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The gulf between non-techie people and the experts is so very wide

« Reply #32 on 19/02/2008, 12:03 »
Where we 'newcomers' can help, is to remember to use a clear subject which has a bearing on the problem.

I'm certain that we have all seen postings on all forums with subjects such as:

Noob here needs help.
 
Got a bit of a problem.

My computer won't work.

And so on.

Then, there are many lines in which the poster gives his/her life story before finally getting down to the specific problem. The minimum of information is then given and others have to start asking the poster for the relevant information.

Just my rant!

Keith
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« Reply #33 on 19/02/2008, 12:23 »
I see one very, very grave danger it setting up a separate area for more technical discussions - the technical bods all withdraw to that area leaving the level of help and advice in the non-technical area much depleted.

There is a case however for setting up separate sub-forums for each new trial. For Postini that would have been far better with a sub-forum discussing all the different aspects rather than one humungous long topic.
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« Reply #34 on 19/02/2008, 12:36 »
Thank you James_H, page bookmarked for future reference.
Experience; is something you gain, just after you needed it most...
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« Reply #35 on 19/02/2008, 12:38 »
I am by no means a novice, I started of in the very early 70's with a UK101 and machine code,  Teletype tape and punch cards on a remote Main frame, To DEC for fortran programing on a PDP 11

But I know very little about networking or setting up internet and to me all the mumbo jumbo, so I have to ask simple questions, and normal get an answer that I can understand.

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You dont have to be mad to understand what PN are up to, but it helps
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« Reply #36 on 19/02/2008, 15:07 »
quote] by Petlew

 but think that the answer lays to some extent with the questioner to indicate what kind of an answer they need in the first place.


unquote...

This is exactly what I intended with the "spanners" ..... (or whatever other icon you think suitable)  Smiley
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« Reply #37 on 19/02/2008, 15:11 »
Hi Pierre

I also started my computer journey in the 70's (1977 to be exact) doing a Computer Studies O level at night school (I'd just left school and liked doing exams - I know - wierd)  We used a PDP 8E, teletype machines and punched cards for input and output, and programmed in Basic, other classes programmed on Fortran or Cobol depending on their course.

The good old days Grin

Sorry I know, off topic, but it does high-light the fact that someone may be very good in one area, but totally useless in another, so separate forums probably wouldn't help much.

John
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« Reply #38 on 19/02/2008, 15:43 »
I didnt think that was off topic at all its just shows the difficulty with spanners, whether is an adjustable one that slips or a fixed one.
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You dont have to be mad to understand what PN are up to, but it helps
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« Reply #39 on 19/02/2008, 16:22 »
It seems that the general consensus of opinion is, that the forum is the place for EVERYBODY to ask questions, and gain knowledge, but seperating the techies from the less knowledgeable would be a bad route to go down.  Generally the "i`m a newbie" is a good starting point for "conversation", but some may not like to be "graded" so "low"  and yet feel they need simple instructions to carry out the tasks.... therefore a self grading system would be to the advantage of all..... after all we have "bright spark" and other terms being used..... Cheesy
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« Reply #40 on 19/02/2008, 16:47 »
Trouble is I might need a different grade for each topic
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« Reply #41 on 19/02/2008, 17:01 »
James_H; since you were kind enough to point me (and do doubt others as well) in the right direction for .extensions earlier today. Do you know another such place to decipher the sometimes meaningless garbage that appears in the start up folder, when you're trying to reduce the number of programmes that cause slow boot etc. ?
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« Reply #42 on 19/02/2008, 22:25 »
Thanks PJ, also bookmarked.
Experience; is something you gain, just after you needed it most...
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« Reply #43 on 20/02/2008, 18:49 »
Quote from: petlew on 19/02/2008, 17:01
Do you know another such place to decipher the sometimes meaningless garbage that appears in the start up folder, when you're trying to reduce the number of programmes that cause slow boot etc. ?

I've always found that putting whatever you're not sure about into a search engine and seeing what you get back can be very helpful at learning what the internal workings of your PC mean. For instance, you might find you've got 'qttask.exe' in your start-up, so if you have a search on that you can see there's a whole page of explanations of what it is, what it does and whether you need it. You can then start educating yourself that way at the level that suits you. 

Hope this helps.

Catherine
Kind regards, Catherine Luker
Plusnet Quality Assurance Team
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« Reply #44 on 21/02/2008, 08:14 »
There is the more agressive method of stopping services/processes to see what stops working.

Not recommended, but can be 'fun' at times.
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« Reply #45 on 21/02/2008, 09:27 »
Thanks James, tried that once or twice...that's why I asked the question for a less aggressive method, didn't actually find it that much fun!!
Experience; is something you gain, just after you needed it most...
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« Reply #46 on 21/02/2008, 16:50 »
Quote from: James_H on 21/02/2008, 08:14
There is the more aggressive method of stopping services/processes to see what stops working.

I thought about suggesting that, but it's not a good idea unless you know what you're doing. I deleted 'himem.sys' once (by accident) and was then surprised that I couldn't even boot up afterwards. I later found out it's an application which allows things to be stored in memory and some versions of Windows need it to be able to run at all :-)

  Of course, if you're *really* feeling brave, you can play 'registry roulette'. Found something you're not sure about? Delete it and then see if you can reboot afterwards.... scary, DEFINITELY not recommended, but it helps you learn about what's where and what does what.
Kind regards, Catherine Luker
Plusnet Quality Assurance Team
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« Reply #47 on 21/02/2008, 21:17 »
Quote from: Oldjim on 19/02/2008, 16:47
Trouble is I might need a different grade for each topic

Well.....we have the smiley faces on the support pages which allow you to vote so I'm thinking that maybe we look at a system that allows you to add spanners (or something of that sort) to your post. On a post-by-post basis you could indicate whether this is something you understand quite well, a little, or not at all.

When it comes to whether or not this is even possible I have to admit to being a single spanner type but if it's possible I'd love to see it happen. It shouldn't be something that you have to specify on every post, and if you don't specify then expect an answer on the native techie level of whoever is replying Smiley

How does that sound?
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