How not to ask for support

[haze]

I must though say the worst offenders of bashing and such are not just from new members, some are from members that have been around a while all ready.

Heh, I can almost see ya's pointing those fingers this way. And heck, i'll admit i've gone overboard with some post(s) / poster(s) at time. Most memorable would probably be chadi ( whom also sent me quite an interesting very non christian like email ) and the so called "security expert" abefroman.. ah yes. At the time, I felt my possition was indeed justified. And i'll admit i still do.

There are others of course. Then again, I've had my own personal issues to deal with the past year or so. I've probably brought a little of the pent up frustration and whatnot into the threads, which may have been uncalled for. I'd like to think i'm beyond that at this point, and I do my best to lend a hand when and where needed.

Nobody is perfect, not I, not me and definitly not myself!

[K_aneda]

Maybe update the sticky thread with a short stint on proper edict on cPanel Forums, force users to read this when they signup, and when moderating threads, /quote/ the edict with a link so they better understand it?

(Or is that a bit too much...)

[dwykofka]

Wait a second here..

I understand what you guys are saying but the fact is that when people go to www.cpanel.net and click on support they have several options the 1st one being "Support Forums".

If cpanel doesn't want to provide support in this manner they should re-label the forums.

If they do, This is all just normal customer service issues. Not everyone is going to be grateful not everyone is going to take the time to thank people for their responses.

It seems like you guys want to treat this like a private forum. I run a private forum and if anyone post with the temperment of some of the posts we are discussing I would ban them from my forums. But that is my private forum, It is not a forum labeled "support forum" provided by a paid software vendor.

I dont quite know how to explain it but when you use forum software as a support venue it's not really a community forum anymore. It's a support system.

Just like a ticket based support system post's come in all flavors..

I would bet that most people who post in here believe that the responses are coming directly from cpanel, not from other users.

[chirpy]

That is a fair point, they do indeed have these forums mis-named as they clearly are not an official support channel (which is obvious if one were to watch the forums for a short length of time) and should be made clearer to people coming here if it isn't in the forum signup process at least.

[cpaneljosh]

Ask and ye shall receive

I re-labeled this section to "General" instead of "Support" and updated our webpage to say "cPanel Forums - Talk with other cPanel users" instead of "Support Forums" If I overlooked anything, let me know.

If you ever see any threads that are inappropriate, by all means report them. We are notified whenever you report a thread and we will take whatever action is needed.

[dwykofka]

looks good. Hopefully that will lessen some of the newbie confusion.

Not that I am any less confused than any other person.

Darn it no they are not going to answer my horde question! j/k

[PWSowner]

I've been here for a while now and have seen a few threads like this. Every now and then it needs to be brought up again.

We do have people here who expect immediate and full answers and are very unappreciative to those who do help. In some cases they are just jerks, but I bet in most cases they just have the wrong impression of what this forum is. Many don't know that it's just other cpanel users voluntarily helping out, and many, sad to say, are sent here by their hosts.

I think Josh's change will help a little, and with dg as moderator now, he's been doing a great job cleaning things up. I think we'll always have some people who just aren't worth helping and that's what I do. I help pretty much anyone if it's a subject I know, but there have been a few that I would not even give the time of day to.

I was actually going to quit coming here about a year ago, but I have a few friends here and decided to just ignore those who don't deserve help.

[verdon]

@squirrel...I bet in most cases they just have the wrong impression of what this forum is. Many don't know that it's just other cpanel users voluntarily helping out, and many, sad to say, are sent here by their hosts.

I wasn't sent here by a host as my first exposure to cpanel was when I leased a self-managed box with whm/cpanel, but my first impression here was that it was an official support forum... still no excuse to be rude though.

@squirrel...with dg as moderator now, he's been doing a great job cleaning things up...

Agreed!

@squirrel...I was actually going to quit coming here about a year ago...

Sure glad you didn't

[PWSowner]

@squirrel...I was actually going to quit coming here about a year ago...

Sure glad you didn't

Me too. My post count wouldn't be over 2000 now if I had quit.

