Tek-Tips is the largest IT community on the Internet today!
Members share and learn making Tek-Tips Forums the best source of peer-reviewed technical information on the Internet!
-
Congratulations TouchToneTommy on being selected by the Tek-Tips community for having the most helpful posts in the forums last week. Way to Go!
Experts-Exchange
- Thread starter Mike2287
- Start date
I've been on it as a freeby for several years. It was a good site until the upgrade several months ago made it very hard to use. And you have to put up with some people who know all the answers without knowing all the questions. And they can be arrogant.
It isn't worth my $99.00.
Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.
It isn't worth my $99.00.
Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.
There are some very informed members of Expert Exchange. But I just found the squabble over points annoying as a responder. There is some time pressure to answer, so you see a lot of responses where the original question was not read very carefully.
But as a paid site it is one of the best, I think. If I google a question and see the EE URL in the results, I certainly would check the response there as one of the first things I would read.
Whether the fee is worth it to you, it is hard to say. It certainly is a bargain compared to using outside consultants. Perhaps the Google per incident paid site would be more economical. There are some very strong free sites, but I cannot think of one at the moment
.
It is worth the time investment to learn how to use the Newsgroups. Outlook Express does a decent (not great, but decent) job as a Newsgroup reader. See: Make sure you have a thick skin, as the Newsgroups seem to invite a fair share of abusive idiots that you should simply ignore.
Realize too that there are niche sites that are very strong in particular areas, but not very strong as a generalist site. Usually a few Googles will turn up the same site time after time, and a free registration is worthwhile. For example, the msfn.org site is unmatched for deployment issues, but not as good a choice for other Windows issues. If I have a question about my wireless adapter or DSL service, I head to broadbandreports.com I would use a site that specializes in Security issue to investigate a trojan malware on a system. Annualy there are guides from the large computer magazines listing the "Top 100 websites" in various catagories, and this is a good start for adding to your favorites list. A few Googles on a question should surface sites that seem to appear more often than not as having a relevant discussion of an issue.
As well there are excellent free resources from the manufacturer's of the hardware or software in question. These include resources such as FAQs, online technical chat, telephone and email support. For example, any XP Service Pack 2 or any Hotfix related problem is entitled to free support from Microsoft, thread779-923312 It surprises me how often people fail to investigate the websites of the software and hardware manufacturer's of their machines. Run and print on a semi-regular basis a Belarc Advisor report on your machine, and add the Technical Support URL for the manufacturer to your favorites list in your browser. Belarc download (freeware): (You may find some of the links from the Belarc report do not resolve as they have changed; IE should in the error message list the main web URL and just click on that).
Finally, learn to use the search engines. Google not just under "Web" but also "Groups" which is their newsgroup search engine. Try several variations of your query; "I have no system sounds under XP" would yield one set of results, a "Groups" search "xp no system sounds audigy" will likely return results for your Audigy sound card that would be impossible or not available to find with the first query.
But as a paid site it is one of the best, I think. If I google a question and see the EE URL in the results, I certainly would check the response there as one of the first things I would read.
Whether the fee is worth it to you, it is hard to say. It certainly is a bargain compared to using outside consultants. Perhaps the Google per incident paid site would be more economical. There are some very strong free sites, but I cannot think of one at the moment
.It is worth the time investment to learn how to use the Newsgroups. Outlook Express does a decent (not great, but decent) job as a Newsgroup reader. See: Make sure you have a thick skin, as the Newsgroups seem to invite a fair share of abusive idiots that you should simply ignore.
Realize too that there are niche sites that are very strong in particular areas, but not very strong as a generalist site. Usually a few Googles will turn up the same site time after time, and a free registration is worthwhile. For example, the msfn.org site is unmatched for deployment issues, but not as good a choice for other Windows issues. If I have a question about my wireless adapter or DSL service, I head to broadbandreports.com I would use a site that specializes in Security issue to investigate a trojan malware on a system. Annualy there are guides from the large computer magazines listing the "Top 100 websites" in various catagories, and this is a good start for adding to your favorites list. A few Googles on a question should surface sites that seem to appear more often than not as having a relevant discussion of an issue.
As well there are excellent free resources from the manufacturer's of the hardware or software in question. These include resources such as FAQs, online technical chat, telephone and email support. For example, any XP Service Pack 2 or any Hotfix related problem is entitled to free support from Microsoft, thread779-923312 It surprises me how often people fail to investigate the websites of the software and hardware manufacturer's of their machines. Run and print on a semi-regular basis a Belarc Advisor report on your machine, and add the Technical Support URL for the manufacturer to your favorites list in your browser. Belarc download (freeware): (You may find some of the links from the Belarc report do not resolve as they have changed; IE should in the error message list the main web URL and just click on that).
Finally, learn to use the search engines. Google not just under "Web" but also "Groups" which is their newsgroup search engine. Try several variations of your query; "I have no system sounds under XP" would yield one set of results, a "Groups" search "xp no system sounds audigy" will likely return results for your Audigy sound card that would be impossible or not available to find with the first query.
What strikes me about all of that is that a very good free site would be
Just a thought.
I'm Certifiable, not certified.
It just means my answers are from experience, not a book.
Just a thought.
I'm Certifiable, not certified.
It just means my answers are from experience, not a book.
- Thread starter
- #5
Thanks everyone.
lander215...Thats why I'm here. been here for quite a while and was just looking for other good sites to search when I run into issues. Managing 5 sites with a couple hunread systems everyday seems like an adventure. Although it's quit now....Hmm something must be wrong it's to quite.
Thanks again
lander215...Thats why I'm here. been here for quite a while and was just looking for other good sites to search when I run into issues. Managing 5 sites with a couple hunread systems everyday seems like an adventure. Although it's quit now....Hmm something must be wrong it's to quite.
Thanks again
![[nosmiley]](/data/assets/smilies/nosmiley.gif "[nosmiley] [nosmiley]")
Tek-tips only has two problems...
Some forums are slower (response-time) here then they are on other site, but you never see a TT advertisement (or at least I haven't).
There are unfortunately a few bugs that need to be fixed and emailing support doesn't help.
But it has the star system, which means any post can be voted helpful... you don't have a limit on who you can reward... Sometimes two (or five) answers are as helpful as each other and they all deserve a fair response.
Its safe to say that within... the US day, you'll get a response in almost any forum... and many are active at night too.
ALFII.com
---------------------
If this post answered or helped to answer your question, please reply with such so that forum members with a similar question will know to use this advice.
Some forums are slower (response-time) here then they are on other site, but you never see a TT advertisement (or at least I haven't).
There are unfortunately a few bugs that need to be fixed and emailing support doesn't help.
But it has the star system, which means any post can be voted helpful... you don't have a limit on who you can reward... Sometimes two (or five) answers are as helpful as each other and they all deserve a fair response.
Its safe to say that within... the US day, you'll get a response in almost any forum... and many are active at night too.
ALFII.com
---------------------
If this post answered or helped to answer your question, please reply with such so that forum members with a similar question will know to use this advice.
- Status
Similar threads
