These forums have changed some.....

[seedubya]

I was away for a few weeks, about six or so and wasn't reading the forums or contributing. I've been back about a week now and I've noticed a change in the air. In general it seems to be about who's a tech. and who isn't; who's a PIZZA tech and who isn't; what's professional and unprofessional; who should be part of this community and who should not. I applaud this debate. These issues have come up many times here in the last year and I've always been firmly on the side of excluding, in so far as possible, those who are definitely non-techs (ususally v. obvious). So that leaves the people on the fringes - the tech. students, the beginners, the inexperienced, the part-timers and the "pizza techs". I believe, without any quantitive evidence, that many of our members may fit one of the descriptions above to a greater or lesser degree.

I believe that the genuine full-time professionals here have a right to complain about the inequity and stupidity of a buying public that ignorantly equates these two types of technician. I believe that, when a less experienced member asks glaringly basic questions, the more experienced among us have every right to question that person's ability, wisdom or professionalism in taking on a particular task or to say "are you sure this is the best thing for your customer" or even "you should get a tech job to gain more experience BEFORE going out on your own". However, I don't believe anyone here has the right to be rude, obnoxious, dismissive, sarcastic or otherwise harsh to people when doing so.

While I have been guilty of similar behaviour in the past, I have made a concerted effort to steer away from that path and I'm now heartily sick of seeing people being hammered for nothing other than inexperience. It's just as easy to take people to task in a friendly, helpful manner. If this place loses it's welcoming spirit it will lose everything.

BTW; I'm pretty sure too that there's an element of hypocrisy involved here too. It's not that long ago that people on this board were very happy to claim that they had zero training or qualifications - just experience. Where'd you get the experience then?

 

[abe]

Hi seedubya,

I don't have any problem at all being rude, obnoxious, dismissive, sarcastic or otherwise harsh, to people who come on here masqurading as tech's when its fairly obvious from their questions that they have zero experiance and training.

If someone introduces themselves and says they are training I offer as much help as I can , but if they come claiming to be tech's, asking for torrent links, or how to fix a "customers" computer when they shouldn't be touching it, to me is simply asking for a lynch, I expect my plumber not to be training on my sink and my electrician not to be doing his first ever job in my living room, do you really have no problem letting these people continue on their way giving all professional tech's a bad name, we are not asking for them to know everything we are asking them to truthfully tell us how much they know, be truthfull and we will accept you.

People who ignore the sign up page, and when we politely ask them " how much do you know" they say "I'm freaking good at computers so ?":{off" should be taken care of in the rudest manner possible.

I give everyone the benfit of the doubt, but i love the people who say the truth and explain who they are.

as for your last point, most techs on here gained their experiance under other techs or through training and working on their own computers (or close family) with a full disclaimer, noone said they don't need training, however i do remember alot off guys saying that most of the training courses will not help you in real life so its better to spend your money on tools in actual experiance.

Abe

 

[Crgky127]

Over the past few months I have been semi active (reading mostly Business and Legal and General Computers, but reading all of them) and have noticed changes too. There has been an increase in, let's say 'lacking posts'. Following this, there has also been a disproportionately large increase in jumping to conclusions, over-reactions, and otherwise unpleasant posts that I'd rather not read. I'm a semi-retired admin of a forum with 60,000 users (1100 active) and had to deal with a ton of user issues, which detracted from why I was there in the first place. When I came to technibble, one of the first things I noticed was the stark contrast in locked threads, bans, flamewars, etc. It was like I walked into a peaceful utopia. Much of that atmosphere is gone nowadays, and it's more 'uh-oh, what is it this time?'. Maybe if everybody took a breather and counted to ten before posting things would work out a bit better. Or get one of those stress balls .

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

I'm now heartily sick of seeing people being hammered for nothing other than inexperience. It's just as easy to take people to task in a friendly, helpful manner. If this place loses it's welcoming spirit it will lose everything.

BTW; I'm pretty sure too that there's an element of hypocrisy involved here too. It's not that long ago that people on this board were very happy to claim that they had zero training or qualifications - just experience. Where'd you get the experience then?

