I'll place this in the tech forum because most of the time that people access product support forums, it is for answers to tech problems that they are having with a product they've bought or a service they have subscribed to, although I realize that there are other reasons, as well. A discussion in the Coffee thread is what got me thinking about this but I didn't want to take that thread off-topic. My experience with product support forums has been pretty much negative because, quite often, answers are provided by people who don't represent the product or the company offering the service, but who act more like a fan club. I don't care who I get answers from as long as the answers are useful but, all too often, the answers I have gotten have been in the nature of beating me up for having asked the question in the first place. A few examples... When I ran open-source forum software in the past, the developers or someone would set up a support forum where users of the software could help one another solve problems they might have. Occasionally, one of the developers would answer a question but, since they weren't charging for the use of the software, it's understandable that they don't want to spend their days responding to problems that people might be having with it. So most of the questions were answered by other users of the software. Too often, the answers would be in the form of a beratement for having had a problem with it, to begin with. "Learn PHP and you'll know what you're doing." "Figure it out for yourself, like everyone else." "Another newbie asking stupid questions." And so on. Now, I understand that no one is obligated to help me with a problem but why answer the question if you're not even going to try? While someone will eventually come up with a helpful answer on a couple of the Apple support forums I have tried, this usually comes only after several others have attacked me for having had the problem, to begin with, as if I had personally insulted them by complaining about the product that they loved. Several years ago, I tried NutriSystem for weight loss. Combined with walking a couple of miles each morning, it worked very well. I lost more than forty pounds in a month, and I was thrilled. Then, I began having terrible pains, which got worse by the hour. It turned out to be gallstones, and I had to have my gallbladder removed. After it was all over, I mentioned that in the NutriSystem support forum, not as a complaint because I was still thrilled with how well NutriSystem had worked, but to warn people about losing too much weight too quickly. The attacks were ferocious, not from NutriSystem employees but from other people who were on the system. They accused me of lying, or they insisted that gallstones had nothing whatsoever to do with NutriSystem, and they called me a troll for blaming NutriSystem for my health problems. I didn't notice even one supportive response, yet rapid weight loss is one of the most common causes of gallstones, particularly in men. I wasn't even remotely complaining. In the same post when I reported my gallbladder problems, I had pointed out that NutriSystem works very well, but watch out for losing too much weight too quickly.
After I read comments from others before my inquiry regarding a product I changed my mind about it. With that said I ended up calling the support number, if available. Sometimes I would get help and sometimes I would get responses that didn't help at all. This is a good idea @Ken Anderson.
Apple, by the way, will provide very good support for pretty much any problem you might have with an Apple product, and even when the warranty has long run out. You don't even have to wait on the phone for someone to be available. You can just leave your number and, when someone becomes available, they will call you back. I would prefer to get answers in writing, like on a forum, because I hate talking on the telephone but they are very good about that.
One phenomenon that I have observed on some "support" forums is the "This is Your First Post So You Must Be a Troll" responses. I have never understood why someone gets attacked for being a new poster. What the actual hell?? And I have seen the same type of defensive posts Ken mentions, particularly on fan-boi forums such as Apple. The Microsoft and Dell forums I have frequented are not as hostile to complaints; I suppose they are used to them. Amazon used to have a forum that was actually useful for product support, but eventually it went the way of most with the "Authorities on All Matters" quickly stepping in to insult people asking simple questions. ("Use the Search Feature" is their battle cry, when actually answering the question would have been less keystrokes.) I think Amazon shut down their forums but I haven't looked for them in ages. The enthusiast forums (such as @John Brunner checked out for his coffeemaker questions) are a whole different ballgame. Most self-appointed coffee "experts", "foodies," "techies", "weight loss and exercise", etc. are such pompous bores that it's difficult to sift through the chaffe for an occasional helpful kernel. Then there are the car enthusiasts, sports enthusiasts, etc. Good grief, such dedication must receive special consideration in the afterlife. Wow, I'm on a roll. Must be time for coffee.
I've been on general topic forums and have not found any nastiness. This has mostly involved "the trades": -Plumbing questions -Septic tank ownership questions -Wood stove/firewood questions -Electrical questions The prior comments remind me of complaints I read on a PC forum when Lenovo removed the hard drive light from their laptops. So now, when you're starting the machine and it takes longer than usual to start up, you can't tell if the PC is still working or if it's locked up and you need to reboot. One person commented "I can still tell when my hard drive is running," without offering any insight as to how...and I don't really believe them, unless their hard drive is having mechanical issues and makes funny noises. I really don't understand. There are times that there's room for misinterpretation, and times there is not. I assume that some get joy out of being snarky. Or perhaps it's merely defensiveness.
That is a good point about the "trades" forums. Most of those people are actually know what they are talking about and are happy to help. I had a lot of good responses on an appliance forum a while back.
Yup. They know we're not gonna take their place because it takes years to become that proficient, and that most of us don't have the skills or desire to do anything but hack through the task at hand. It's the responses on other forums that speak to the ease by which the information was obtained (or its subjective nature.) They try to artificially inflate the value of what they know...this may or may not be conscious. In many cases, ever-changing technology reduces the value of learned knowledge and often makes getting up to speed on the new stuff pretty easy for newcomers. "Technology Experience" has a short half-life...it rarely accumulates, and knowledge skills are quickly turned in to a cheap commodity. Having lived and worked in the DC service economy for so long, I've experienced how your value is often determined by what you know, not what you can do. The more you share, the greater you dilute your own value. The more people think you know better than they, the higher your value. It's a precarious and shallow value. It's not as objective as "I can fix your car." Defensive positions must be taken. This can easily become part of one's personality...and all too often does.