Windows 7 another chat room??

[jacksprat]

I don't mean to be rude, but is there a chat room some where that I can go to that doesn't chat about programs on their puter's? I am looking for just general chat. Any one?

 

[Mike]

Our Open Discussion and Water Cooler are off-topic forum areas. Do you think a live general chat room would be beneficial to our members?

 

[jacksprat]

Our Open Discussion and Water Cooler are off-topic forum areas. Do you think a live general chat room would be beneficial to our members?

ABSOLUTELY!

As a matter of fact, I am sure that there are a lot of us that need just a simple answer to questions, without going
into the non-understandable jargon of puter talk, like registery cleaning, back up your hard drives, etc.
I just want to ask some one,
for example," How do I get smooth scrolling, I have been to tools, options, clicked "smooth scrolling",
but it doesn't do any good"

 

[Joe S]

It might prove useful if it didn't just turn into a bunch of general chatter. Which frequently happens on other sites.
Joe

 

[jacksprat]

Joe,
I see your point. But when I need some help,about what would be simple to a geek, no offence meant,
I would like an answer in simple laymens talk. I have found that the more learned folks
will sometimes tell me to open a page or click on a certain item, but fail to tell me that
before I can do what they tell me, I must first click on something else. Confusing, let me give an
example:I was told to go to the control panel and open up options. In windows 7,
I click on TOOLS and scroll down to OPTIONS, then get" general, security, connections, etc.
But when they start talking about gigabytes,and all that other jargon, that just confuses me.
It was just a thought.

 

[MikeHawthorne]

I don't think that the example given it the correct kind of thing for general chat.
How do I get smooth scrolling is a support issue.

To me general chat would be more in the vein of "I got a new computer and I really like it a lot" or should I get a Dell computer or a Falcon North West computer, something of that nature that doesn't ask any questions about Windows 7 etc.

I do think that the comment that being more explicit in giving answers is a valid one.
I can't tell you how many times I have followed instructions that just didn't work because the poster assumed that I would know enough to open the System folder or something before I started following the instructions.

Actually I think this kind of issue is a good example or the kind of thing that would go into general chat.

Mike

 

[davehc]

I agree with Mike on his views of how a general chat should be conducted. The correct place for questions regarding help is in the open forums - that is what it is all about.
On the other point, a long time ago I raised the question of helpers merely giving links to other help sites. When I am able to give a link, I usually have a good look at it and, often, transcribe it onto the forum in question, in plainer language.
imho. If a user comes to this site, for example, seeking help, then he will be more pleased if the answer is given on the site, rather than be redirected to yet another?
I, myself, sometimes get carried away, but, no offence to anyone, I do try and assume the lowest commen denominator when I offer help.

(My wife is a witness to this - totally computer illiterate - lol)

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

I'd like to add that people asking questions could do a lot to help as well.

One thing that bugs me is when a poster will say "I'm trying to get a program to run in Windows 7", or "Some of my software won't run" or worse yet, I can't play this file in Windows Media Player, without saying what kind of file it is.

If you have something that won't run say what it is!
It can really help to be specific about your problem to start with.

My wife spends a lot of time on her computer and is still completely uninterested in why it works.
At regular intervals I hear, "Can you come here a minute, my computer isn't working"! LOL

Mike

 

[Highwayman]

You could always use PALTALK (paltalk.com) chat app, which does text and voice/cam chat for free rather well, it has plenty of live chatrooms for every subject... even some for computer stuff, where I've been a helper/moderator, on and off for 8+ years. It does have a subscription service as well, but to be honest thats only aimed at the webcam brigade, there is no less functionality as far as text or voice chat goes on a free account, just video viewing is trimmed to 10 seconds or something pointless.

As for jargon, it never hurts to use wikipedia to read up what they mean, after all, to live in total ignorance is the source of many problems in the first place, I wouldn't dream of getting something complicated without expecting to read up on it.