Heat and Cable modem??

The tech did say; if it comes back replace the modem. A pleasant experience.

Thanks again....

Oren

It sounds like they're trying to solve your problem. Which cable company is it?

Las Vegas COX.

Oren

OK, let us know whether that cleared your problem.

In case Warren is reading I want to say emphatically - YES, problem cleared.

(splitter is no longer "suspect")

Oren

I have to disagree. In a text-based forum, all we have to go on are the typed words that describe the issue and surrounding circumstances. We have to make certain assumptions that those words are accurate, because if they're not, the troubleshooting steps usually change drastically. The initial questions are usually the simpler things, but they set the framework for everything that follows. If the framework is skewed, a correct solution can only be reached by blind luck, if at all.

It sounds like you're getting carried away with it too. If you don't want to help the guy then you can always disregard the request. Investing considerable time and energy to belittle someone doesn't make much sense to me..

Let me join in. I didn't interpret Warren's remarks as belittling, only stating the obvious facts. If someone else happens to read his post before reporting their problem, it may save the rest of us important time. Sadly though, I doubt if anyone with a new problem will bother to read any old posts.

Oren seemed to take it in stride (admitting the faux pas), so no need to stick up for him when he doesn't appear to need it.

Yes, sir!

Um, excuse me. Both of you have a valid point. However the situation relatively speaking isn't that complicated. Both in things that can go wrong, and things that the OP can fix. e.g. parts swapping. Let's keep our sense of proportion, and remember we work in an imperfect world.

Yes, quite well.

While I'm surprised that he actually has taken the comments quite well, I did have an underlying hope that he, or at least someone else, would take stock in the way they approach asking for assistance.

As far as making too much of it all, perhaps I am. My initial post was because I was in a bad mood. I've seen too many threads turn into a game of twenty questions, where six of the answers would be wrong or misleading, and the trick was to guess which six answers were the wrong or incorrect ones. Troubleshooting should be a systematic, logical process, not a guessing game filled with lies, with the reward only going to those who can factor out the red herrings, and get lucky. I'm just burned-out from a decade of dealing with those kinds of threads.

I said my peace, and I was going to sit it out, and only posted again to clarify my previous post.

Would it have been easier to just deal with the technical issues? No. The technical issue was obscured by the game already.

At this point, it appears that Oren has taken this to heart, and will be one of the rare people who can get back on track. Apparently he wasn't intentionally confusing the issue, and just got caught-up in some laziness. So I don't want to turn this into a personal assault on his character, and I would suggest that the effort being put into this (now off-topic) branch of the thread is more about a class of people who in general can frustrate attempts to help them by not honestly participating in the troubleshooting.

But as has already been pointed out, the people who need to read this the most aren't likely to even see it.

Making a big thing about nothing? Maybe. But Oren is back on track, and now perhaps some progress can be made. I apologize that I'm not actively participating in that side of the discussion, but there are already others who are already contributing what I could contribute. My unique contribution to the thread is over, and this post is beating a dead horse, too. But I wanted to try to clarify why I took us down this path.

A lot of words? Too much time going off in this direction? Maybe. But I hope this clarification is enough that I don't have to further clarify -- again. But since I agree that it's been too much already. And if there are still people who don't understand, I think the time has come to just resign to the fact that some people won't ever understand what I posted, or why I posted it.

When I posted here, without lurking first I did not expect to find the quality that I did. As each day passes; many more un-knowing people will find this group. A dollar to a donut: they will inadvertently leave something out. It is hard to ask a question sometimes without thinking about how to phrase it or one may lack the verbiage, etc..

Groups like this that obviously have pros will have to deal with the non-pros. Some are faster than others. For me I try to only speak of my experience. What I learned here in the past few days will be shared with others as I know some facts now.

Thanks,

Oren

help me out Warren. A non-lurking user finds a group, ask a question and has an articulate person with knowledge inject a "bad mood" into the thread with hopes. You've spent a long time correcting and helping users, giving advice and they don't follow it. How many did you ever asked if the modem was hot?

Warren, lies, laziness, non-honesty? Git-a-date.

You are still going to have posters in this group that are new - try some acceptance.

Thanks for your comments.

Oren

No, no one here HAS to deal with anyone. I, for one, stayed out of this discussion because you obviously didn't know what you had in your system and thus I couldn't help. Warren was kind enough to point out the lack of necessary information. Now that your system works, don't go getting rancorous or you'll have to post under a different name next time.

You sound about as arrogant as Warren did. Geesh, people with atttitudes like you people don't need to be trying to help anyone.

As you can see, once we saw that we couldn't help, we didn't. But Warren at least had the courtesy to say why he didn't, and he had the courtesy to tell what was needed to get his help. Since all help here is offered free of charge, I can't see that you have grounds for complaint.

"Dave" wrote:

True.

As well as a political comment.

"rancorous" - Can I have that in a sentence, please? You are well versed in your Outlook Express filters. If you deem it necessary, filter my post.

Oren

I've been following this thread since the beginning and find it difficult to fault the OP for anything. He most definitely hasn't been guilty of any dishonesty.

What I saw was a failure to communicate on the part of the people who were "helping". There was ongoing discussion in regard to modem heat and also the modem signals and that was being kept alive, but splitters were not initially brought up in the context of possibly causing his problem. In fact it was almost like an "Oh, by the way" with no particular importance attached to it. Keep in mind that the people who you attempt to help may not be familiar with such things. That applied in this case and was obvious early on.

There was no courtesy in any of his posts and he obviously expects the people being supported to understand him and read his mind as well as one of his peers could. That mentality doesn't belong in customer support. The OP displayed admirable restraint and handled him very graciously. Kudos to him.

Spam is offered free of charge also, but people seem to complain about it. You might want to find a different rationale if you can.

Bob

This is NOT "customer support". There ARE no customers since there is no charge. That is one of the problems when newbies use Usenet - they assume that people here HAVE to provide help, to provide it in a timely fashion, and to be courteous, and then they frequently don't even reply with a "thanks". They just don't get that they are in a user support group where all support is provided gratis by other users just like them. When a poster comes in asking why his system doesn't work and doesn't even do the research to know if there's a splitter in the system, it's virtually just a whine in the dark - "Waaa, my system doesn't work. Make it work!"

Yeah. Until his system was working again. THEN the OP came back and started dumping on Warren's "attitude". As long as OP needed help, he was meek and humble. But not afterward. As I've said, "Oren" will have to post under a different name to get MY help in the future.