Filter Out Support Seekers From Technibble

[l337]

well from what ive seen and whats written it appears technibble is more for techs helping fellow techs kinda thing. but i see from time to time someone comes looking for help and they get slamed harsh but so they should thats not what the forums are here for (so i assume)

i was thinking during registration maybe a few simple tech questions could be asked to see if the user has even the slightest bit of pc knowledge just to make things easier and run smother.

once again this is just an idea nothing more.

cheers

[Methical]

And what, basing the results of the questions, add the user to a category based on tech knowledge?
That sounds like a good idea, so people don't get raped for asking simple questions.

But any user registering can easily google all questions and find the correct answer to all questions

[reesk92]

tbh i dont think non techs should be alowed because its gonna create a race of super ignorant noobs who lecture you because you arnt doing the job properley because they hang aroung in technibble and they dont agree bullshit


it will be worse than theose parents who go

well my sone who is good at computers said that it should be a simple os reinstall and shoutl be no more than 60 bucks

**** your son the matter is you just need to clean up viruses and then its up to you to stop your son from going on dodgey porn and downloading GODD DAMN FREE SCREENSAVERS AND BLOODY WHAREAZ VERSIONS OF OFFICE

jeesh any way back to topic i think at the verry least they should not be able to view the tech threads

[Blues]

I have brought this up before and the result Bryce reworded something to say this is a site for techs. The issue of a means to keep them out well nothing could be found that wasn't creating a deterence for real techs to join.

[reesk92]

well that dosent help because if it says a site for techs then alittle light bulb goes on in their heads saying BINGO now i can learn all the techs secrets which besides our tools wehave none and our tools are really easy to get any way

[TimeCode]

Lately I've felt a bit like the campus cop. I'm glad to see that I am not alone in my thinking. That being said, I think we need Bryce to chime in because it is his website and we are only visitors.

[reesk92]

well that is true but also we are more than vistors we are consumers he may know the direction he wants his site to go but if ennough people want a change then its stupid to refuse yes we need bryce to help clarify things on the seperation issue but if we seperate them in the forums do we also seperate them from the main site as that is tech based to or do we make the entire site membership only i dont think bryce is prepared to cut of what must be 30% of his viewer market and besides any idiot could cheat a test to get in maybe having som,e kind of system where members nominate users to become get tech level membership i dont know

[abe]

Hi all,

while i do think that the idea mentioned by I337 (?) is a very good idea, even though one could google for the answers, if they can use google they will google there problem so they wouldn't come here for the answers anyway, and i don't think anyone will spend time googling, they will simply just go away,

but what i don't understand is why does it disturb you if they come looking for support, they can come looking for it but we don't have to give it, just ignore a question that doesn't seem to be coming from a tech, and let it disappear and if it looks interesting we could try help them solve it, not that i want them to solve it,I would rather they take it to a tech for there own sake, but if its something we haven't seen yet lets troubleshoot it and gain some more experience, and besides they will probably just mess it up even further and end up taking it to a tech, so no lost business for us.

Abe

[reesk92]

Hi all,

while i do think that the idea mentioned by I337 (?) is a very good idea, even though one could google for the answers, if they can use google they will google there problem so they wouldn't come here for the answers anyway, and i don't think anyone will spend time googling, they will simply just go away,

but what i don't understand is why does it disturb you if they come looking for support, they can come looking for it but we don't have to give it, just ignore a question that doesn't seem to be coming from a tech, and let it disappear and if it looks interesting we could try help them solve it, not that i want them to solve it,I would rather they take it to a tech for there own sake, but if its something we haven't seen yet lets troubleshoot it and gain some more experience, and besides they will probably just mess it up even further and end up taking it to a tech, so no lost business for us.

Abe

abe the initial problem was not that we didnt want them coming in it was that we didnt want them getting ripped on for being in expirienced the idea then eveolved to include having them segregated from the tech part of the site so they couldnt give bunk advice and so they dont start becoming jhonny know it all when they come for help many want technibble to be a vip place for techs

[abe]

hi reesk92,
abe the initial problem was not that we didn't want them coming in it was that we didn't want them getting ripped on for being in experienced

where did you get that idea from,

the idea then eveolved to include having them segregated from the tech part of the site so they couldnt give bunk advice and so they dont start becoming jhonny know it all when they come for help many want technibble to be a vip place for techs



I'm sorry i don't fully comprehend what you are saying and noticing your posts in this thread i think you should think twice before you hit the submit button and you should learn how to use a spell check, they are free.

