A reader rant!

A reader rant!

Not at you dear reader, but some of the emails I have to deal with in my various Helpdesk columns. The number of times I get messages from people who expect me to write them instructions in plain English is perhaps understandable (although it should be pointed out that not all tasks - such as reinstalling Windows from scratch - are suitable for complete beginners. Sorry, there are no shortcuts to these kind of jobs - you have to be prepared to learn about using a PC, however steep you find the learning curve. It's like being asked to write a 200-word article - in simple English - revealing how to change the gearbox on any car).

Anyway, it's all very well asking me to write my explanations in plain English, which I do try to do. It's quite another thing to answer my questions in gobbledigook. If you want me to explain things to you in simple English, is it too much to expect you'll respond to my questions in the same way? Poor English is one thing, but a complete lack of effort is quite another.

A little bit of courtesy wouldn't go amiss either. These are free technical support services being offered, so a please and thank you is always welcome. And the number of people who don't bother to reply to my answers is on the increase too. I'm left with no idea that my answer worked, and while some might be down to over-zealous spam filters meaning my response doesn't get through, not all of them are.

It's another sign of the "something for nothing" brigade. You get what you pay for - and frankly my technical support is worth a hell of a lot more than what I get paid for it - which is basically the words that are published in the various magazines the Q&A columns appear in.

I recently wrote an article in PC Answers revealing the tips and tricks I use to troubleshoot people's problems. Some are ludicrously easy - just type in the error message or some key words describing your problem into Google and there the solution sits, yet it's beyond so many people. Either they don't read the articles - I have direct evidence of this from one recently recieved email where the reader clearly hadn't bothered to read through the article - or they can't be bothered to learn from them.

Rant over. I'll probably get a load of flak from this, but considering how many readers I've responded to over the past four years (I'm not kidding when I reckon it's over 500), I think I'm entitled to a little gripe when rudeness and lack of courtesy or effort is definitely on the increase.