[amal]

Hi,

I have used many other control panels, and I should say that cpanel forums is the best in terms of solutions... Rarely do I not get an issue mentioned in this forums.... Even if it isn't, at very rare times, most of the times, I get help from someone... A big thanks to everyone in cpanel... YOU HAVE BEEN GREAT ALWAYS...
Also to the users who spend their valuable time to reply to problems...

[chirpy]

Ask and ye shall receive

I re-labeled this section to "General" instead of "Support" and updated our webpage to say "cPanel Forums - Talk with other cPanel users" instead of "Support Forums" If I overlooked anything, let me know.

Joshua, it looks like the support page has reverted back to the old page as it no longer has the general text that you had previously - perhaps when Trustix was put back on the site

[nikaian]

I agree with you 100%. I know how it is to be a newbie because I am one. I think the thing is being a beginer and just starting out, we have made an investment to begin a site already and are a bit strapped with funding for extra help/support with the site. I agree, the first step for help lies with your host/or cpanel...but the forums are much more informative and believe it or not quicker to respond to our pleas for help. Plus, generally in the forums, the people are willing to try their best to help out, they were once newbies also. I would nor have never complained of not getting help, posts, etc...to any threads I have started requesting help. Needless to say, many of the threads in different forums have went unanswered, and my questions still remain, but I remain hopeful that someone will take pity...lol...and help this newbie out and well on her way to some type of beginning knowledge. So, for all the newbies...I am one of you too, but remember people get paid to do what we are asking, and we should be patient, respectful, and when the time comes truly greatful for any and all help, advice, input we recieve from any of our posts.
And thanks so much to all those who take a little time out to help us beginners. We all got to learn somewhere, and soooo many of us depend on these forums for that knowledge.
One quick note: Newbies: Do remember to search the forums before posting...I have found a lot of times, through some "back" tracking on forums, I can find answers to my questions in previous posts. So do take a little time to check out the past posts, as our knowledable peers probably do get frustrated answering the same thing over and over.
Thanks for your time,
NIKKI

[TitaniumHosting]

What about issues that are out of our hands? I mean, I got my server complete with cPanel installed and there are issues that even my Datacenter cannot fix. Because of this, I do not have any ways of posting a "Ticket" for support.
Obviously, when people "Purchase" something, they should receive "Support" for that something.
If you purchase a sony TV at a shopping center and it doesn't do what it is meant to do, where do you bring it?
There is a bug, or what appears to be a bug, in cPanel right now. A few people have reported it on the forums. Yet, not one "Staff" person replied to it saying "thanks" or anything.
I am sorry but this is not how support should be handled for a purchased item.
Regarding "Attitudes" of people coming asking for support. What about responses to someone's "Help" post like: "Do a search. It works." or "Do a search. That's what it's there for!". No wonder people complain.

[chirpy]

The mistake comes in believing that these forums are an official method of getting support from cPanel. They are not. they are for like-minded server admins to help each other if they want to. If you have a cPanel problem that requires the attention of cPanel, then it is the duty of your datacentre to log it with cPanel on your behalf. That is their part of the contract that they have with cPanel and is the reason that they get cheap internal licenses from cPanel. That is, if they cann fix your cPanel problem, then they must log a ticket with cPanel to get it resolved.

That said, if you find a reproducable bug, anyone can log an entry in bugzilla.

There is nothing wrong whatsoeve in telling people to search the forums first. It is common courtesy that that is what should be done first before anything. Too many people simply start a new thread without bothering to check whether the issue has been discussed before.

Remember that the people that come here are doing so in their own free time and are not being paid (including myself and dgbaker) and there's no guarantee of support here from anyone. That guarantee lies with cPanel if you purchase your license from them, or from your server provider since they are the ones that have purchased the license from cPanel. Your analogy breaks down, because you have not purchased a cPanel license, your datacentre did that.

[gorilla]

And coming back to the TV terminology:
You can not really send back your TV to sony just because you dont know how to programm the chanels or how to plug in your antenna !
So you either pay a technician to do so or go to your mates and ask for advice
And depending on your tone and attitude they'll give you advice or not