I was thinking about the 'help' we hand out the other day and how it "HELPS" legitimate dealers/tech go broke. We need to be more cautious about who we help. Looking back at some of my posts, I have probably been sworn at by more than 1 local tech. [Frown]
Before you respond to help requests, think about the question.
If you want help, ask for it in the Installers forum. Then reference it here, or whatever brand it is.
Remember, the help in this forum is limited to what's in the user guide(s) and generally available to owner/users from the manufacturer.

John, that has been the policy here for many years. Most of us have engaged in the support/enforcement of these rules the whole time. Why bring it up now?

Some of the questions I see obviously don't follow 'the rules'. And by the same token, neither have I. Just a heads up others, that's all.

Sometimes we give more from our hearts than heads. Not all that bad IMHO

For those of you that want installers category access, see "Installers Category Permission" in the "General Forum".

And read the "(BRAND) Posting Information" at the top of this or any other forum menu.

Speaking from my experience, I would hope those in the know continue to help us end users sometimes. I fully agree that some people shouldn't be allowed to operate a light switch and may come on here trying to save a buck (only to make things worse), but in our case I haven't had a great relationship with our vendor and its come to a point where I'm hitting a brick wall. Until something changes, that leaves me with fending for myself, and having been around electronics and phone systems/technologies since literally 2nd grade I believe I'm plenty qualified to do most things on my own. If it weren't for a lack of "formal" training and moreso access to the holier-than-thou Mitel document center, my only call to a vendor would be to do an upgrade or replacement. That said I have no problem leaning on a vendor more if I could trust them.

Just want to add that I appreciate all the help I've gotten on here over the past few years, both from the Comdial and Mitel forums!!

There is a fine line between helping an end user and circumventing a dealer.
This site has some great contributors and the combined knowledge here is vast.
We all want to help, but we all need to feed our families also.
To most of us, it is obvious when a posting is from an end user or say a hotel owner etc.. (enough said)who is trying to avoid paying for a service call.
I think we do police ourselves sufficiently but I agree with LH that we need to be cautious with certain posters.
I also second the comment by Orion, I appreciate all the help here.