[reesk92]

[QUOTE=l337;33742]. but i see from time to time someone comes looking for help and they get slamed harsh but so they should thats not what the forums are here for (so i assume)

i
cheers[/QUOTbecuse thats what the first post says

[abe]

[QUOTE=l337;33742]. but i see from time to time someone comes looking for help and they get slamed harsh but so they should thats not what the forums are here for (so i assume)

i
cheers[/QUOTbecuse thats what the first post says

please read

but i see from time to time someone comes looking for help and they get slamed harsh but so they should thats not what the forums are here for

p.s. i think you should use the preview post button.

[ProTech Support]

[QUOTE=reesk92;33803]

please read

but i see from time to time someone comes looking for help and they get slamed harsh but so they should thats not what the forums are here for

p.s. i think you should use the preview post button.

Translation=

"I see from time to time that someone comes looking for help and they get slammed harsh, but they should because thats not what the forums are here for"

/end translation

[PatrickB]

Maybe it has been a problem in past months and years, but this currently appears to be a non-issue. Even techs can learn something from those type of questions. If you are concerned, then simply ignore those requests for help.

Another approach would be not to answer questions from anyone that has less than 5 or 10 postings. That would filter out the folks who drop in to ask a question and are never heard from again.

-- Patrick B.

[TimeCode]

Maybe it has been a problem in past months and years, but this currently appears to be a non-issue. Even techs can learn something from those type of questions. If you are concerned, then simply ignore those requests for help.

Another approach would be not to answer questions from anyone that has less than 5 or 10 postings. That would filter out the folks who drop in to ask a question and are never heard from again.

-- Patrick B.

My contention with noobs posting here has nothing to do with the possibility of them getting bashed but with them taking business away from from a tech. I know the odds are that I won't get the job but at least I can try to protect the income of someone who does this professionally. If we give the info freely we are devaluing that tech's services as well as our own.

There are MANY other forums on the web they can use that are for end users. So why should we cater to them here?

And I've seen it time and time again, we can't just ignore posts here... Someone, out of the goodness of their heart, will answer the question. I applaud them for being so generous but I am a capitalist and I want to protect all of us.

@ProTech Support,
Thank you for the translation. I often have no idea what he is trying to say.

[abe]

My contention with noobs posting here has nothing to do with the possibility of them getting bashed but with them taking business away from from a tech. I know the odds are that I won't get the job but at least I can try to protect the income of someone who does this professionally. If we give the info freely we are devaluing that techs services as well as our own.

There are MANY other forums on the web they can use that are for end users. So why should we cater to them here?

i don't think we will be taking to much business away from other techs, we tend to make more money on things that were "fixed" already, but I think that having some basic tech questions, as I337 said is a great idea, if they know the answer then they know something, and if they spend the time to google and work the answers out, then at least they have a decent interest in computers and may very likely become techs in the near feature.

Maybe some simple questions from the A+ test.

Abe

[purple_minion]

Really need a little less run on sentences.

Anyway, I joined technibble because I love computers and am doing this kind of stuff anyway. I know I'm not a "tech" since I don't have a business... however it has sparked an interest in BECOMING one someday soon I hope. I saw what you guys were doing and I went "I'm doing some of that already! Why not get paid?" I have learned A LOT from reading the back articles and forum posts, could probably write a book if I wanted. There is so much good info here but it seems lately it's being diluted. Seems it went downhill the moment it was featured on digg or slashdot or whatever. It was a quiet place in the corner of the web which then got spotlighted and everyone and their brother thinks that since these people do it for a living they are good and I can get free help there.

While some may think that they'll screw it up more, which may be true, what about the wasted time on a simple problem? I would rather see questions that a TECH has used his years of experience to try and diagnose, has done a google search and still comes up empty. THOSE are the good ones and you will most likely learn more from the difficult ones then the "unplug the router" ones. You may never see that particular issue in your life, but you will have a deeper understanding of the process and underlying issues then before. I view it as the same with virus's, sure you can just do a reformat every time, but if you learn to remove even a few you'll learn a lot more, from which tools to use to where and how they hide to how to fix issues like network connectivity when removing the virus breaks things.

