Quote:
Originally Posted by Ned Seagoon
I'll ask a silly question, why is it that there are so few posters on computer help forums? Not just this one but all of them.
Is it that computer are better than they were some years ago?
Or are anti virus programs better?
Or are users smarter than they were?
Or do people seek their answers on social networking sites?
Or is society more affluent and computers just considered throw away items?
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Hi Ned,
I wouldn't class that as a silly question, as I've recently thought along similar lines (although that is not the best argument that it's not a silly question).
In the first instance, computers have arguably improved over the years - both in terms of their hardware and software - resulting in better interoperability and compatibility and therefore becoming more stable.
I believe that social networking and society in general has impacted upon the forum community. When I originally searched for online assistance around 2001, there were numerous - and highly active forums - offering such help. Users would gladly offer advice whether it was on a basic level or if it involved a deeper understanding of a particular subject. Information was happily exchanged and a poster could earn kudos with the quality of their replies. However, it was not all serious as the vast majority contributed to the community side by becoming involved in the general side of a forum. Some threads were seriously amusing and there would often be over a hundred responses to a single post.
Along came social networking sites and perhaps the forums became old-fashioned or lost their lustre. Another cause was what was termed as becoming 'teched-out' where users became disenchanted offering advice and constantly to the same repeated questions. As these posters became less active then others - maybe younger - users failed to replace them as they were more concerned with collecting 'friends' on a SNS or cheap laughs via YouTube.
It may be the case that users have become more knowledgable regarding computers - how they operate and their security for example. In a perverse way, this could be due to the efforts of the users of the forums in earlier years. They might have children themselves who would have been schooled in how to keep a lean and mean PC. Those that received advice might have passed that knowledge along to friends or colleagues, who have passed that along to their friends and colleagues and so the chain continues.
I'm throwing my 'puter away now and going to buy a different model.