[wp-forums] Proposed draft

[Podz]

Vicki Frei wrote:
 > That's another reason for wanting the commercial totally removed from
> the support forum.  I completely agree with Matt that /support/ needs to
> be just that....
> 

Support is a combination of the expected and the offered.
We get people moaning about the support because it's not good enough and
we have people delighted with us.
We have people who want to learn and we will step through, we have those
that we will take off-forum because of the 'noise' and we have people
that have money they wish to use to get something done.
All are okay in their own way.

Take the people that Matt met at SxSW who consulted around WP. They are
supporting a free product for people who know it is free but choose to
pay someone to do their 'wp work' for them. That's support.
We answer inumerable questions in the forums supporting a free product
for people who know it is free too and we do it for free. Also support.

My problem never was "Hey, I want a theme doing and I'll pay $100.
here's my email" or "$20 to install it for me" - yet they are support
and involve money changing hands.
My problem was the offering first "I'll design and install for $120!"
because that comes at it from the wrong side of the equation.

Paid support is only a bad thing if it is the only alternative. It is
not and it does have a place. Saying that, I think that deciding on who
can offer support will be just as difficult.

P.