I found it very refreshing to see professional people with much more substance then they usual "end user forums" where joe sixpack can't spell, can't use punctuation, doesn't make sense, and still never ever posts if whatever advice was given helped. I'm also tired of seeing thread hijacks when I'm looking for problem A and they come in asking a completely unrelated question because they are too stupid to start a new thread, and the only reason they are there is because google found the word "the" in the posts. I haven't seen much of that here yet, but at this rate it's only a matter of time.

Yeah you could ignore questions, but why should you have to wade through 2-3 times the volume when you shouldn't have to? As for discouraging techs from joining, tough. If you become a business owner while learning to run a business, starting a business, taxes, insurance, advertising, bookkeeping, etc. and you find it too difficult to answer a few questions or heaven forbid wait a week or 10 posts or whatever then you shouldn't be here or in business as far as I am concerned. If you have read the content and deem it useful then you can wait or jump the hoops and appreciate what they are trying to do. No one bitches they have to enter 3RT56 to sign up to keep spam and bots away, this is the same thing... helping to filter out the junk, just like no one wants to go through spam.

/RANT OFF

[reesk92]

My contention with noobs posting here has nothing to do with the possibility of them getting bashed but with them taking business away from from a tech. I know the odds are that I won't get the job but at least I can try to protect the income of someone who does this professionally. If we give the info freely we are devaluing that tech's services as well as our own.

There are MANY other forums on the web they can use that are for end users. So why should we cater to them here?

And I've seen it time and time again, we can't just ignore posts here... Someone, out of the goodness of their heart, will answer the question. I applaud them for being so generous but I am a capitalist and I want to protect all of us.

@ProTech Support,
Thank you for the translation. I often have no idea what he is trying to say.
thats the point i was trying to get across well done

[purple_minion]

Perhaps to the support seekers we need a simple blunt line when signing up saying "End users who are not technicians please google (http://www.google.com) your issue." Also for the ones that don't heed that a simple "google it" would perhaps get the message across as well.

[reesk92]

that sounds good or we could all just ask them complex qusstions that would scare them off

[ifelloutofatree]

tbh i dont think non techs should be alowed because its gonna create a race of super ignorant noobs who lecture you because you arnt doing the job properley because they hang aroung in technibble and they dont agree bullshit


it will be worse than theose parents who go

well my sone who is good at computers said that it should be a simple os reinstall and shoutl be no more than 60 bucks

**** your son the matter is you just need to clean up viruses and then its up to you to stop your son from going on dodgey porn and downloading GODD DAMN FREE SCREENSAVERS AND BLOODY WHAREAZ VERSIONS OF OFFICE

jeesh any way back to topic i think at the verry least they should not be able to view the tech threads


Gee reesk did you get out of the wrong side of bed this morning? :) - We could just ignore them as another poster suggested - they will get bored and go away or else have a separate topic for them to post in and those of us who don't mind helping can help them. Alternatively, (she said with a devious grin) We could give them really silly advice that sounds technical and sit back and have a giggle when they cover their processors in paste like some photos we've seen recently ........ they do say women are evil:cool:

[abe]

"they do say women are evil" yeah I agree (i hope my wife doesn't see this post :) )

[TimeCode]

Alternatively, (she said with a devious grin) We could give them really silly advice that sounds technical and sit back and have a giggle when they cover their processors in paste like some photos we've seen recently ........ they do say women are evil:cool:

You MUST know my wife. ;) :D She is a high school teacher and loves doing things like these to her less interested or more annoying syudents.

[Bryce W]

As the others have said, we need to keep this site for techs and the knowlegable as there are a bazillion technical support forums out there.

Now, the fun part is how to filter a wannabe tech who is asking questions so they can eventually make their way into the business and become a tech..or a actual tech that has hit a problem he/she has never seen before and need some help... and a newbie?

I dont think there is any good way I can set a hard limit like a quiz before registering or a minimum post count or anything. Chances are that will deter actual technicians as well.

I recommend we each use our own judgement to determine if its a tech or a newbie. Most of the time it has been fairly easy:
"hey i was on msn and i clicked a link and now i am infected with a virus plz help :("

I recommend we just respond with (you can use this as a template):

"Hello, this forum is for technicians and since we pay our bills by charging for technical help we cant really provide it here for free.