Its not inexperience that pisses me and everyone else off, its laziness. The inability to do as much as google something, take something apart, or at least putting forth an honest effort before posting for help. I'm far from the the best tech on these forums, I just have a lot more Apple experience than a good majority of techs here. When it comes to a Windows issue I may post on these forums and it may seem novice to others with tons more Windows experience than I have. But at least before I post something I would put forth my best effort in troubleshooting it myself and making sure the answer to the question doesn't bring up 10,000 results in a google search.

I know I haven't been a member as long as some longtime posters on these forums. But I have been sitting on the sidelines for over a year and a half. Some of the long time posters who have several hundred to thousands of posts on these forums seem like long time friends to me. There are some incredibly talented people here who's opinion I value very much, and I've noticed as of late these individuals have expressed their frustrations and some barely even post here any more. I'm afraid if this trend continues the talent pool is going to be so diluted by the influx of hacks and loss of tech gurus it will be a tragedy. You add 2 scoops of kool-aid to 20 ounces of water, you have kool-aid. You add 2 scoops of kool-aid to the ocean, you have the ocean if you get my drift.

 

[iptech]

Its not inexperience that pisses me and everyone else off, its laziness. The inability to do as much as google something, take something apart, or at least putting forth an honest effort before posting for help. I'm far from the the best tech on these forums, I just have a lot more Apple experience than a good majority of techs here. When it comes to a Windows issue I may post on these forums and it may seem novice to others with tons more Windows experience than I have. But at least before I post something I would put forth my best effort in troubleshooting it myself and making sure the answer to the question doesn't bring up 10,000 results in a google search.

I know I haven't been a member as long as some longtime posters on these forums. But I have been sitting on the sidelines for over a year and a half. Some of the long time posters who have several hundred to thousands of posts on these forums seem like long time friends to me. There are some incredibly talented people here who's opinion I value very much, and I've noticed as of late these individuals have expressed their frustrations and some barely even post here any more. I'm afraid if this trend continues the talent pool is going to be so diluted by the influx of hacks and loss of tech gurus it will be a tragedy.

I 100% agree, although it's not the Googling abilities that are in question for many, some seem to rely upon Google as their sole toolkit and are simply baffled by the search results and lack the experience and knowledge on how to filter out the crap, interpret the good and then put that into good practice.

You add 2 scoops of kool-aid to 20 ounces of water, you have kool-aid. You add 2 scoops of kool-aid to the ocean, you have the ocean if you get my drift.

What's Kool-aid - is it dehydrated water and where can I find the torrent?

 

[ProTech Support]

I agree, which is what I have been saying for the past few weeks. Honestly since Bryce published the Pizza Tech article, these forums have gone insane (no-fault to Bryce, just saying this article must have refreshed the thought in many heads).

Here is my full opinion on the subject: http://www.technibble.com/forums/showpost.php?p=50153&postcount=46

 

[stevenamills]

I'm as guilty as anyone for losing my temper, especially when I see some of the nitpicking going on.

This is not a place for non-technicians. I know we have all pressed for some moderation. It's Bryce's forum and he certainly is free to do as he pleases, but I would guess traffic is up and the expense of participation. I used to come away daily with something worthwhile. Not any more.

I'll be joinig the lurkers club also. Participation has become rather fruitless it seems.

 

[computergeek1]

i think if other techs gave people a chance on here instead of calling them pizza techs or what ever else then the forum would be fine, there does seems to be alot of bitching and moaning, we are all techs and we should be helping each other in these hard times. if you cant help don't post, there does seem alot of techs including me who are getting flamed over silly things and is not on.

 

[Blues]

I think perhaps with the growth that this place has seen and some of the problems we just need a small boost in moderators. I know Bryce does what he can and then we have atleast 1 other active mod but beyond that I am not sure how well it is really going on that side of this place. Certainly I don't think this will stop the bad users from coming in but it might get rid of them quicker it would also help to clean up and maintain the professional appearance we hope to present.

I would also suggest everyone make use of the rep system that way when you see a thread made by someone with red rep then you may want to just skip it particularly if you know you have landed yourself in a ehated arguement over what you later saw was very trivial. This also will help those who are looking for answers determine which answers to try first or whos answers to not trust. I hope people will not start abusing this and doing revenge reps so please rep after reading or trying a solution and please let utilize what we have.

