Why Does This Exist?
Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2020 12:27 pm
Have you ever had an incredibly specific tech problem, with nary a hope in sight, despair knawing at your heart, frantically typing different versions of the same question into Google, over and over again...
When all of a sudden... like the lighthouse of safe harbor shining through the storm...
You found a forum post from 2008 detailing the exact problem that you had, with clear and concise steps as to what was tried and what ended up working?
Remember that joy and hold onto it, because as you may have noticed, those forum posts are a limited and aging resource. Increasingly, ad hoc tech support ends up happening on inaccessible walled gardens (Facebook group threads come to mind) or in ephemeral, fleeting discussion spaces (Discord help channels, I'm looking at you). The human effort that used to be put into those 2008 forum threads is now being expended into what may as well be a bottomless, unhelpful pit. Yes, these resources are technically searchable, but no longer are they really findable. And if you can't find it, you can't fix your iButtCam 2003 with the busted capacitor on the back of the PCB right where you might miss it unless you knew where to look.
There is a nearly infinite well of practical knowledge out there that has been, insidiously, redirected into places where few people can benefit from it. That is why this subforum exists: to take back some of that knowledge and let it become useful and helpful for future printer operators and more.
Also, because I hate watching YouTube video tutorials and I needed a place to start regularly transcribing guides into a more readable and less excruciatingly boring and ad-filled experience.
When all of a sudden... like the lighthouse of safe harbor shining through the storm...
You found a forum post from 2008 detailing the exact problem that you had, with clear and concise steps as to what was tried and what ended up working?
Remember that joy and hold onto it, because as you may have noticed, those forum posts are a limited and aging resource. Increasingly, ad hoc tech support ends up happening on inaccessible walled gardens (Facebook group threads come to mind) or in ephemeral, fleeting discussion spaces (Discord help channels, I'm looking at you). The human effort that used to be put into those 2008 forum threads is now being expended into what may as well be a bottomless, unhelpful pit. Yes, these resources are technically searchable, but no longer are they really findable. And if you can't find it, you can't fix your iButtCam 2003 with the busted capacitor on the back of the PCB right where you might miss it unless you knew where to look.
There is a nearly infinite well of practical knowledge out there that has been, insidiously, redirected into places where few people can benefit from it. That is why this subforum exists: to take back some of that knowledge and let it become useful and helpful for future printer operators and more.
Also, because I hate watching YouTube video tutorials and I needed a place to start regularly transcribing guides into a more readable and less excruciatingly boring and ad-filled experience.