If you want free help (which can sometimes be dangerous) you can goto this site: http://www.whatever-help-site-you-want.com

If you would like pay for a real technician to help you out (instead of random answers from people online who dont know what they are doing), post your suburb/town and country and a technician may get in contact with you if they live close to you."

[TimeCode]

If you would like pay for a real technician to help you out (instead of random answers from people online who dont know what they are doing), post your suburb/town and country and a technician may get in contact with you if they live close to you."


I like that... That way we can send some business to other TechNibblers while keeping the noobs at bay.

[Bryce W]

Well, I figure if they only want free help, they go away and dont waste the time of any Techs... and if they do want to pay for help we might be able to give a technician on these boards some work rather than being all "go away noob" to them.

[thor999]

Make it a DONATE site. If you feel the business kit was w/ some $$$ (I certainly did), why shouldn't access to this site be as well? I guarantee there isn't a one of us posting on at least a weekly basis that wouldn't be willing to fork over, say $10 or $12? Or, start a new forum section titled "Newbies welcome HERE" and when we get bored we can go there and try and figure out what the hell they did to their PC's. That may just work, a flame-free environment. Ultimately, WE all had to start somewhere, I was lucky enough to have some knowledge before finding this site...

[purple_minion]

Make it a DONATE site. If you feel the business kit was w/ some $$$ (I certainly did), why shouldn't access to this site be as well? I guarantee there isn't a one of us posting on at least a weekly basis that wouldn't be willing to fork over, say $10 or $12? Or, start a new forum section titled "Newbies welcome HERE" and when we get bored we can go there and try and figure out what the hell they did to their PC's. That may just work, a flame-free environment. Ultimately, WE all had to start somewhere, I was lucky enough to have some knowledge before finding this site...

While I agree we should do something, but most likely can't do anything I am against paying. Everyone here contributes their FREE time and experience when they can, much like I rub your back you rub mine. You don't charge your dad or brother or whoever for help because you know you WILL need their help someday when you really do need it. Technibble is a technicians family, we all come across issues we need help with and in turn we help others when we can.

Also I don't think anything we do would discourage any technician from becoming one. Eight plus years of school and thousands and thousands of dollars in debt doesn't discourage people from becoming doctors. Getting shot and killed doesn't discourage people from becoming police officers or joining the army. Sure it does some but the ones that DO those jobs are the ones that REALLY want to right? Maybe we'd be doing them a favor if they can't put up with a little discouragement from an anonymous internet forum how will they cope with crabby ass customers who blame them for their "bad ham sandwich?"

[reesk92]

i agree maybe a screaning process in the sighn up process where they have to write a short paragraph of their knowledge or maybe a system for reporting noobs to admins


on the othr hand just asikung them to stay out of the tech threads would be a good idea so then they could use a dedicated newbie thread whwere if we cant fix the problem simply they can pay us(or technibble) to remote in to their pcs and repair


HOWEVER for the remote support to be usefull we ned to be able to keep unexpirienced techs from messing up their pcs for this i vote that we have maybe a symbol next to a techs name that users can see and know their able to carry out the repair

[MHCG]

I think our GTFO n00b posts are deterrent enough. My solution is simple, I simply close the thread.

[Blues]

The solution is judge the post for yourself are they a drive by end user or a tech or someone hoping to be a tech looking for answers. If it is a drive by end user www.lmgtfy.com

[reesk92]

ah now thats a good idea because as i mentioned somewaer we all know how to structure a google search so we can get exactley what we want the end user maybe cant for instance agaes ago i my mom was on the internet and seemed frustrated i asked whats up she said she cant find a recipie for chicken i looked at the search criteria it was


could i have some recipies for chicken please

after i got over the laughing fit i explained what she did wrong and taught her how to reword it and that google dosent need manners and she was fine after that

so maybe googleing it for them is good only down side is that lgtfy takes like 5 seconds to goole and they may quickley turn around and say were taking the piss before theyve even let it load

[TimeCode]

ah now thats a good idea because as i mentioned somewaer we all know how to structure a google search so we can get exactley what we want the end user maybe cant for instance agaes ago i my mom was on the internet and seemed frustrated i asked whats up she said she cant find a recipie for chicken i looked at the search criteria it was


could i have some recipies for chicken please

after i got over the laughing fit i explained what she did wrong and taught her how to reword it and that google dosent need manners and she was fine after that

so maybe googleing it for them is good only down side is that lgtfy takes like 5 seconds to goole and they may quickley turn around and say were taking the piss before theyve even let it load

Reesk,

I say this with all respect, please start using periods, commas and capital letters. Your posts are extremely difficult to comprehend and I am not going to keep reading them like this. Honestly, if it doesn't change, I will just completely skip over your posts because they are just too hard to understand.

