Timeline for How to politely handle support requests which lack some basic understanding?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
21 events
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| Nov 13, 2017 at 20:03 | comment | added | baldPrussian | This is a good answer. I think also that you're trying to say "to be able to help yourself, understanding Y would be a prerequisite" and you want to stay out of providing support for things that aren't yours. I'd add something like "I'm glad you found X useful! Others with this issue have found that gaining more experience with Y has helped them out" I think it's OK to be inexperienced and not OK to be considered stupid. Good luck! | |
| Nov 12, 2017 at 12:51 | vote | accept | Jonas Schäfer | ||
| Nov 10, 2017 at 17:05 | comment | added | English Student | So @ Flater risked some downvotes with that 'bold' opening... Thanks for explaining @Magisch! | |
| Nov 10, 2017 at 11:55 | comment | added | Magisch | @EnglishStudent referring to users just browsing that read the first sentence without the following context, which can happen when users read bold text, and then make assumptions based on that and downvote. | |
| Nov 10, 2017 at 11:52 | comment | added | Jonas Schäfer | @EnglishStudent Sorry, I tried to make things as clear as possible. I’m open for suggestions, because describing situations like these to laymen make it hard to get feedback on anything. | |
| Nov 10, 2017 at 11:52 | comment | added | English Student | What is 'passing eyes' @Magisch? | |
| Nov 10, 2017 at 11:46 | comment | added | English Student | Extremely clear and detailed answer @Flater: you have grasped the essential interpersonal problem here from the (for the layman, bewildering) thicket of software references. Best part: "Anyone with basic understanding of how Y works (...) The rest of the reply doesn't even matter, this immediately puts the other person on the defensive." __ absolutely right; the most innovative answer heading in IPS history; and your solution is also most constructive: I want to give this answer 12 upvotes! | |
| Nov 10, 2017 at 11:20 | comment | added | Flater | @JonasWielicki: Your alternate phrasing in your comment isn't rude at all. It's a bit terse (which can come across as impolite), but it avoids any negative implication about the person. You definitely shouldn't pin yourself to the exact phrasing that I used (I tend to be a bit verbose), it's more about the content of the message. | |
| Nov 10, 2017 at 11:17 | comment | added | Flater | @Mikhail: If you don't make any inferences about how the writer feels, then you shouldn't consider it rude. As I mentioned, what the OP says is objectively correct. (note: doesn't "as I mentioned" possibly imply that I'm annoyed that you didn't get this whan I said it the first time?) Being polite has nothing to do with the validity of your statement, but rather that you intentionally avoid making someone feel bad (even if it's unintentional). | |
| Nov 10, 2017 at 11:11 | comment | added | Jonas Schäfer | Thanks, and well played with the heading. It drives the message home indeed ☺. Your breakdown is detailed and helps with understanding how to improve that interaction next time. So I’m thinking along the lines of (since Z isn’t a working alternative in their situation, as mentioned): "This is independent of X; maybe take a look at an Y tutorial here (+link) to solve that step.". Could that still be taken as an offense? | |
| Nov 10, 2017 at 11:10 | comment | added | Mikhail | My IPS skills must be around 0, since I did not consider the title of this answer rude at all... | |
| Nov 10, 2017 at 10:57 | history | edited | Flater | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Nov 10, 2017 at 10:47 | comment | added | Flater | @Magisch: It's a valid comment, and definitely thanks for the help :) Personally, helping the OP is more important to me than placating a potential trigger-happy reader. I have no issue with nicely formatting my answer, but it seems counterproductive to do so if it detracts from helping the OP (but in all fairness, it wouldn't be the first time that my priorities of helping the OP conflicts with an SE community's tendency to maximize answer reusability) | |
| Nov 10, 2017 at 10:45 | history | edited | Flater | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Nov 10, 2017 at 10:45 | comment | added | Magisch | If you're going for exactly that, sure. I don't have a problem with it either. I just think some people might read that and go "aaaand....downvote" which would be a shame because this answer is pretty good | |
| Nov 10, 2017 at 10:41 | history | edited | Flater | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Nov 10, 2017 at 10:39 | comment | added | Flater | @Magisch: Also, I could argue that it serves the purpose of a clickbaity title to draw in those who vehemently disagree with the title; even though clickbaiting was never my intention :) | |
| Nov 10, 2017 at 10:38 | comment | added | Flater | @Magisch: For the OP specifically, I think the impact of passing eyes is exactly the point. He's intending to send that short message by itself with no surrounding context, and he's not seeing that without any further elaboration, there are many possible inferences about what the OP is implying about the recipient of the message. The rude bolded header drives that point home. I'd rather have the OP understands that first hand (as I've made him the recipient of such a rude message), than avoid an errant downvote or two from people who don't actually go on to read the next line :) | |
| Nov 10, 2017 at 10:34 | history | edited | Flater | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Nov 10, 2017 at 10:27 | comment | added | Magisch | This is a pretty nice breakdown of the situation, more thorough then mine. But I think it could benefit from formatting the sentence at the beginning in such a way that it's made clear you're not actually saying that ... passing eyes and stuff :). Otherwise very nice effort. | |
| Nov 10, 2017 at 10:22 | history | answered | Flater | CC BY-SA 3.0 |