read the modem section and look at what happens if someone says they have a winmodem or Motorola. There is always a few responses that claim that they are junk. Well, no kidding! Do you think? How about the person asking the question? Do you think they want to hear that? What if that is all they can afford? Lots of us are techs and dont work on our own machines. Are you gonna tell your customer that their stuff is junk and they are idiots for buying it? I think not. Thanks for bringing this up Pogi! :D

Lycia, also makes a great point. If reinstalling Windows was the answer to everything then why bother asking a question? Slash and Burn windows repair is the last thing a good tech thinks of with the exception of time restraints and good backups. I am all for fixing the problems but sometimes it is not time efficiant. I give Slash and Burn the big thumbs down.

I might add my own comment now. If you ask a question and fix the problem, please post the solution. It keeps the threads from going 5 pages for a person that is not even reading it. It will also give the moderators an idea if it can be closed or not. Also, give all the details when asking a problem so we dont have to ask the obvious questions like "what brand?" and "what version?" If you ask a question DO NOT FLAME the people trying to help.

To the people that post. If someone asks for your opinion on a product or situation, give your opinion and leave it at that. There is no need to put down other peoples opinions. They are just that, opinions. What works for one, may not work for another. The person who asked then simply has to make their decision.

A little common courtisy[sp?] goes a long way in these boards.
[/soapbox]
May 17th, 2001, 01:03 PM
Elbatcho

It's the golden rule, do onto others as you would have done onto you. I always try and help, if I know whats going on I jump in, if I don't have a clue I stay clear. I read alot of the other forums to see what's going one but I don't know squat about linux and everyone's website looks great so I really don't comment it those areas. As a group we should be think as theif's and even though we do rib each other alot in the tech lounge it should never carry over into the other forums.
May 17th, 2001, 04:09 PM
Imon Fyre

[chant]Pogi, Pogi, hes our man...
What he said, no-one can!![/chant]
May 17th, 2001, 05:44 PM
Larommi

Quote:

Originally posted by Imon Fyre:
[chant]Pogi, Pogi, hes our man...
What he said, no-one can!![/chant]

LOL!! :p
May 17th, 2001, 05:48 PM
Darren Wilson

And it is not just on the Forums either but in the Chat room too.

Whatever people do to try to make things right, you get nothing but grief.....
May 18th, 2001, 12:32 PM
WebHead

I always hear many people dissing "reinstall's" Personally, I don't even call it a "reinstall" I call it a "clean install". Anyway, I don't see what the problem is with doing a "reinstall". Back in the early 90's of course it was a big pain in the butt to reinstall Windows and start over if you needed to. The machines were much slower, and so forth, but with the fast PC's out there now, I can slap together a box, and install Windows 9x or Me on it in less than an hour. So why would I waste my time troubleshooting a hosed OS, when I just wipe out the drive and make a clean start?
May 18th, 2001, 12:56 PM
mhull616

I agree, that is the only reason I still come to this site
May 18th, 2001, 01:02 PM
Pogi

Quote:

Originally posted by CrüeHeäd:
So why would I waste my time troubleshooting a hosed OS, when I just wipe out the drive and make a clean start?

You raise an excellent point, and very well put, too. There are times when a CI is indeed the only way to get a PC runnin' and hummin' again. I try, though, not to get in the mindset that a CI is the only way to go.
May 18th, 2001, 01:15 PM
ShadowKing

Quote:

Originally posted by CrüeHeäd:
I can slap together a box, and install Windows 9x or Me on it in less than an hour...

Thats the easy part, the problem is that the user usually has personal data on the hard drive, saved who-knows-where, and 27 pieces of software and shareware installed and customized to their liking... They are also very familiar with the way things "Were before you messed with it".

I upgraded my Grandma to Win2k, because she was having some stability issues, and she hated it because it had such a different startup screen, and was "nothing like" Win98...
May 18th, 2001, 01:54 PM
Larommi

You have to remember that not everyone is using cutting edge parts. Or using parts that you can find support for. So you format a drive and can't get a device to work. So that $XX modem install turns into a bill for
$XX OS install
$XX for replacement part to that thing you cant find drivers for.
$XX in lost time...for a customer to reinstall software and restore backed up data.

As a customer I would be p*ssed!
Now I agree that there is a certain amount of time that should be given before it is easier to Slash n Burn, but that mindset of repair is dangerous. It is the last thing I think about when working on someone elses machine. Besides when you get into dealing with servers it becomes even more important that you can repair the problem.
May 18th, 2001, 02:30 PM
WebHead

The parts don't even have to be "cutting edge". A pentium 200mmx w/ 32-64mb ram, a 2gb hdd, and a 24x cdr drive is plenty good enough. And for the customization party of it,... I usually take a screen shot of the desktop and the start menu, and then print it out so I can put all the appropriate icons back where they were before. That way the user will think everything is still in the same place. And as far as data and files and the related go, there's several easy methods. 1) Create a new folder on a working PC, slave one hdd to another, and drag and drop files to the folder. 2) Or burn a CD of all the data and files, and then give that CD to the customer with a little advice on what to do with the CD and how to retrieve files from it. Anyway, you guy's already know all this stuff. I just think it's senseless to give yourself a headache trying to troubleshoot these hosed OS's.
May 18th, 2001, 02:35 PM
WebHead

Quote:

Besides when you get into dealing with servers it becomes even more important that you can repair the problem

I agree with that though. Notice how I never mentioned Win NT or 2000.

But I'm just talking about the average Joe who just wants a PC to check his email with and doesn't want to hear a tech telling him all this mumbo jumbo about "registry" and "blah blah blah" and "$50.00" just to install a sound card, and doesn't want to wait 10 days or whatever for his PC to get repaired while a tech is busy in the background try to manually configure IRQ's, etc.