Using FireFox and checking the spelling would be cool too. :)

[jj2000]

Reesk,

I say this with all respect, please start using periods, commas and capital letters. Your posts are extremely difficult to comprehend and I am not going to keep reading them like this. Honestly, if it doesn't change, I will just completely skip over your posts because they are just too hard to understand.

Using FireFox and checking the spelling would be cool too.
__________________

I have to admit I am starting to do the same thing, I know we all make mistakes but these posts are getting to be unreadable, sorry to be blunt.

[iptech]

Reesk,

I say this with all respect, please start using periods, commas and capital letters. Your posts are extremely difficult to comprehend and I am not going to keep reading them like this. Honestly, if it doesn't change, I will just completely skip over your posts because they are just too hard to understand.

Using FireFox and checking the spelling would be cool too. :)
He's obviousley not trying hard enough. :D

[thor999]

While I agree we should do something, but most likely can't do anything I am against paying. Everyone here contributes their FREE time and experience when they can, much like I rub your back you rub mine. You don't charge your dad or brother or whoever for help because you know you WILL need their help someday when you really do need it. Technibble is a technicians family, we all come across issues we need help with and in turn we help others when we can.

Also I don't think anything we do would discourage any technician from becoming one. Eight plus years of school and thousands and thousands of dollars in debt doesn't discourage people from becoming doctors. Getting shot and killed doesn't discourage people from becoming police officers or joining the army. Sure it does some but the ones that DO those jobs are the ones that REALLY want to right? Maybe we'd be doing them a favor if they can't put up with a little discouragement from an anonymous internet forum how will they cope with crabby ass customers who blame them for their "bad ham sandwich?"

Then we get to stay for free! I'm all for that of course!

[reesk92]

dude i quickley scan through to spell chack if theres anything ive missed i will eddit it later on and i dont use punctuation becasue theese boards are informal and not using them dosent make them unreadble either


oh and i use fire fox it dont spellcheck even though its enabled so screw that one

[purple_minion]

dude i quickley scan through to spell chack if theres anything ive missed i will eddit it later on and i dont use punctuation becasue theese boards are informal and not using them dosent make them unreadble either


oh and i use fire fox it dont spellcheck even though its enabled so screw that one

Are you using the latest firefox? I don't believe it's an addon but native to it. If you right click in an editing box, such as when you are typing up a post there should be an option to "check spelling" which then underlines misspelled words in red just like in Word.

[reesk92]

i got it working now i hadn't installed the English British dictionary to it it now spell checks

[TimeCode]

i dont use punctuation becasue theese boards are informal and not using them dosent make them unreadble either

Yeah... sure. Maybe to you but I am used to it and require it.

[seedubya]

i dont use punctuation becasue theese boards are informal and not using them dosent make them unreadble either

Sorry dude, I'd have to agree with the others here. Your posts are good but the lack of punctuation does make them difficult for me to read also.

[iptech]

i got it working now i hadn't installed the English British dictionary to it it now spell checks
Obviousley (sic) that wasn't the entire problem, your post still makes little sense. :mad:

If you think correct syntax is not important then you really shouldn't be in IT support, no matter the environment.

[jj2000]

If you think correct syntax is not important then you really shouldn't be in IT support, no matter the environment.

Agreed and if this is the attitude that our school system is instilling into our youngsters i fear for the future.

[reesk92]

This has been discussed and resolved in a different thread so lets just drop it OK.

At the end of the day you have just basically stole a threrad from someone, and went away from the info they wanted I believe its called thread hijacking.

So lets get back on topic.

[abe]

i got it working now i hadn't installed the English British dictionary to it it now spell checks

Its looking better already.

:)

[joejoe]

I recently discovered this site and while I do not have a business repairing computers it has occupied about 30% of my job duties for the last 10 years. This thread disturbed me...I suppose I just didnt expect the mean spirited discussion. As a business person everyone has to deal with unpleasant customers/vendors/coworkers, we also have to deal with unpleasant situations. You never know where your next customer will come from...nor do you know who has the answer to your most pressing problem....

