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    I am extremely angry because of a "so-called" answerer that instead of politely verifying that I did my due diligence, rudely asked me "Are you aware what Google is?"  Of course I know what Google is; it was my second stop when the manufactuer's website didn't have anything newer.

    I've beta tested Microsoft OS's since Chicago and these people creep in every single time to do nothing but insult the professionals trying to do their jobs.  Who are these people and what can be done to cut this out?  It's this type of behavior that drives paying customers away from Microsoft to the competition.

    Saturday, January 24, 2009 4:00 AM

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    Sorry to hear that RL, I'll pass your feedback along.

    -Andrew

    Forums Product Planner, Andrew.Brenner at Microsoft.com
    Saturday, January 24, 2009 6:24 AM
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    That's the problem with a one-liner question.  Always document what you see, what you expect, what you did to try to solve the problem.  When you don't, the assumption that you never bothered researching the problem either is automatic.  And usually accurate.
    Hans Passant.
    Saturday, January 24, 2009 9:45 AM
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    It would be easier to find out who "these people" are if you quoted a particular thread.

    as for " It's this type of behavior that drives paying customers away from Microsoft to the competition", I suspect that it is extremely unlikely that the poster of such a snide question would be a Microsoft employee as they usually seem if anything to be over-polite in the forums. Also the MVP's guidelines forbid rudeness so it's unlikely to be an MVP posting it. This leaves a person that Microsoft has no influence on at all, so it's hard to see how Microsoft could be blamed for the question.

    But speaking of a moderator, it's sometimes very difficult to avoid the odd slip when replying to a question that has been asked many, many times before in the same forum (which I'm not saying that your question was). It's the old computer person thing of assuming that everything that you yourself know is common knowledge that often leads to communication problems. Often there's no ill will behind it - just a tight schedule that forces quick replies.

     

    Later note:  This is the thread, by the way

    http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itprohardware/thread/b94a39a7-9292-4e21-a3b6-b104e914f6b1

    Here's the main part of the question

    >Looking for a Vista compatible driver at the least and a Windows 7 one at best. 

    and here's the later feedback to the reply

    > The driver you are linking to is the 1.7.2.9 version which I already have and does not work with the beta.

    I can't help but thinking that, if you had said in your first post that you (only) are looking for a Windows 7 driver and that you have tried the 1.7.2.9 (Vista) version and that  it doesn't work with Windows 7, you would have got a different answer.

     

    WSS FAQ sites: WSS 2.0: http://wssv2faq.mindsharp.com WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007: http://wssv3faq.mindsharp.com Total list of WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007 Books (including foreign language titles) http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/V%20Books.aspx
    Saturday, January 24, 2009 11:43 AM
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    As the owner of all the Windows Client Forums (including Windows 7 Beta), I have to chime in here as well...

    We have very definite policies about how people must conduct themselves in any Microsoft forum, including code of conduct and a contribution agreement. The issue with the aforementioned post is that this comment is a bit snide or possibly rude, but doesn't violate any policy. The poster did not call you any names, was not inflammatory, and did not make any threats. His comment was more of an implied criticism, but that is really a matter of perspective. Our moderators in the Windows 7 Beta forums are trained to understand what type of posts violate our policy and either address the issue themselves, or escalate those posts to me. Believe me, we absolutely address violators. (see my post in this thread - 4th one down on page 6).

    I agree with Hans Passant in this thread. You can actually help yourself. Your original post did not hint that you tried anything, nor did it contain any specifics about what you were looking for. Also, when you alert us to an issue, it would be helpful if you linked the original post in question to enable us to research it. Thanks to Mike Walsh for searching for and posting the link.

    In general, if you are requesting help from other IT Pros in these forums, I would suggest your posts include (as Hans suggests):

    • What you are specifically looking for
    • What you have tried to resolve your problem
    • What your system configuration is (as applicable - I'm not suggesting that every post needs to list every spec on your box)
    • What are your assumptions, if any
    • Links to other relevant posts that you may be referring to.


    Please do take this post and the others in this thread as our commitment to help you and other participants in our forums. Please let me know if you have any concerns or questions about this or our policy. Thanks so much!

    Sincerely,

    -Tony Mann

    Windows Client IT Pro Audience Manager for Web Forums
    Saturday, January 24, 2009 3:50 PM
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    You think the answerers are bad, wait until you get a friendly little patronizing email from the moderators....lol

    At least 2 of my friends have forwarded me emails from moderators basically saying..."Moderators are the only folks on these forums that can be rude. Everyone else must kneel and pray to us or be banned."

    Learning SQL

    Sunday, January 25, 2009 12:34 AM
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    So...in closing...you 'might' get assistance if you follow the varying and complete advise of every moderator, but also include each step listed in the code of conduct, eat your wheaties, and hope someone is competent enough to answer a real question.

    Otherwise, you'll be patraonized for not answereing your own question.

    Learning SQL

    Sunday, January 25, 2009 12:39 AM
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    I agree with your points about including lots of specifics.  There's nothing worse than seeing that sort of impending car crash of a forum post... limited technical details (i.e. poster made loads of assumptions you know what they mean) but there's perhaps enough there to help them... a short-fused answerer gives some curt response or worse you get someone who clearly doesn't understand chiming in with unhelpful info and it spirals!!!

    But let's be positive! What could be done to fix this? My suggestion: Be more transparent with information

    What if initial question posts had template points filled in? (perhaps on a per-forum basis, since different problem domains have different pre-requisite knowledge, although your points listed are a great starting point for most posts):

    [A brief notice indicating to fill in or delete as appropriate]

    • Specifically looking for: <Fill in what you are specifically looking for here>
    • Actions attempted to resolve problem: <Fill in what actions you have taken to resolve problem already>
    • etc etc

    Obviously this would only be present for posts with questions, so discussion posts would not need the template.  If you're being super-user-friendly, a way to turn off template pre-filling on a per-user basis would be great (not that I'd bother personally, but some might)

    And how about about some simple indicator of posters IT experience / technical savviness / confidence?  Of course this would be somewhat subjective (lots of us think we're experts when we're not!) but it would help people hone an answer to the level (there's nothing wrong with being inexperienced, those people deserve answers too, but you'd approach them differently to a more technical person).  Yes, people could put details on their profile, but I doubt most answerers would read this usually.

    What I'm getting at are things that will help everyone raise their game.  Help the question askers help themselves, and make it clear for those answering as much as possible that will help with an answer.

    Just some well intentioned ideas.... you can take them or leave them!!

    Cheers,

    Neil

    Tuesday, January 27, 2009 4:34 PM
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    You get angry too easily.  As a professional doing your job, you should try to remember what things in life are important enough for that kind of emotion and which are not.

    I would ignore such comments.

    Dale

    Tuesday, January 27, 2009 5:46 PM