kad: Why doesn't Apple answer?
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These are user-to-user support forums. Apple provides them for users to help each other with problems. A very good explanation of why this is a good thing is in the following reply written by user Nikki when someone had said they didn't think user-to-user forums were very good.
Having worked in technical support for a computer manufacturer for many years, I disagree with that point. Employees are generally limited in experience and are prohibited from recommending solutions that require any third party product, because that can be construed as a corporate endorsement. Nor are they permitted to suggest solutions which are not fully blessed by the company's marketing and legal departments. So, what you get from official company support is very limited compared to what you can get from a community such as this.
Apple's forums have thousands of people that are not bound by confidentiality agreements to toe the company line, so we are free to share our recommendations for solutions that the 'company' would never approve of, regardless of how effective it is at solving someone's trouble.
User forums are really the best solution anyone can ask for. Especially with the large community Apple has here and the friendly and helpful atmosphere that is apparent in these forums. You will never get the wealth of knowledge and experience that is in these forums from a single phone agent, or even 5 phone agents!
Nikki
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