Maybe I should just go have a drink and read this again before I post. Nah

[lawson_jl]

Instead of trying to keep noobs seeking help out when not have a place in the forum for people seeking help with their own computers. I understand technibble has the by techs for techs montra, but there is room in that for a help forum. It would give some of us, myself included, a chance to work on our "bed side manor" (some times we are arrogant asses to the less technical) and see how other techs handle common computer issues.

[seedubya]

That's a pretty good idea, Jeremy. Only thing is you'd still have people posting questions to random forums regardless of where they're supposed to post them. If practice is an issue for people they can practice at any of the existing end user forums.

[purple_minion]

Instead of trying to keep noobs seeking help out when not have a place in the forum for people seeking help with their own computers. I understand technibble has the by techs for techs montra, but there is room in that for a help forum. It would give some of us, myself included, a chance to work on our "bed side manor" (some times we are arrogant asses to the less technical) and see how other techs handle common computer issues.

I disagree, there are few professional forums like this out there, while their are hundreds of end user forums. Also bedside manor is easier to practice when they are paying you. If so and so calls you up with a vague problem and you need to pull teeth when you get there to find it out, fine, it's money in your pocket... on here you are wasting your valuable FREE time which could be spent learning a trick or seeking business advice... or maybe spending time with friends/family/enjoying a hobby. We don't need ANOTHER free technical support forum in the vast tube network, especially if people can't take the time to formulate a proper problem/issue report instead of "it don't work."

[Bryce W]

Perhaps a technician directory and they can choose the person closest to them? I mean we have people in need of tech help knocking on our door, why not take advantage of that and convert 'zomg annoying n00bs' into paying customers for one of us?

[Blues]

Perhaps a technician directory and they can choose the person closest to them? I mean we have people in need of tech help knocking on our door, why not take advantage of that and convert 'zomg annoying n00bs' into paying customers for one of us?

That I like perhaps let us submit to you information so it is something users would need to opt in or you could charge to be listed :D

[dhrandy]

I am also like that idea Bryce.

[LunchBox]

Good idea Bryce.

I know that most of us ask questions but when we ask its right not the point and its being asked in a technical manner after having followed troubleshooting steps etc.

When a non-tech asks a question we would have to start from scratch like restart the PC and let us know what happens next . . . . etc.

I think it would be a very good idea to have some sort of list with names of members business names and numbers so if someone needs that type of assistance they can contact whoever they want. This way the client is happy and the tech can make money.

If they dont like that we could perhaps point them to answers.yahoo.com :D

[Sevdog]

The technician directory is an awesome idea.

[capthookss]

I too agree that a technician directory would be the way to go.

[pcstu]

Why not have more administrators from different time zones to monitor the posts. They could have permission to delete the spam and "nicely" inform the folk who are after free tech support what this site is for. This way it can be kept a "professional" site without the abuse to people who have a problem. These people could come from UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand or anywhere. These people could go through a screening process with the owner of the site to make sure they have the experience and the "maturity" to sift through the posting and keep up a simple standard. Sounds simple to me. :)

[sys-eng]

If the big challenge is how to determine who is in the business and who is just trying to find some free help, then perhaps a scanned copy of the business license/permit could be required at registration. I believe every state or city requires a business license/permit to tie the business name to a real person so it should not be an obstacle to the professionals.

[nudone]

If the big challenge is how to determine who is in the business and who is just trying to find some free help, then perhaps a scanned copy of the business license/permit could be required at registration. I believe every state or city requires a business license/permit to tie the business name to a real person so it should not be an obstacle to the professionals.

that doesn't apply in the UK. so that doesn't sound too fair.

[Resler]

If the big challenge is how to determine who is in the business and who is just trying to find some free help, then perhaps a scanned copy of the business license/permit could be required at registration. I believe every state or city requires a business license/permit to tie the business name to a real person so it should not be an obstacle to the professionals.

This is a poor idea because there are people like me who do not work in the business full time. I myself am a student and do a little computer repair work on the side, mostly with people I know or the so called "friends of friends." I do not have a business license and yet I seem to contribute a lot more to these forums than I ask in return, so excluding people like myself would only hurt these forums.

