I will be the first to admit that more difficult, or advanced questions will go unanswered. And there are other sources for information out there for those. But for the 80% of common users, users that are getting started, or for programs that have just come out, it is a very valuable resource.
I seen people on the site that have written custom applescript to assist those with some rather more intricate requests. On their own time, no pay required. Just foer the satisfaction of helping others that they will never meet. People from all over the globe helping each other out? Not too bad.
And they may not have the same answer you do for something. And if thats the case and you see it, dont complain on other places how useless it is, your already there, post the correct answer for them. Actually make it a little better and more useful through participation. You might actually like helping out others.
I think apple should have a few paid developers going through at times to answer those more advanced questions, and to police up some stuff that is way off topic or even rude.
Useless? No. Needs some attention paid to it by apple, sure. Social? I never got the whole need for social networks myself. Maybe I'm just too old. But then again, my 28 year old wife must be too old too. Because she doesnt get it either.
Just my 2 cents, i'm going back to answer someones questions in ipad numbers forum or something,
Similar to this forum, you get to know the names of reliable and knowledgeable people. I have used the Apple Community with results that vary. Sometimes the replies are over my head. I am in a couple of threads now, and one person is being very helpful.
I hope the Community doesn't turn into an iDate site.
I like the forums. They've been particularly useful to me since they introduced the points system for "helpful" and "resolved" questions, what, a couple years ago I think.
Just last week my HD died and Time Machine kept crashing in the middle of the restoration process. I posted a question from my iPad and within an hour I had a solution. That's much more efficient than calling the AppleCare number and being told to make a Genius Bar appointment.
I also use the forums to do research before calling in with a warranty claim. It's good to see if lots of other people are having the same problem, and see how Apple resolved or didn't resolve the problem for them.
But I agree with others who say that a big improvement would be some official Apple participation. That's how the developer forums work ... they see what the users can handle on their own, then jump in to give some extra guidance when needed. Sometimes just an official word about what Apple's policy or position is can be very reassuring.
The Apple Discussion Forums -- no matter what Apple calls them and no matter how Apple redesigns them -- are a COMPLETE JOKE and an insult to all Mac users worldwide.
Without actual Apple employees answering questions on the forums, most questions never get answered, and the rest of the questions are the blind leading the blind.
Until someone is paid $$$ to help people in the forums, there will continue to be ZERO consistency and ZERO reliability and ZERO incentive for other people's help.
Apple would be better off shutting these forums down altogether, than making this mockery of themselves and their users.
Your logic is flawed.
The reason why most discussions go unhelped is because there is a serious lack of users in the discussion forums. In a response Apple is changing it so more people will be part of the community, essentially making it more useful.
Apple and any other company has no interest in hiring employees for forum help because there is no way that Apple can make a profit in maintain the forums. Forums are meant for volunteer people only.
Plus
Quote:
Without actual Apple employees answering questions on the forums, most questions never get answered, and the rest of the questions are the blind leading the blind.
The discussion forums are dead, they however are not yahoo help pages .
The reason why most discussions go unhelpful is because there is a serious lack of users in the discussion forums. In a response Apple is changing it so more people will be part of the community, essentially making it more useful.
I don't believe it's a lack of users that's the problem, it's that the number of informed users who can offer help has declined in proportion to everyone else. The present format has also become dated and no longer conducive to the needs of Apple's more recent customers.
The present Discussions forum remains an excellent resource for people with a cursory knowledge of computing and literate enough to describe a problem and search for a solution, but such people are becoming rarer. It's an old adage - make a product even an idiot can use, and idiots will use them.
Contrary to some of the replies here I've never failed to find an answer with a simple search. The problem seems to be that the general level of knowledge among Apple's consumers has declined along with the explosive rise of inexpensive iDevices. There seems to be an inordinate number of questions asked incoherently these days, making it difficult to divine the writer's intent. Nearly all those questions go unanswered. Also, bear in mind that an unknown number of questions get answered with a thoughtful and thorough solution that's never acknowledged or marked "answered" by the OP. At least half my answers don't get acknowledged in any way.
Look at any number of Windows computer user forums - HP's is one I frequent. They've been useless for years, characterized by many illiterate posts and incoherent rants about unsolvable Windows problems. Why? I surmise people who buy Windows products were less informed to begin with - if they had taken the time to become knowledgeable they would have bought Apple computers instead.
An entire market of sub- $500 mobile devices has now exposed Apple to a brand new group of consumers that can't distinguish a wireless network from a power cord, and don't even care to learn. Due to this recent popularity, Apple's present Discussions forums is starting to resemble those other useless user support forums. I think they're trying to avoid that.
