I would agree with edinburgh's reply as they said manual/KB and there are quite a few articles already out there on how to do this like the one I cited. Some questions need you to do some research first and good questions almost always have I tried this and did not understand this or that. (*)

getting the KB article I linked to was very quick and easy to do.

* I do support for a living and 1st line is there to do just what we are talking about. Someone asks a bland question and then you need to extract the detail and frequently that they are asking about the wrong thing or their is a better suited feature or way of doing things. Referring to manuals or KBs are the place to go. (http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html)

Digging people up for their perceived lack of help when giving their time freely is not a great look IMO.

desquinn wrote:
Digging people up for their perceived lack of help when giving their time freely is not a great look IMO.

As one of the many people who have to plough through acres of pointless comments which can be summed up as 'Why don't you look at the manual?' or 'Have you thought of reinstalling Windows?" - often posted simply in order to increase their 'points' in order to get to the 'next guru level' or whatever tosh scheme has been invented... I disagree.

If someone attempts to help by offering substantive advice e.g. 'have you tried going to X and choosing Y' - even if they are a bit off-topic - then I don't criticise. Even someone saying effectively 'Why don't you look at the manual?' I ignore 99 times out of 100. This guy just got lucky.

Actually I do wonder what goes on in the head of someone who decides to use their spare time to even type the words. But only for a very brief moment and very occasionally.

"Actually I do wonder what goes on in the head of someone who decides to use their spare time to even type the words. But only for a very brief moment and very occasionally."

Sometimes people have 1 minute to spare or 10 or are just kicking back and giving their time. I am in the middle of my working day and find split screening onto a couple of support sites like this to help or learn and find it cathartic and of course the not so altruistic buzz from helping someone. But sometimes with the one minute to spare you do go "hey OP that was a bad question and you could have at least done some research first before posting. But do a bit more work and stop being lazy or distracted by the hole you are in and let us help you."

At times I may post the above but will possibly dress it up to smooth the edges. In professional support environments it is often tougher as the basics are not only preferred but expected. This forum I take as a bit in-between as the product is SME and a security product. In these situations (where I value my time) I can get the feeling I am actually "supporting" someone and that has value as opposed to providing some help which is a take it as you find it.

The offered help was support and pointed to an area when there was that resource that dealt with the issue as I found it. I nearly did not post as it was that easy to find but it was in my history. The no DMZ port probably triggered me We all have our tolerances but on forums I can be very attentive and supportive or do a one line pointer that will be a nicer form of RTFM when I know the resource is to be found. If there was appraisals, performance bonuses and the risk of losing my role then maybe I would put the same rigour that I put into my professional life but its not so I don't and expecting others to is never going to happen.

I can at least agree that spicy chillis or whatever other nudge /pet psyc theory induced systems are just ego generators and not great. But that's another discussion. Stock replies have their place however as OPs tend to miss the basics like the error message, the reboot or reading up on what they are actually trying to do. Reboot your pc / device is a support cliché but its also one of the best support options on the risk /reward scale.

ps. I was obviously really needing this distraction from my real support job as it was not a one liner or one word answer "we may have to agree to disagree"