Those beautiful folks are providing FREE tech support to a 3 TRILLION DOLLAR company. They faceticiously link the most useless articles that do so little to help your problem, ignoring your issue, that they are outright insulting, and they do this all in a "professional" manner, as if they are working for the company. I would say these people are worth exactly the money that gets paid to them!
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Apple Support Community folks are the heroes of our society!
- Thread starter i-want-an-iMac
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I've avoided Apple Support Communities forever. It's always a horrible experience. It's mostly a lot of clueless people looking for help, with a few trollish "gatekeepers" who are very territorial and often offer the most generic, ****ty troubleshooting advice.
You'll do a lot better here, on AskDifferent, or maybe Reddit. MacRumors is always my first stop, though.
You'll do a lot better here, on AskDifferent, or maybe Reddit. MacRumors is always my first stop, though.
I understand that you have having issues with the support communities. Sorry it's not living up to your expectations. But, don't worry; I'm here to help!! Please check out this link https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/funny-duck and let us know if that solves your problem.
SMIT (support moderator in training)
1. Have you checked that your computer is powered on?
2. Are there any applications running at all? Quit out of all of them, download Etre Check for some reason and paste in ALL of the output in a message below.
3. Wipe your entire system and reinstall the OS, and see if the problem comes back.
I have been a high level member in there. I tried very hard not to give "generic answers".
But the rules for what to answer were quite strict, but they have been eased a little over the years. Answers must be "straight to the point" - and preferably not contain personal experiences and solutions that are not officially part of Apple's troubleshooting. It could well be a challenge.
But the rules for what to answer were quite strict, but they have been eased a little over the years. Answers must be "straight to the point" - and preferably not contain personal experiences and solutions that are not officially part of Apple's troubleshooting. It could well be a challenge.
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It's good to have an explanation of the forum moderators' limits.
I think we must also get the same official answers when we call Apple support. If the forum moderators are limited to the same resources as Apple support, then they are required to be as useless for anything but the most trivial things.
Since you can get Apple support on the phone in under five minutes, that pretty much makes the support forums completely irrelevant. At least with Apple support you might get to tier two.
@svenmany
No one in ASC has access to the resources they have in Apple Support. But would not think that ASC is useless. There are many of the same questions inside ASC, if the Apple Support staff had to answer them all daily, they would be very busy. There is ASC is good tool.
Hehe and although many make fun of the answers that say "have you tried restarting" etc. - it actually turns out to be the solution for the general user. I'm not kidding.
No one in ASC has access to the resources they have in Apple Support. But would not think that ASC is useless. There are many of the same questions inside ASC, if the Apple Support staff had to answer them all daily, they would be very busy. There is ASC is good tool.
Hehe and although many make fun of the answers that say "have you tried restarting" etc. - it actually turns out to be the solution for the general user. I'm not kidding.
I can see how it is good for Apple. They get volunteers to triage problems, saving them money on ramping up support.
It's a disservice to users. ASC has less resources than official support, so gives more constrained answers (as I understand now). It is far slower to respond. Many users aren't aware that official support is available to anyone, even without Apple Care, and available within minutes.
If the moderators were allowed to dig in and go beyond official Apple sources, then those forums would add a lot of value. Especially since the answers given would help many other people who come upon them. As it is now, I rarely see solutions to questions asked.
It is good Apple holds volunteer community support to the highest possible standards. This is user-generated content posted on the internet and people need to understand the responsibility of representing an important organization like Apple in the best possible way.
@svenmany
Agreed. But that's not going to happen. The real Apple Support has access to data about your Apple ID and devices, so only the employees with a contract can undertake this kind of work.
Many tech problems can be easily solved in ASC, but those where it requires access to Apple ID, guarantees, payment, etc., only Apple Support can help. This is also what people are directed to if they ask such a question. But for questions about how to change my iPhone passcode, why can't I send content via AirDrop, how to restore my contacts, ASC can easily help, and makes part of the real Apple Support's job easier. I am also sure that this is why Apple still keeps the concept alive after so many years - it has value for Apple.
Agreed. But that's not going to happen. The real Apple Support has access to data about your Apple ID and devices, so only the employees with a contract can undertake this kind of work.
Many tech problems can be easily solved in ASC, but those where it requires access to Apple ID, guarantees, payment, etc., only Apple Support can help. This is also what people are directed to if they ask such a question. But for questions about how to change my iPhone passcode, why can't I send content via AirDrop, how to restore my contacts, ASC can easily help, and makes part of the real Apple Support's job easier. I am also sure that this is why Apple still keeps the concept alive after so many years - it has value for Apple.
@dumastudetto
Agreed. But sometimes it would be easier if you could recommend iMazing to export SMS messages, instead of saying the only solution is to take screenshots of all your messages, then print them out (True story) But I fully understand that in Apple's Support Forum, we do it the Apple way.
Agreed. But sometimes it would be easier if you could recommend iMazing to export SMS messages, instead of saying the only solution is to take screenshots of all your messages, then print them out (True story) But I fully understand that in Apple's Support Forum, we do it the Apple way.
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iMazing is not sanctioned or supported as a tool by Apple. I personally consider it unsafe for use and would never dream of recommending it on any official Apple community website.
@dumastudetto
My answer before was an example, and explains precisely that 3rd party programs must not be included in the support given on ASC, even if the program could actually solve a problem that Apple's native apps cannot. But beyond that, iMazing is a completely legit program, and it's not unsafe.
My answer before was an example, and explains precisely that 3rd party programs must not be included in the support given on ASC, even if the program could actually solve a problem that Apple's native apps cannot. But beyond that, iMazing is a completely legit program, and it's not unsafe.
Apple are not going to recommend people use third-party applications as a solution to any problem. The risks are that it could end up doing even more damage. They don't want anyone in their official communities making those recommendations either because people are prone to trusting it.
I don't feel those standards are high enough. Also, I don't know if they monitor the answers given.
There was a major flaw in Ventura where the application's were not showing in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services. It made the front page on MacRumors. It took Apple a long time to fix. The moderator said that it wasn't a bug but an intentional change. That response was the accepted answer. It was absolute nonsense and a major disservice to users.