Comments
I seen people on the site that have written custom applescript to assist those with some rather more intricate requests. On their own time, no pay required. Just foer the satisfaction of helping others that they will never meet. People from all over the globe helping each other out? Not too bad.
And they may not have the same answer you do for something. And if thats the case and you see it, dont complain on other places how useless it is, your already there, post the correct answer for them. Actually make it a little better and more useful through participation. You might actually like helping out others.
I think apple should have a few paid developers going through at times to answer those more advanced questions, and to police up some stuff that is way off topic or even rude.
Useless? No. Needs some attention paid to it by apple, sure. Social? I never got the whole need for social networks myself. Maybe I'm just too old. But then again, my 28 year old wife must be too old too. Because she doesnt get it either.
Just my 2 cents, i'm going back to answer someones questions in ipad numbers forum or something,
Jason
You certainly are, the rest of us are still in the first decade.
Why would you consider the 11th year into the century, part of the 1st decade?
Why would you consider the 11th year into the century, part of the 1st decade?
The 11th year of this century is 2011. We are currently in the 10th year of this century's first decade.
(.....aaaaaand here we go with this debate again
I hope the Community doesn't turn into an iDate site.
Just last week my HD died and Time Machine kept crashing in the middle of the restoration process. I posted a question from my iPad and within an hour I had a solution. That's much more efficient than calling the AppleCare number and being told to make a Genius Bar appointment.
I also use the forums to do research before calling in with a warranty claim. It's good to see if lots of other people are having the same problem, and see how Apple resolved or didn't resolve the problem for them.
But I agree with others who say that a big improvement would be some official Apple participation. That's how the developer forums work ... they see what the users can handle on their own, then jump in to give some extra guidance when needed. Sometimes just an official word about what Apple's policy or position is can be very reassuring.
Apple discussion boards are a joke.
Hey I donno about that.
I get all my answers from this site. I ask a question. Get plenty of advice.
Then I do the opposite of what they suggest.......works like a charm every time.
Ridiculous.
The Apple Discussion Forums -- no matter what Apple calls them and no matter how Apple redesigns them -- are a COMPLETE JOKE and an insult to all Mac users worldwide.
Without actual Apple employees answering questions on the forums, most questions never get answered, and the rest of the questions are the blind leading the blind.
Until someone is paid $$$ to help people in the forums, there will continue to be ZERO consistency and ZERO reliability and ZERO incentive for other people's help.
Apple would be better off shutting these forums down altogether, than making this mockery of themselves and their users.
The reason why most discussions go unhelped is because there is a serious lack of users in the discussion forums. In a response Apple is changing it so more people will be part of the community, essentially making it more useful.
Apple and any other company has no interest in hiring employees for forum help because there is no way that Apple can make a profit in maintain the forums. Forums are meant for volunteer people only.
Plus
Without actual Apple employees answering questions on the forums, most questions never get answered, and the rest of the questions are the blind leading the blind.
The discussion forums are dead, they however are not yahoo help pages
The reason why most discussions go unhelpful is because there is a serious lack of users in the discussion forums. In a response Apple is changing it so more people will be part of the community, essentially making it more useful.
I don't believe it's a lack of users that's the problem, it's that the number of informed users who can offer help has declined in proportion to everyone else. The present format has also become dated and no longer conducive to the needs of Apple's more recent customers.
The present Discussions forum remains an excellent resource for people with a cursory knowledge of computing and literate enough to describe a problem and search for a solution, but such people are becoming rarer. It's an old adage - make a product even an idiot can use, and idiots will use them.
Contrary to some of the replies here I've never failed to find an answer with a simple search. The problem seems to be that the general level of knowledge among Apple's consumers has declined along with the explosive rise of inexpensive iDevices. There seems to be an inordinate number of questions asked incoherently these days, making it difficult to divine the writer's intent. Nearly all those questions go unanswered. Also, bear in mind that an unknown number of questions get answered with a thoughtful and thorough solution that's never acknowledged or marked "answered" by the OP. At least half my answers don't get acknowledged in any way.
Look at any number of Windows computer user forums - HP's is one I frequent. They've been useless for years, characterized by many illiterate posts and incoherent rants about unsolvable Windows problems. Why? I surmise people who buy Windows products were less informed to begin with - if they had taken the time to become knowledgeable they would have bought Apple computers instead.
An entire market of sub- $500 mobile devices has now exposed Apple to a brand new group of consumers that can't distinguish a wireless network from a power cord, and don't even care to learn. Due to this recent popularity, Apple's present Discussions forums is starting to resemble those other useless user support forums. I think they're trying to avoid that.