Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

"Got a computer problem?
Don`t just get advice.
Actually get it fixed online by remote control, by thousands of people sharing assistance!
TOTALLY FREE.
Right here: blank"

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How`s that for a pitch?
I`m looking for advice,suggestions, and partners on this forum I`m running.
Thankyou

What if my problem is I can`t get online?

lol!  Good one! Well, it could help with almost everything

:-) I`m just funnin` with`ca.

I think you`ve got a pretty good idea here, for the remote assistance. The main problem is going to be getting paid. At least when someone visits the home, or the person brings in a computer to a repair shop, there`s a value held in escrow. The computer.

If the customer sees the problem has been fixed and doesn`t pay, the shop keep the machine. Or, in some cases, the on-site tech has a body of evidence on which to base a small-claims suit.

Remote repair though would be a problem. People are unwilling to pay ahead of time, without some sort of guarantee of the repair solution. And so, how do you demonstrate you can fix the problem, yet still get paid?

This would be a totally free system, where people are SHARING their assistance. Thats what would set this apart from other services. Therefore, getting paid would not be an issue!

I see. Well....good luck. :-) It`s been my experience that advice is worth pretty much what you pay for it. Ergo, if you pay nothing, it`s worth nothing. That generally works out to be pretty true, from what I`ve seen.

If you`re offering to repair systems for free, the odds are people are going to be pretty leery, I`d think.

Well then how do you explain forums where technical advice is being rendered?

They`re either support forums, funded by the manufacturer, or they`re "for the fun of it."

A support forum doesn`t offer any guarantees that the advice will work. Nor are the people on those forums constrained to a schedule. The posters aren`t customers, they`re just folks having a conversation, looking for some ideas about how to solve their own problems.

Ah...I see. :-)

From the original post, it looked as if this would be a new business, with the implication of having customers and making money (and a profit, hopefully).

On the other hand, having a bi-directional forum reminds me of when printer cables moved from uni- to bi-directional. I don`t know if you remember that, but it was An Amazing Thing. :-D For the first time, the printer could actually notify the person that it was jammed or had run out of paper.

Most forums today are uni-directional, meaning that people type a problem, someone offers advice, and it`s still up to the poster to apply the advice. It`s all the poster`s action, including reading and making sense of the possible solutions.

However, if you could make it bi-directional, you`ll bring the solver`s actions into the equation.

I see a few major problems, though. The main one being security. What would prevent someone from using the forum to reach into someone`s machine, look around, take personal information, and use it with malicious intent?

Additionally, how would the remote connection take place? Few people in my own sphere use Windows messaging or remote access. It`s far too open and risky. What would be the particular technology?

For example, suppose I have a W2K machine---how would I get support for a problem involving my video card? Would this be hardware and software support, or only software?