I/T Professionals seeking help in forums

[370H55V]

Lately in the Adobe Reader forum, there has been a rash of people asking questions about "deployment" of updates and how to modify the patches for pushing over a network.

It's just my opinion, but this is a "user to user" forum for everyday people who are having issues with the software and need help without having to pay for technical support.

Someone who is "pushing a patch" over a network to hundreds of end users is:

Not an everyday user.

Being paid by someone else to push the updates.

Being paid to modify the patches so they can do so.

In such cases, there is an employer who is not only mandating the things stated above but reaping the benefits from having a professional do them for them.

These employers should be paying Adobe Support to bring their people up to speed on how to "push" patches over the network in the way the employer wants it done

I'm not a network administrator (other than my five systems at home), I'm not an I/T professional (yet), and I don't write C++ or create APIs.I'm just a ten year Windows user, eight year Mac user and I have worked with nearly every product Adobe has made over the years... some more than others.

If I was an employer and discovered that my I/T "professional" was seeking the advice of a guy in his bedroom on the same computer he takes night classes on... for something that will affect every system in the company... I'd be questioning the hiring and retention of said individual.

Am I wrong to tell these people that they should be going to (paid) technical support for their questions?

[John T Smith]

>Am I wrong

I am just another user, so what I would say is something like...

This is a user to user forum, and you are asking a network administrator question that is unlikely to be answered here... unless, of course, some other user is also a network administrator and has an answer

I suggest you search the Adobe knowledgebase at http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/search/index.cfm?cat=support&loc=en_us or call Adobe support to ask for developer information

Bottom line... you can't stop anyone from asking any question... so providing at least some help or a direction is better than none

[370H55V]

Here's what I've been posting:

Just a reminder:

This is a  "user to user" forum and questions about network wide mass deployment of  updates and how to alter the software for such are best addressed in  Adobe Support where developers can be contacted for answers if need be.

Is that too blunt? or too vague?

[the_wine_snob]

Looks like a good response to me, but I too, am but a lowly user. It is clear, offers a path to solution, and it should be a viable path.

Good luck,

Hunt

[MichaelKazlow]

Adobe has forums for enterprise software here, for example,  LiveCycle ES. Adobe would like anyone who can get help to do so. Perhaps issues like mass deployment should be directed to a special forum or subforum.

[Jochem van Dieten]

Mac+Win=Me wrote on 4/15/2010 12:43 AM:

It's just my opinion, but this is a "user to user" forum for everyday people who are having issues with the software and need help without having to pay for technical support.

Adobe has many products that do not cater to "everyday users", but to an

audience of professional users. Those professional users have just as

many questions as everyday users (although I hope they know How To Ask

Questions The Smart Way ). These forums are just as much a place for

them to ask their peers, as they are for everyday users to ask their

peers.

Take for example the mass deployment question. Do you think it is

realistic that everybody who manages an infrastructure with dozens or

more systems to have a support contract with Adobe? I am sure Adobe and

their shareholders would love it if every educational institution and

SME had a support contract, but I do not consider that a realistic

situation.

Somebody else mentioned LiveCycle. Sure LiveCycle ES is a big Enterprise

product aimed squarely at the professional. (Although LiveCycle Designer

is included with every Acrobat / CS suite.) So those professionals use

the forums to communicate with their peers. And every LiveCycle training

from Adobe tells all students to go to the forums when they have problems.

If people post in the wrong forum, redirect them. But if they have

questions about Adobe products, these forums are the right place to ask

them even if they are not "everyday users".

[Guest]

Am I wrong to tell these people that they should be going to (paid) technical support for their questions?

yes. completely.

a good tech person will use all resources at his or her disposal to solve a problem. and if it saves the company money, more's the better.

the world would be a sorry place if people decided not to share what they know because no one paid them for it.

and it would also be a sorry place if you had to pay for every little bit of knowlege you need.

where's the problem?

[370H55V]

Good points and they are well taken.

That's why each of us is here I assume... to help other who are learning liek we were at some point.

It just sort of irks me a little when someone comes in with an I/T question and then gets "snippy" because they can't get an answer from a developer in a forum of users.

I'll point them in the right direction, and will make more of a point not to get in on things I'm not really qualified to answer, like mass deployments and API development for such.

[John T Smith]

>gets "snippy" because they can't get an answer from a developer in a forum of users

Ah well... about the same as a user who asks "why won't my file load" with no information about the type of file or the exact error message... and then they get upset when people ask for details... or receive the message to read the manual to find out what kinds of files are supported

[~graffiti]

Whether they're normal every day users like most of us or IT professionals, if they get snippy, I treat them all the same (by ignoring them).

I figure the same as dave. It's a support forum. Some folks need different levels of support and if they were my employees, I would appreciate it if they tried the free support route first. Smart thinking in my book.

I'm paid to do my job too but I come in here for support to do what I get paid for from time to time.