1) If you are visiting the StudioPress contact page and can’t (or don’t bother to) read this paragraph:

If you are looking for theme support, please use the support forums. This is the quickest way to receive support, so please do not send any support question in the form below.

You will not receive a reply back from me.

I have one to add…
13. If you are a user/member of a Support Forum, post your question/problem in the forum. Don’t do a form of #10 by sending repeated Private Messages. That is why they created a support forum in the first place, to better handle the volume of support they provide.

@Kim … I feel your pain. I just treat everyone as a newbie, until I know them well enough, thru repeated interactions, to change the types of questions & responses to a more advanced level.

Thanks for writing this up. It will prove helpful for the many WordPress enthusiasts like myself who introduce people to the joy of it all the time. Often my challenge comes in the fact that people are unwilling, or afraid to take that first step and get into the support forums – or even google for the answers. Any tips on meeting that challenge? :-)

I also agree with Kim, playing 20 questions gets really old… especially when you get to email 65. Internally I have a ‘refuse to answer’ response if there are three or more repeated posts/emails with a rising sense of panic or threat. Who has time to loose over that. Take a deep breath and try to articulate the problem with clarity, detail and describe what has already been tried. A person who can’t do this probably shouldn’t be on WordPress? ;-0

Time and again I have found WP developers to be some of the most helpful people I’ve run into. You Michael are definitely in that category. Keep up the good work!

Tim’s last blog post..All Things Good | Best of WordPress

Seriously though, I would strongly caution against leaving a phpinfo() page out there for any length of time. The info from phpinfo can give a malicious person information that makes your server an easy target. And even if you don’t care about your project so much, if you have shared hosting (most do) you are also exposing your server-neighbors.

Sincerely.

Taylan

#10 Only applies for those who allow free questions via email. I never answer freebie questions by email as the replies are of no help to anyone else since they’re hidden in my email archives. By forcing people to use my support forum it makes the advice available to everyone. Plus it makes it easier for me to separate paid work from non-paid work and doesn’t clog up my inbox if I go on holiday for a week.

It can be extremely frustrating to play “20 questions” with someone when trying to provide answers to their problems. What should have taken only 2-3 responses ends up at 10+ (and several hours/days) before the real problem is found and a resolution provided.