I definitely agree that posting in forums CAN be beneficial to other users who can find similar/identical problems to what they have/had. The problem however is that most/all new posters to a forum; and even some that have lurked for a while; don't use the search at all. If they don't see a post on the first page of that forum mentioning the same problem as theirs, then they make a new post with the same problem. This makes the experiences of those before you useless; (Because you aren't using the experiences of others); and it make continuity really bad, because you wind up with multiple posts discussing the same/similar problem. And because there are usually numerous methods for fixing an issue, you can't always find the answer even if you DO SEARCH. Which continues the circle by having a poster create yet another thread about the same problem.

What I'd like to see, not only here but at BBR and other forums, are stickies or subsections for "TROUBLESHOOTING". It could be as simple as threads that say; "No Dial Tone"; "Can Only Call Out"; "Can Only Call In"; "static online"; "Long Time To Connect"; etc... Each of these would include the posts that deal with that subject. Then, if you need to ask a question, search, make a suggestion, start a new post, etc... you do it in that thread. Over time, the thread could get long, but it's still a lot easier to search through 1 thread of 150 pages than it is to search through an entire forum at 50+ similar threads. later... mike.....