How to: Get help online

What if you have a computer problem and you don’t know how to solve it on your own? You want to buy a new gadget, a mobile phone or a gaming console but you are not sure which would be the best one for you? So what can you do to get your question answered? The answer is simple – The Internet! In the pre w.w.w era, people were using BBS (Bulletin Board System) to exchange informations. Nowadays, the most popular way of online communication is an Internet forum. An Internet forum is a web application for holding discussions and posting user generated content. Advantage of participating in an online forum is that you have a quick and easy access to a huge amount of useful stack informations. Most of modern online forums will require you to register for their servers by creating a unique user-name and password. Before posting on the forum, it’s recommended to read forum guidelines so you don’t break any rules. When you ask a question on the forum, you sure want to get it answered as soon as possible. Here are a few guidelines on how to post your question.

Let’s say that you have a problem with your computer. It does not properly boot or it won’t boot at all:

1. When describing a problem, try to provide all information about your computer first. Is it a mac or a pc, what kind of operating system you are running, how much RAM memory do you have installed etc.

2. Don’t write too much about irrelevant things. Focus on what is important and keep it short. If you write two pages describing your problem, it’s very likely that you will turn off people from reading your post and thus your question wont be answered. People will ask you to provide additional information if they need it.

3. Remember that not every forum member has to be a geek and know everything so always read all replies before deciding which one is the best. Ignore spammers and bots.

4. You have to be patient. It sometimes takes days to get a reply to your question. You are not the only one posting and people are not always online so be patient. Always search the Internet (google, yahoo…) before posting on the forum because maybe your question has already been answered.

Another scenario is that you want to buy something and are asking for advice. It does not matter what you are buying you have to say how much you are willing to spend and what you need. If you say buying an MP3 player, it’s important to say what music file-types you prefer (MP3, WMA OGG), what features you need (do you need video capable mp3 player, do you need an FM tuner built -in etc.). Online forums wont tolerate cursing, insulting other members, uploading illegal files or music. If you don’t want to be banned, you need to follow the rules. If you are a forum newbie, and you want to do something that you think it might be breaking terms of service, ask the forum moderator if you can do it first.

External links:

Netiquette: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netiquette

PC Guide forum: http://www.pcguide.com/vb/

Mac OS X forum: http://forums.osxfaq.com/index.php

Linux forum: http://www.linux.org/user/

Music related: http://forums.ilounge.com/