SAF has always been, and always will be, a great site. However, it seems SAF has dropped in the rankings. Why? It's not for lack of talent, that's for sure.

Where it used to be ranked as Outstanding, I saw it drop to Highly Recommended and then to Recommended at TechSupportAlert.
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_free_...pport_sites.htm

Remember this thread? http://www.suggestafix.com/index.php?showtopic=8715

A great pity to see this site drop down the rankings, but IIRC the write-up is exactly the same as I remember reading before .... or am I missing something?

Here it is, pasted from the link you posted, Interceptor:

I don't know. I think I'm going to ask Gizmo directly.

Sorry to be a cowboy about this so cut me some slack everybody, okay?, however....

The several questions this "techsupportalert" outfit posed to us took someone, or possibly several people, a fair amount of time and possible research to answer, and it was fake just to test us. Does anyone have a problem with that? I do.

I don't care what this self-appointed website authority has to say about us or anything else. They, under false identity and without our invitation, took our time and conscientious labor to help their ratings for their website, and I don't like that. I put everything I got into answering folks on the site, I take great pains and labor to try to explain as clearly as possible and most of the time I don't even get a response from them. That's discouraging as it is. This is a damn great site by anybody's standards and I don't need some eight-ball that nobody has ever heard of to post a self-styled authoritative judgement of us.

We are one of the few sites recommended by Newegg.com, and they didn't pose false questions to test us.

Amen, brother!!

well said ranchhand u mike

I have to agree on the one hand because our time we put in is free and it's time away from our lives. The part of this I have a bigger problem is the insinuation that because a lot of times the same handful of people are answering the questions that it's somehow a "luck of the draw" for your answer.

Every question that comes here has the possibility of being a question we can answer. Likewise, it could be a question we cannot. That doesn't mean this site is any less valuable to the internet public. How ridiculous to insinuate also that the quality of the answers depends on the day? The heck it does. That's the part that miffs me.

Frankly he can stuff his recommendation because we don't need it. He fails to realize that small is just fine because people get answered here. Some people PREFER a smaller forum for just this reason. So I won't waste anymore time worrying about it. I love SAF. SAF is my home whether 50 members come or 3000. End of story.

Dashie, You is ma' kind o' WOMAN!

Just a note to John/Interceptor, one of our most valued buds. Nothing here is to hint that we are saying anything about you saying something wrong. You are one of the foundation blocks that were here before I ever heard of SAF. The experience you bring to our family is highly needed, you have experience in things that I do not. It is entirely understandable that you are concerned about SAF, and we would have an empty spot here without you.

I guess I feel toward this forum the same way you do, that is why I said what I did. I meant nothing to infer that your viewpoint was wrong!!

i guess the question is...

what are you disappointed about john?

I think for me I hadn't seen it like that, but come to think of it, it *is* annoying to spend quality time finding a solution for someone only to discover later that this person didn't really need help; they're just testing us.

The really annoying part is that the time given to that tester could have been used on someone who genuinely wanted help.

A bit like the person with a malware issue who posts their HijackThis log on a dozen different fora - one of them is bound to help, right? The trouble is, all dozen of them could help with the result that 11 people get to waste their time.

Perhaps a better way to test the quality of a help forum is to take a look at each section it offers help in and take 10 of the most recent topics. See how long it is after the topic is started that help is received, and take an average time for getting that problem sorted, and also the perseverence of the helper. Some problems can be solved giving quick advice, others need further information, while others are an iterative process.

It will, of course, take time on the part of the tester (especially if they are considering a number of fora) but at least they don't get to waste the time of the folk who help out at those fora.

Another thing I've always enjoyed about SAF is the fact that it's 100% content. No chunky Flash-based adverts to assault you every time you come here. None of this blasted double-underlining of words that if you have the misfortune to pass your mouse over results in an advert splattered across the content you're trying to read. No need to use plug-ins or blockers to stop such insidious advertising. What you see here is what you get. 100% dependable.

Whatever rankings are given by any external agency, I'm really proud to be part of this community

Sure. If we want to get really hard-nosed about it, consider what Best Buy charges. Some computer owner crashes beyond hope, and contacts Best Buy. In the Chicago are, the Geek Squad want minimally $150 just to come to your door, and additional costs start from there. They see a corrupted operating system. Do you think they are going to spend several hours at the customer's house trying to get it right? Heck no, now the customer pays for them to bring it into the shop, and there they will just wipe the disk and reinstall, or possibly use the restore disk that came with the computer to restore Windows and the customer loses everything. Final bills come to $200 - $300 dollars, sometimes more.

We do it right for free. So what is our time worth? What if this "techsupportalert" yo-yo took a busted machine to Best Buy just to test them like he does unsuspecting forums on the internet, how far do you think he would get before someone wanted a credit card??? They would boot him out of there on his kyster. This guy took the equivalent of several hundred dollars worth of service and support and wasted it so he could boost the hits on his website.

Actualy, I think, all that have to do is just look around.

I agree with both of you, Angus and Bob.

This is a GREAT forum, no matter how it's ranked. I'm proud to be part of it, I'm not asking for any privileges... Yes, it's good to be well ranked, it's a "virtual medal" to our efforts, but this is not the goal we pursue here. The goal is to provide free and reliable help.