The only way to filter what is from a professional and what is from an end-user is judgment. First time posters with poor spelling and grammar asking either a question with a basic solution or writing about a problem in a very non-technical way is usually a good indication of someone not being in the computer business. Unfortunately that doesn't always work, because in any business you will get people that are professionals and don't sound like it. Completely off topic but to further my point I know an RN that works for a medical insurance company that evaluates claims and some of the doctors writing to these insurance companies sound like they belong on The Beverly Hillbillies and not in a doctors office.

[FLStenner]

I don't about other contraries but in the US most every state issue business license to business that run in there state. The government gives out ID numbers if the admen on this site puts a box on the registration application to join this site for that ID number. It would cut down on the free loaders sucking out of the tech's pockets or at the vary lest redirect those that leave it blank or fake numbers in to a grease pot ( some thing like a honey pot for network security) this would give them a slip and slide back to your shop and money in your pocket

[sys-eng]

I agree with Resler that the business license would not be good. Perhaps this is better.

We could have an open public section and a business section. The business section would cost $5 per year to join. As a business, I would pay that today. Most users just seeking free help would go to other sites.

[tngreg]

I would be willing to pay a small fee for access. I think the help gained here has definitiely help my skillset and my buisiness.
Thanks to all.

tngreg

[nudone]

$5 is super cheap for a year, put me down for that one. can't think why anyone would grumble at that.

[Bryce W]

Right now, Ive edited the register page of Technibble to "stop them at the front door". You can check out what I wrote here (http://www.technibble.com/forums/register.php). You will either have to log out or use a different browser to view it.

We'll see how that goes. I expect this may be enough to deter end users. If more are still sneaking in I will step up the requirements. Right now, I want to keep the requirements relatively low because it can hurt the community by detering technicians as well.

[RyanMeray]

I think this is a good step. I'll be honest, I'm not crazy about subscription fees, even if they're nominal. I'm still debating the $12 annual membership fee to RateBeer, and I LOVE beer.

I might never have gotten into this place if the barrier to entry required me to whip out my credit card.

[SOHO-NZ]

I would also be happy to pay a nominal subscription to ensure that this forum doesn't get diluted by non-technicians. I only joined a few ago, but I already feel more comfortable to know that there's others out there that I can bounce ideas off.

Maybe entry to a more closed section could validated - say when a user has made a certain number of posts, the posts are reviewed for their obvious intelligence (or lack thereof) - thereby allowing entry to post in the 'closed' area?

and I LOVE beer.


Me too. I'v got two big bottles of Belgian Quadrupel for friday night!

[joe3k]

Was thinking if some type of a rep system was introduced whereby only moderators are allowed to award rep points. Then if someone makes a valuable contribution that show a good skill level, the mod can award them rep points. Once they earn enough points they gain entry to a special "Tech Only" section of the forum. In here valuable stuff can be posted.

P.S. Can't really think of the useful stuff that could be posted, lol. Things like Bryce's Computer Business Kit and the likes of that. Maybe certain "complete finished" scripts etc (the minor modifications and contributions to scripts could be kept on the main site)... to whet the appetite and encourage people to contribute so they can get into the "Tech Only" Section. Just a thought.

[frostbyte5014]

Those wanting a noob forum or support forum should google for one. There's plenty of them out there. None of them have caring people like we do. All they do is blast each other. This is a tech to tech forum. If Bryce decides to throw this forum out the windows by providing end user support, I'll swim down there and kick him in the butt. I know he won't do it though. Too much at stake.

[purple_minion]

What ever happened to moderators? Just watch everyone's first few posts and judge. Perhaps we can use the report button to alert the mods to an end user, is that acceptable?

[Majestic]

What ever happened to moderators? Just watch everyone's first few posts and judge. Perhaps we can use the report button to alert the mods to an end user, is that acceptable?

I agree. Moderators make the most sense. No need to complicate for nothing..

Majestic

[Qubic Computers]

I agree with Purple_Minion where we should be able to report a post to a moderator for examination. If the moderator then deems the post to be from an end user then it can be deleted and an e-mail sent to the end user explaining nicely why it was deleted and directing them to somewhere else for help to their question.

If the Technician Directory feature was implemented then the mod could even look at the location of the end user from when they signed up and direct them to the nearest tech by getting the info from the tech directory.