Many people bring iPod software related questions to the table. I often find myself telling them to try restoring. And some people comment that I should tell them how to restore.
So my question is, how much detail is needed? Where can we set the boundary for what is common knowledge?
We keep running into the same questions & answers over and over again. It's a pain because you don't want to write in-depth instructions each time. The intended solution is to link new repeat questions to old answers. It was also suggested to create a general iPod repair wiki page that anyone could edit that would go in depth about how to restore an iPod.
Then the question of "how much detail" is very simple. You just answer "Try restoring your iPod." You personally don't have to go into much detail but people who need more details are just a click away from it.
It is really up to our power users to create the precedent of linking to old answers or to create / link / maintain a wiki page of common answers. We create the framework for these things but it's tough to teach the community to use. We are always open to suggestions about how to make it easier :)
1 Comment:
well - thats not always that easy. i often use "html" links to the apple support pages - but som usears don't get it (to bad that they claim that they have computer knowledge and wnat to repair their stuff but dont get it when something with a different color is in the text, sometimes with the original page title from apple. i understand richard that he didn't like to explain them everything again whats behind the link.
i know a german repair page for years and there are things a little bit different - a new user has to answer questions about his knowledge and the tools he have. this way you are able to skip many unneeded steps. i understand that not everyone had his nose into electronic stuff over decades (yes, some users are that old - or started early - or both).
I try to focus it on the knowledge of the user. I usually just say to try to restore, unless it seems the person really does not know how. My reasoning is that if the poster does not know how, they can just ask. The safest way is to just link to an Apple support page explaining how, easy and doesn't require much extra work.
1 Comment:
I would say that in general, you can't assume that the user has any technical knowledge, even though a large amount of the people who come to this website do. Having too much information is better than skimping and having too little.
by Adam Hintz
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