RTFM

[rowyn]

So, yesterday, I combed through the help files for our banking software, looking for information on the changes made to a report in the latest version. After several hours of RTFM, and locating some wonderfully detailed information on the report that did not include the recent changes, I logged a call to their support saying "I can't find this information in the help files. Would you please let me know X, Y and Z?"

Today, I spent four and a half hours in a meeting. Four. And a half. HOURS.

When I got out, I saw I had email regarding my support call. I checked it. The response?

"RTFM."*

So that's been my day. How was yours?

* No, the support response said nothing about where to find it, or give any indication that the person who wrote it had taken any action to verify that the information she was claiming was there was, in fact, there.

Comments

[minor-architect.livejournal.com]

May I slap the &$#@%! out of their tech support for you?

They need to RTFQ. (Read the F***ing Query.)

Jeez.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Tech support is bad at that.

Manuals also kind of suck as a way of finding out things you don't already know.

...Apple manuals especially. I've basically given up on trying to parse their help files, since trial and error is usually faster and (as a bonus) actually gives correct information.

[rowyn]

It kind of depends on the manual and what you already know. In this case, for example, I was looking for information on additions made to a report. All I wanted was exactly the same kind of information that the existing manual had on this report, but including the additions recently made to it. They just didn't update the help files when they changed the report. x.x