In my experience, the best technical support on any product will come from somebody who actually uses and likes the product, not a paid support rep following a script. That’s why people use open message boards. Message boards have always amazed me, though because so many people are willing to chip in and help people they don’t know. But they work, and whatever the topic you need help with, there’s almost certainly a group of people online willing to lend their earnest advice.
If you can’t wait for a response in a message board, you can try a new service, Qunu, which is trying to replicate the message board community spirit, but in real time. Qunu connects you via instant message to an expert on the topic you need help with.
Qunu experts register themselves and tell the system what they know about. People who need help select a topic, and the system then connects the two people via IM.
At the moment the system is used mostly by programmers and other geeks, partly because experts on Qunu have to use a Jabber-compatible chat client. (Help-seekers don’t need a chat client at all — they communicate via the Qunu Web site.) The system should expand over time. Support for more popular chat networks like AOL’s is forthcoming, which may pull in experts from other fields. Integration with voice chat and video may be added too.
