[ubuntu-uk] I'm new

[Alan Bell]

Hi Paula,
do you know when this happened and what channel, if there is something 
we can review and learn from that would be great.

On 27/07/11 12:40, Paula Graham wrote:
>
> Apropos - and sorry, don't want to whinge to people who're freely 
> giving their time - but thought you'd want to know - I just got an 
> email from one of the people we taught last week to come to the IRC 
> channel for help because BT can't help her as they don't support 
> Linux. This is what she said (and by "forum", she means IRC):
>
> "The chap on the Ubuntu forum who's responded to my plea for help has 
> just given me technical jargon answers I simply don't understand and 
> he's putting me off Ubuntu."
>
we *really* don't want that to happen, what is referred to as "technical 
jargon" is normally the accurate and correct terminology for the 
situation, but if someone doesn't understand a term they should feel 
that they can ask for and get a more full explanation. If this isn't 
happening then we have an issue.
> This woman is by no means an idiot but she's left a larger 
> organisation, where she had tech support, to start her own non-profit 
> and now has to DIY - she was pretty enthusiastic about Ubuntu at the 
> session we did and the welcome she got on IRC at the session was great 
> - so she has gone ahead and installed her own laptop. But she's 
> bringing the laptop back here for a Fossbox volunteer to look at. It 
> sounds like it's a simple problem with wifi on a BT hub - but she has 
> no prior understanding of networks so she needs simple step-by-step 
> support.
actually I believe I have seen reports about the BT Home Hub 3 being 
unusable with Ubuntu after a firmware upgrade BT rolled out a few months 
ago. This might not be a simple problem at all. Sometimes there just 
isn't a "do this, then it will work" kind of answer to support 
questions, and when it doesn't work sometimes there is a need to get 
more diagnostic information to add to a bug so that the problem can be 
solved at some future point.
>
> This isn't the first time someone boomerangs off Ubuntu-UK back to 
> Fossbox wailing that they don't understand what's been said to them. I 
> know it's often frustrating having to explain the most basic things to 
> people and translate to plain English, but that's what it takes to get 
> beyond the techie-sphere with Ubuntu . . .
chuck them back again :) in fact tell them to say they are a Fossbox client.
>
> Again, don't want to carp about the fantastic work done here - I don't 
> know if it's an issue to lose people this way but thought you'd want 
> to know the feedback I get here.
it is, and we do.
>
> Paula
>
>


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