Why askwoody?

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Several times I have asked a question about different issues I am having and rather than an honest answer I am ‘gently’ told to google it. So what is the point ,purpose of as woody if your mods are going to rudely tell me to search out the answer myself?

This is not really often but often enough that I wonder why I support the site and have no recourse to the all powerful mods( many are very helpful but some are not- and any attempt at a response is met with more rude answers and threats.

Arrogance is just a real turn-off.

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Can you show us any examples where users are being rude to you and perhaps more importantly being “threatened”?

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examples w/ details would simply put a target on my posts. Sorry. I am just ranting , not looking for a specific fix. Some are vengeful.

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Please remember that you can always reach out to me sb@askwoody.com if you feel that something isn’t handled appropriately.

Can you point me to the thread you are talking about?

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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I do search the Web on pretty much anything that happens to my machine that looks suspiciously wrong, or flat out wrong, before asking about it in “AskWoody”, to see if there might be already relevant answers that might have been posted already here (*) or in other forums, so there is no need for me to ask about them again. I do this for two main reasons:

(1) As a matter of courtesy, not to plaster the site with questions I could have found the answer easily myself, instead of adding unnecessarily to the work of those helpful people that would try to answer.

(2) By searching for an answer first on the Web, my questions, if not answered well enough that way, will probably be more to the point when I ask them here, while using better and more explanatory language than: “My monitor screen looks funny, what shall I do?”

And if I get an answer that reads like: “The SKPPL is probably in a garfield because of you have an immature GRS.” I’ll look up those terms on the Web before asking “Whaaaat????” Often times, doing that saves asking any further questions and then waiting to receive their corresponding explanations.

Giving the helper a “Thanks” for being of actual help is also good form.

(*) Also using the search feature on top of the brown right-hand side bar on any “AskWoody” page.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

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wavy, AlphaCharlie, Lugh, RetiredGeek

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Oscar’s reply is pretty much my point. It appears AskWoody is the LAST place you go for answers.

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Anonymous, Your point, at least as you have made it and I have understood it, seems to be that “AskWoody” is not necessary, or even useful, because one often must look for the answer elsewhere.

Mine is that there is no need to inflict questions on others here, if these have been answered already elsewhere, or even here, earlier on. My problems are mine to solve; if I can’t do that by myself after giving it a good try, then I have places, such as “AskWoody,” to take them and to ask for help. Where, in “AskWoody” at least, rarely, I might not get the answer I need.  (Emphasis on “rarely.”) Why rarely? Maybe because I do my homework before asking questions here? Or maybe who knows why; not often enough, anyways, to be a real issue for me.

Others might see this differently and are welcomed to their own views.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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wavy

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I would respectfully state that yes, Askwoody should be the last place after searching. Anything that is super easy to fix and can be figured out with a google search, it’s much more efficient to do so.

I would also hope that you see the value in the articles and newsletters as while the forums are a key part of the site, they aren’t the only part of it.

 

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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wavy

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RE: “Several times I have asked a question about different issues I am having and rather than an honest answer I am ‘gently’ told to google it.” From where I sit, that’s an honest answer and pretty good advice. Chances are that whatever problem you’re having, someone else has also had it and found the answers that they needed. When you google it, it’s all right there for you.

If it’s a question of not knowing what to ask, just say so, that you need help in defining the problem. There’s an awful lot of very sharp people here that love a good challenge.

And for what’s it worth, I think that it would be beneficial if you give Oscar’s posts a second read.

The best advice in the world is worthless if not taken. I wish you well.

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Most of the time on AskWoody, you get advices, how-tos and links to usefull information. I think that simple “google it” answer is mostly rare here. On the other hand, most of us use search engine when looking for answers.
Wish you better luck next time and dont lose faith in AW, there are lots of incredibly experianced people.

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I can’t speak for the other MVP’s, but if I reply with “use your favorite search engine” it is because there are a large number of step-by-step tutorials available on the internet for a multitude of Windows problems, and to just parrot those same excellent tutorials here on AskWoody is not efficient, nor fair to the person(s) who posted the tutorial on their own site.

I don’t think any of the MVP’s are dodging someone’s question/problem, it’s just that they are aware of readily available, accurate and explicit instructions accessible on the internet.  Some tutorials are more specific than others, and some people need that level of specificity in order to follow the instructions.  Other tutorials may be more general in structure, but provide enough information for the more experienced user to follow easily.