We all (members, mods, admins, as well as the Forum owner himself) are always trying to do the best without asking for anything. This is what makes us unique.

I would suggest you all to make a ranking section here, based on Angus' suggestions. Not only on help forums though. Free help must be for free. If there is any advertising on it, it's not for free. Someone is earning something, which is not the case here.

We are a real FREE help forum.

And I'm proud to help anyone here without earning anything more than good friends and to know valuable persons !

Chris

While we're on the topic of advertising, I know I've become so very anti-advertising over the past few years. The reason for this is that advertisers see ANY form of communication as a legitimate way to push their products onto you, regardless of whether it would be an appreciated channel or not.

It has become so invasive pretty much everywhere, especially on the Internet. Don't get me wrong - adverts have their place, but it's the insidiousness of it nowadays that really turns me off.

I'm with Chris here .... the only other "payment" that's nice is when someone you've helped pops back to say "Thanks - that worked a treat". Partly because you know your help has been helpful, but also it's just polite to do so.

No, don't get me wrong. I'm not inferring anything or saying anything negative about anyone else or their abilities. It's just that I've seen the ranking slip and I didn't know why. As far as being disappointed is concerned, it's just that I don't like seeing anything that doesn't say SAF is the best site, especially when I know how much work and time is involved.. I was the one who originally intiated contact between SAF and TSA so I feel somewhat responsible. I sent an email to TSA and forwarded the reply to one of the mods because I didn't want to say what I was told. However, now that I've thought about it, I think it has been due to some malcontents that may have had some issues with the site. Gizmo told me he received some complaints about the service being slow at SAF. The thing is, he isn't able to be here on a regular basis to see what happens. Not that we're the busiest site in the world, but SAF does have a pretty fair amount of visitors, and with that there may be times where things just simply happen. Now that I reflect on it, I think Giz may be being a little hasty in his assumption. I don't know how many people have said things to him, or how sensitive he is to comments about the sites he lists. I shouldn't be so obsessed with what one site says, nor should I be so concerned with rankings because there are too many variables involved. SAF still has the most competent group of people on the web who have helped an enormous number of others, so rankings, while they feel good when they're glowing, shouldn't be so important. Everybody knows if they're doing a good job or not. I don't have any doubts. I shouldn't have even mentioned it. I guess when I saw the ranking on his site and read his email, it was a little stinging. TSA has a pretty good number of visitors and email subscribers, so it bothered me a bit. I just don't want SAF to look bad to people, but when you stick something in the directly in the public eye, then it's up for grabs, I guess....no different telling some friends that a particular restaurant doesn't have the best food. A matter of opinion, and I think TSA shouldn't be so quick to judge.

Well, you all know I am never short of breath when it comes to SAF opinions about quality. So here goes:

1) Hooey. When posting, the answer takes as long as it takes. As the younger stateswoman and lady of the site (you Dashwood) said, every moment here for mods/admins is time away from something else for them (free)
2) An answer may be slow in coming because SAF wants to give the correct answer be it from an Admin/mod or another member. AND, they want dialog created if the answer did/did not helped them
3) Gee, I wonder who complained......
4) John, no sweat. You bow to no one. As a matter of fact, we could start a poll requesting you get yourself back in here on a regular basis. Where is that virus update,,,

Chris

Well, thanks for the sentiment, but you'll notice that my participation only comes in spurts as business, ambition and other things allow. Those days are long past.

There have been a number of times when I've looked at a problem (be it malware related or not) and decided that it looked interesting, so I'd research it. Unfortunately, I then run out of time (because, for example, it's the end of my work lunchtime or I'm about to go out or have someone round) and I don't want to post a half-response or an incorrect response as this doesn't help, it looks silly on me, and looks silly on the board.

We're all very conscientious here, and it's that which contributes to the high quality of help that folk receive here

But that's another point: I wonder how many of us, in helping others here, have learned something new as a result? I know I have!

I tend to agree with our resident cowboy here, as this is one of the best sites out there for helping people with their technical issues. Not to mention the professional and courteous atmosphere, and the respect that people get around here. You don’t see anyone getting ridiculed for asking a question no mater how simple it is, and that ridicule is something you see a lot in some technical sites where some people have tremendously inflated egos. I have been a member for a little bit over four years, and in this time span I’ve seen a huge amount of people coming to this site with all sorts of technical problems, and I’ve seen how they were handled patiently and professionally. No one ever gave up on a problem, and everyone gave an opinion or an answer that solved the issue involved most of the time. I would say that this site has matured well beyond seeking approval from the others, and that we don’t need to prove ourselves to anyone period.
On a side note, ranchhand, I like your tough guy approach to this issue; keep it up.

a little late with this reply but can i just say that others ranking of this site is not really important to me......i believe that this is the best tech site around ....hands down no contest.

i would not even check other sites for info cos the only ones i would trust are on this site. i regert that i am not computer savvy enough to help others but on another forum,where i AM able to help sometimes (ebay lol...i love to buy ) i would always refer people to here if they have a tech problem.

the many members on this site are experts, giving thier time freely and helping idiots like me to avoid having to junk thier pcs and buy a new one ( every month or so ).

I hope that i have always posted my thanks and i can assure all of you that you hold a place in my heart for all the help i have recieved.


Carl