 

[Bryce W]

Please read, this is my response on this all: http://www.technibble.com/forums/showthread.php?p=50163

 

[gunslinger]

I think a lot of the more immature "Pizza Techs" starting coming out when Bryce starting posting articles about Macs. Also when the geeksmobleusa guy started creating more accounts to back himself up in the heated forum debates. I think because of this the problem seemed bigger than it actually was. I'm thinking 3-4 trouble makers at most.

 

[bagellad]

I must admit technibble has done a lot for me to develop into the tech I am today. Although my several help desk jobs have helped in other respects the access to tools and knowledge from here have really put me a cut above the rest.

I really like the group of people here. But I think we also feel a bit undersiege. This is a some what under appreciated field when it comes to customers and how hard they will work to not have to call us. I have had old ladies spend all time trying to fix their own dial up modems, or old guys spending all weekend trying to get rid of a virus that would have took me 5 minutes.

I can also understand the anger towards the Pizza Techs. I mean after all I am dealing with guys like this.. http://kingston.kijiji.ca/c-services-computer-Slow-computer-Time-to-format-30-W0QQAdIdZ133333045
The $30 reformat guy!

Maybe it would make sense to have a "Beginners" Section?

 

[TimeCode]

I agree, which is what I have been saying for the past few weeks. Honestly since Bryce published the Pizza Tech article, these forums have gone insane

No it started way earlier than that. Things went crazy when Bryce put out his portable software kit and that post was picked up by DIGG and a lot of other websites. People started coming in by the boatloads.

I too haven't been around as much lately and for the same reasons that ACG mentioned.

 

[ProTech Support]

It seems things have calmed down a bit in the past 2-3 days. Almost seems like the site is back to normal, but I guess time will tell.

 

[NYJimbo]

I really thing is temporary. I do believe that the site, and it's direction has driven away most of the active senior members, myself included. If anyone notices, I have changed my nickname to ACG, took away my sig links, and logo and any real reference to my business because of this. I really feel at this point, it will cause more harm then good to be associated on a professional level. The only reason I am still around is because I believe in the core that was TN, and I really think that as a team effort, we will slowly be able to get things back on track.

How did you edit your nicname?. I must be blind because I cannot find that setting.

 

[abe]

How did you edit your nicname?. I must be blind because I cannot find that setting.

was wondering. how did you do it acg

 

[Bryce W]

NYJimbo, ACG PM'd me and I changed it for him.

Also, no offense ACG, but you choose to sparr with those people you consider to be pizza techs and you keep the pizza tech topics active.

eg. Sparring with hondablaster, Bashing Craigslist ads etc.. If you keep getting in the ring, expect to get bruised. If you dont want to get bruised, dont fight.

Just leave those topics alone. Im not blaming you for any of of this pizza tech stuff. Just stop picking the scab and let it heal

 

[Blues]

NYJimbo, ACG PM'd me and I changed it for him.

Also, no offense ACG, but you choose to sparr with those people you consider to be pizza techs and you keep the pizza tech topics active.

eg. Sparring with hondablaster, Bashing Craigslist ads etc.. If you keep getting in the ring, expect to get bruised. If you dont want to get bruised, dont fight.

Just leave those topics alone. Im not blaming you for any of of this pizza tech stuff. Just stop picking the scab and let it heal

Bryce from what I can tell we have you, simmy, and jura as the only mods/admins and jura is not here much from what I can see. I think it is time you add someone else to the roster and with our current active users I would have to believe there is atleast 1 viable canidate. I think with that then those who jump in that ring or setup the ring can get a real bruising I feel a lack of force around here. I don't like the idea of it but I think it might be time for it.

 

[Bryce W]

I agree. Ill be adding some mods soon. I have already had some people put their hand up but if anyone else is interested and has been on the forums for some time and is well known, shoot me a PM.

 

[TimeCode]

I agree. Ill be adding some mods soon. I have already had some people put their hand up but if anyone else is interested and has been on the forums for some time and is well known, shoot me a PM.

Thank you. I think I speak for everyone when I say "We appreciate it."