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Anonymous #2 here.

I have to agree with the anonymous poster that says he has a hard time getting help, or some people do have a hard time.

I use to live here anonymously on askwoody when woody ran it and it was not associated -at all- with windows secrets. People were different then, smarter on the whole, both the asker and responder. But things changed. New MVPs came in from -somewhere- and it started getting hard to have a reasonable discussion and answers.

Susan is trying to do the right thing and step in to help. Hat’s off to Susan.

But one of the reasons I do not frequent this forum any more is the attitude anonymous mentions. For example here is a post I made long ago that irked me, post-1934380. It was with one of the newer MVPs or commenter of that day.

I also had many of my posts removed after I knew they were initially posted. Nothing bad, no nasty language, nothing like that, but it disappeared.

There are a lot of good posters and responders here. I think Susan needs to weed out, or demote a few responders on occasion.

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Anonymous No. 2: I wonder if not getting a satisfactory answer to a reasonable question is a problem that mostly the Anonymous visitors to this site may encounter, because I have not noticed that myself and no one that has joined the present discussion and are registered users has agreed that this is a problem. Very occasionally, a question might not be answered, falling through the cracks, most likely. But that is a different issue.

As to comments being deleted without a cause obvious to the commenter: yes this has been an issue, and people have complained about it.

In my case, the number of such deletions, that used to be rather frequent, recently has been significantly lower: perhaps of two or three comments of no particular importance, over the last several weeks. I hope this is the general situation and not something just for me (which I seriously doubt: I am not that special). Maybe Susan has started to act already on this? Things could always improve, of course: for example having a line or two put in place of a deleted comment, explaining why it has been deleted. That might prevent some complaints from being made, with fewer of those showing up in Susan’s Inbox. Just saying.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Reading Anonymous #2 post has caused me to ask myself the question, “If I had a problem, would I turn to askwoody for help?”  My answer would be no, I would not.

That doesn’t mean that I think askwoody is a waste of time.  I think askwoody’s newsletter is first rate and I have found it helpful.  Askwoody has a lot to offer, depending on your interest, but there are other forums out there that are better suited for hardware issues, paid software issues, etc, that are more welcoming to people having problems and needing help.

I’m just a grumpy old man, but I think that Anonymous #2 has some valid points that are worth considering.

 

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FWIW, here is the post referenced by anon. #1934380

cheers, Paul

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klang

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As answer-ers you always have to stop and ask yourself “am I answering the question?”  Sometimes we post what we would do, not what the person is asking. Thank you for this thread – sometimes we have to remind ourselves of these fundamentals.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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klang

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OscarCP wrote:

Anonymous No. 2: I wonder if not getting a satisfactory answer to a reasonable question is a problem that mostly the Anonymous visitors to this site may encounter, because I have not noticed that myself and no one that has joined the present discussion and are registered users has agreed that this is a problem. Very occasionally, a question might not be answered, falling through the cracks, most likely. But that is a different issue.

As to comments being deleted without a cause obvious to the commenter: yes this has been an issue, and people have complained about it.

In my case, the number of such deletions, that used to be rather frequent, recently has been significantly lower: perhaps of two or three comments of no particular importance, over the last several weeks. I hope this is the general situation and not something just for me (which I seriously doubt: I am not that special). Maybe Susan has started to act already on this? Things could always improve, of course: for example having a line or two put in place of a deleted comment, explaining why it has been deleted. That might prevent some complaints from being made, with fewer of those showing up in Susan’s Inbox. Just saying.

“As to comments being deleted without a cause obvious to the commenter: yes this has been an issue, and people have complained about it.”

* _ ... _ *

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Cybertooth

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Sometimes, the reason for a post or a whole topic being deleted is obvious (see screenshot)… 

…but quite often indeed, the reason remains shrouded in mystery.

 

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OscarCP

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I spammed that one.  When we flag it as spam it notifies the Cleantalk and the askismet and shares the IP address with others so we can identify the spammers across all sites.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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Cybertooth

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If you had waited, you would have been able to screen-shot the same thing but with “how big is your hard drive” next to it.

Made me chuckle…

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SueW, Cybertooth, Microfix

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