Help, I need somebody.
Help, not just anybody.
Help, you know I need someone, help.
These days, when I shout, "help!" it usually means I am twisted into a knot over a problem with my computer or the Internet. For example, when I set up my blog on the business of freelance writing, I couldn't figure out how to place my website banner on top of the blog so it would appear to be an integral part of my site. After poking around in the blog's control panel for about five minutes, I knew I needed help. As I have done numerous times before, and as countless people do each day,
I turned to the Web for support.
For blogging, I use WordPress, an open-source blogging tool. Open-source software is usually developed as a public collaboration and made freely available; its code is accessible for use or modification by all developers and users. (The manufacturers of proprietary software generally only make code available to select developers.) Since few people profit from open-source applications, they usually don't come with toll-free support lines. Instead, online support communities have developed to help answer questions about open-source applications such as the Linux operating system and WordPress. So, when I was stymied by the banner situation, I went to wordpress.org, clicked on support and posed a question. Actually, I posed several questions, as I was having more than one problem getting my blog off the ground.
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Within minutes, I had the answers. By the end of the day I'd put the banner on my blog, created links from the blog to pages on my website and posted my first blog entries online.
Free or inexpensive online support communities are now a common phenomenon, but asking for help has always been second nature to me. I have been digitally connecting to such communities since before the Internet. In the early 1990s I belonged to a number of bulletin board systems (BBS). I'd connect to a BBS using a computer and telephone modem that ran at 2400 bits per second (a snail's pace compared with the broadband cable and DSL connections most people use to surf the Net).
Since I was working from home as a freelance writer and trainer,
I joined the WAH (Work at Home) discussion forum on a BBS, which had one modem. If one person dialled in to post a note or read messages, then everybody else who called got a busy signal. Needless to say, dialling the BBS repeatedly was not the most efficient way of spending time.
In 1999, the WAH forum became a Yahoo! e-mail group known as SOHO-Can (Small Office Home Office—Canada). Members ask each other questions about marketing, pricing goods and services, creating websites and other topics of interest to small business owners, including tech support. While some business networking goes on (I have bought computers from one member, and have done work for others), the list is moderated, and spammers and marketers are booted off if they abuse the group's terms and conditions.
E-mail and online support groups are not just the domain of private individuals. Some companies set up groups like these to answer questions from paying customers. Other firms use moderated peer support groups to eliminate or dramatically cut tech support costs. I recently tested an Apple iMac to see if it could be integrated into a small network of PCs running Windows XP. I was able to get the iMac connected to the network and to the Internet simply by plugging in the network cable. But, I couldn't get it to print documents on a printer connected to a PC on the network.
Off I went to apple.com, where I realized I was not the only Mac user with this problem. I viewed dozens of variations on my question and dozens of answers—mostly from Mac users all too willing to help, but also from Mac support staff who monitor the discussion lists.
When I had difficulty creating a cover for one of the books I self-publish on lulu.com, an online print-on-demand company, I posed questions on its support forum. Instead of taking phone calls and e-mails requesting help, Lulu offers moderated forums in which members can help each other. Support staff monitor the discussions and chime in when appropriate.
Most of the questions I've posed over the years have been answered in a spirit of co-operation. While you do get the occasional it-should-be-obvious-to-you attitude, most people online are kind souls willing to help the people who need it. I guess that makes me one of the luckiest people in the world.
