tobygw's Profile

Why adding a Tested wiki makes so much sense.

There has for long been a discussion about Tested adding its own site wiki to match those of all the other Whiskey sites, and for a long time there has also been no word on the status of this wiki. Since the wiki was something that was talked about at the site's launch and has really since only been mentioned when Will and Norm are badgered about it by users, I assume that they have either cancelled it or that they have set it aside as something to potentially get done in the future, but not at all a priority. I think that the only reason they don't want to say that it's straight up cancelled, is because they still want to consider the option of working on one at some point in the future, but that it's not in their current plans. (These are all assumptions of course.)

In my opinion though, the best thing that Tested could possibly do is to get a wiki out as soon as possible. I've observed that right now, what Tested is really trying to do is to create some great original content to please its current users, but more specifically, to attract new users. Tested is still a fairly small site, so their main goal at the moment is definitely attracting more people to the site. I completely agree with this goal, however I don't see any better way to accomplish that goal than by adding a wiki.

There are tons of tech sites. Not just a ton of them, but a ton of big and popular ones too. At the moment, Tested is trying to steal some of the market share from these sites by adding content that you won't find anywhere else such as Tested the Show. Again, I really enjoy this unique content, however I feel that this is only drawing in handfuls of people, while a wiki would bring people in the swarms. Someone who mainly visits other tech sites may stumble across a Tested video one day, watch it, and enjoy it, but there is still a good chance that after that day, maybe even after checking out a few more vids on the site, they will go back to their old site and never return to Tested. The wiki is something that makes a lasting impression on a first time user, and is really what makes them want to keep coming back.

The very first time I went on Giant Bomb and made an account, the very first thing I looked at were quests. I had never seen anything like those before on a gaming website (or any site for that matter), and I was instantly hooked and going through tons of wiki pages trying to complete them. Then I couldn't believe how there was a page for every single game I could think of. I would search for tons of old games I used to play and then I'd just spend time reading them and then clicking a link on that page to some other page, and then reading about that. I was blown away by seeing this on a gaming website, when I was just accustomed to reading articles or watching some videos on every other site. The next day I literally told all my friends who care about games to stop using the crappy sites they go on and to switch to Giant Bomb. After bookmarking the site because of its unique experience, I began viewing all the great content they put up, and this beautiful combination is what has kept me coming back for over a year.

I know that the Tested wiki may require a slightly different structure than those of say Giant Bomb or Screened as it can be harder to categorize tech stuff, but all the effort required into building it will certainly pay off. Content is content, you can find it anywhere. You may remember a good video you saw, but most people just sort that in their brain as something cool that they saw, not something cool from Tested that they saw. However a truly unique experience you have on a site is not one you're soon to forget.

Click for some content, stay for the experience, experience + content keeps you coming back, personalities have you hooked forever.

That's the way I see the common user coming over to the Whiskey Sites, and I think Tested should adapt this winning formula as soon as they can.

Up until now its seemed like it's just something that the current Tested users really want and that Whiskey wants to give us, but yet doesn't necessarily want to put in all of the resources to do it. However I think that Whiskey Media should care about getting it out as much (if not more) than we do, as it will truly benefit the site just as much as it would appease its users.

Why does customer support almost always suck?

I find that most large tech companies are wasting money with their customer support staff. For the most part, the only things that they can answer or help you with are the absolute most basic problems which you could have easily just googled or figured out yourself. There have been many times where I have called a company's customer support to only end up with an hour wasted and in the exact spot I started in. And I also find it ironic, not to get into too much racial stereotyping, that the vast majority of people working for tech support are Indian or another descent than English. Now I don't mind them working in these positions if they genuinely know what they are talking about and can express it clearly, but often there is just a combination of very poor grammar and miscommunication, which are the top things you don't want from your customer support.

The main thing I really hate though is that customer/tech support will often never admit when they don't know the answer to your question. The reason for me writing this is because earlier today, I decided to try to talk to a dell customer support representative on their live chat system to confirm that something on their site was just a spelling error.

Dell Canada had the Alienware M11x that I'm interested in buying listed as having the " NVIDIA® GeForce® GT430M" video card as opposed to what everywhere else has it is listed as the GT 540M. I was almost certain that this was a spelling error as I couldn't even find anything out about a GT 430M card. I decided to ask Dell to see what they would say, even though I knew it would be something completely unhelpful and dumb.

Here is the chat log,

"04/27/2011 10:20:30AM Agent (Sreekanth PV): "Hi Toby"
04/27/2011 10:21:14AM Toby: "Hey, I just have a question concerning the newly released Alienware m11x."
04/27/2011 10:21:31AM Agent (Sreekanth PV): "Glad you chatted in today, I'd be happy to help you."
04/27/2011 10:23:58AM Toby: "The Dell Canada site lists the video card in this computer to be the Nvidia GT 430m. However the american site, aswell as all the other dell sites list the video card as the GT 540m. I assume that this is just a typo as all the press releases and news about this laptop also have it listed as the 540m. Can you confirm whether or not this is infact just a typo?
04/27/2011 10:24:42AM Agent (Sreekanth PV): "Well our promotions keep changing from region to region and hence you find the cariation.."
04/27/2011 10:24:51AM Agent (Sreekanth PV): "* variation"
04/27/2011 10:26:07AM Toby: "So does this mean that the video cards in the two are the same or are different?"
04/27/2011 10:26:59AM Agent (Sreekanth PV): "They are different"
04/27/2011 10:27:22AM Agent (Sreekanth PV): "The one is GT 430M and the other one is GT 450M"
04/27/2011 10:27:54AM Toby: "Ok thank you."
04/27/2011 10:28:08AM Agent (Sreekanth PV): "Welcome"

...

So much of customer support is just completely useless, that when you find a person or a company that provides at least some decent support, they seem as though they are God.

Woes of a tech lover living with separated parents

I love tech stuff. I like getting all the sweet new electronic devices that come out, and I like checking out the specs of insane computers and tvs and stuff and wishing I could own them. However a huge blow to this interest of mine is having parents that are separated and being forced to switch back and forth between houses every week.

I want to throw down money and get a sick tv or desktop for myself, but I don't feel like spending all this cash on something I can only use every other week. It sucks having to pack up my PS3 in a box and to have to move it around every week. I decide not to bring my 360 as it is just too much shit to carry. I desperately just want to have some sick room that is pimped out with tech, but I just have no will to buy everything in twos or to bring every thing wherever I go.

Do any of you guys have any similar experiences to this? I'm pretty pumped for university in a year's time, as I'll likely be living on my own then in my own cave of awesome.