Dean Blackburn wrote: > Were we all *really* supposed to get this? > > >From what I can tell, a user in a critical support state asked > (without a lot of technical finesse, sure) for help politely, and DID > receive what I would call a rude response. I get the "attempted > connection to humor" of what followed, but would this flamefest have > even happened if the response had been more in line with the (much > more helpful, plain-speaking) advice on this page: > http://www.squirrelmail.org/wiki/SeekingHelp ? Let's not forget that this user sent a poorly articulated request for help that approximated what you'd get from a desktop user who thinks their web browser is "Microsoft." If that's their best effort at articulating a request for help, then they should go find a consulting company or whatnot to walk them through this, complete with hand-holding. > > Looking at this thread, and then the last paragraph of the wiki page, > I just have to shake my head... > > "Last, but not least, contact the SquirrelMail Project Team, which can > give you advice for free. Please note that this free service is "best > effort only", i.e. you can't demand answers within a certain timeframe > in the same way as when you have a commercial support agreement." > Hey, props to Steve for making more sense out of their email than I could have. > If this really was Steve's best effort, then Steve shouldn't do > support, period (though he may be great at other things!). By that theory, none of the developers on most OSS projects would respond to support requests, and then where would we be? > Leave it to someone else, or don't reply... And definitely don't trot > this out as a "funny ha-ha" to the members of your mailing list, many > of us (just guessing here) do get paid to care about supporting our > end-users, Small disagreement here. I'm paid to support my systems, NOT my end-users. We have a helpdesk that takes care of that portion of the equation. As a result, there's a certain bit of knowledge that's demanded as a prerequisite for installing and maintaining such a system. I'd understand her question if it was about installing, say, Mozilla Firefox, but if you're admining a mailserver, her query reeks of "not quite smart enough to do the job." > and it really sends an awkward message that you guys don't (or don't > get that you did it exceedingly poorly in this case). > > Also, a tip for next time: if you don't have time to answer someone's > question (that has been asked a million times before and is in the > FAQ), SEND THEM TO THE FAQ, not a wholly unrelated/unaffiliated website. > I haven't got the foggiest idea what her issue even IS, given her complete inability to post a coherent query. > And if you need a more concrete example of the best way to respond to > the underinformed, this is not only humorous, but a shining example of > how being polite is always a good thing: > http://www.centos.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=127 > I think the developer in your link should have cut loose more, not less. -- Jay Chandler Network Administrator, Chapman University 714.628.7249 / chandler@xxxxxxxxxxx Today's Excuse: Just pick up the phone and give modem connect sounds. "Well you said we should get more lines so we don't have voice lines." ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll get the chance to share your opinions on IT & business topics through brief surveys - and earn cash http://www.techsay.com/default.php?page=join.php&p=sourceforge&CID=DEVDEV -- squirrelmail-users mailing list Posting Guidelines: http://www.squirrelmail.org/wiki/MailingListPostingGuidelines List Address: squirrelmail-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx List Archives: http://news.gmane.org/thread.php?group=gmane.mail.squirrelmail.user List Archives: http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_id=2995 List Info: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/squirrelmail-users
