Letters of support

Here follow a few messages either entered in the Guest Book or as copies of e-mail sent to the editor of PCW in the days following an announcement I made that PCW was no longer going to run Computer Answers. Thanks to everyone who wrote or 'phoned. Reading this page stops be form feeling bitter about the situation - only sad.

The only changes I've made to these are to correct the spelling (for foreign readers) and convert the names to initials in cases where the comments were private.

Someone at PCW has made a boob in deciding to get rid of you(sic!). Hopefully that will be changed. Can I just say a big THANKS for all the help you have given all readers to the mag. Below is a copy of the email I have sent to Ben protesting about the decision.

Best of luck, Mike.

Email to Ben follows:

Hi Ben.

Got a mail from Frank Leonhardt today saying that PCW was axing his page of answers. Can I just drop a line to say that I do not agree with the decision.

Being one of the lucky ones with access to the net I can get all the help I need from Email and usenet. Not so for others!

They have to rely on the answer pages of magazines like yourselves. Before getting on the net, the first page I ever read in PCW was the answers page. How else can a newbie learn all the wrinkles. I have found frank most helpful in the answers he has given in the mag and especially his candid opinions which do not always tow the party line. This approach gave his answers even more cred.

I have found him unstinting in his help that he has given, even to the point of him sending additional help to me via email.

Can I ask you to strongly reconsider your decision to drop his column. The mag has a lot of padding in the form of sounding off pages that sometimes seem little more than an ego trip for the writer. Surely half a page from frank is gold that you cannot afford to lose.

Yours Mike Nelson,Renwick, Cumbria

I'm very sorry to hear your news - both for yourself and the general reader. I always find the interchange of problems and solutions in columns of this kind fascinating and very useful. Dare I mention "PC Plus" and "Computer Shopper" (which I read from time to time)? Both have excellent "Help screen" and "Helpfile" pages - usually extending to several pages. In both cases, these are the parts of the mag which I tend to read first.

I have also mailed the editor.

Best wishes, Geoff Cryer

I think that your column in PCW is one of the best things in the magazine. I sincerely hope that the decision to drop it is reversed!

PS - Imperial College

Subject: Leave Answers Be!

Frank,

I'm very willing to add my voice to those who do not wish to see the Computer Answers column in PCW discontinued. I've gained many a useful snippet of information from it in the past, and would expect to continue to do so in the future. Even if there's nothing relevant in a particular month, it still makes for a good read- real people using real computers are often more interesting than reviews of 800 MHz Pentium Pros.

All the Best, Mike Coe

I think your voluntary work is highly appreciated, especially people like me who are amateur in IT field.

Mr. B Shah

I like Windows95 very much but as you will see from my email it appears that Windows95 can be to clever for its own good. This is why the answers article in your magazine is essential (if only it be a lot bigger). It's the first page I turn to.

Andrew Elliott (Italy - I think)

I always found reading your pages in PCW very helpful.

Best of luck

J Holt

Yes I'd like to help you keep the Computer Answers going and have written to the editor of PCW as you requested.

Good Luck, Neil

I have only just found your site after reading about it in PCW, it seems a shame that it is going to stop.

Please keep it going

D B

I am writing to express my support for the Computer Answers column in PCW. I am dismayed to find that this column will be discontinued.

I have been a PCW reader for five years. I hardly understood the first issue I read but at that time I knew nothing about computers. Through the years Computer Answers has provided solutions to technical problems that I'm sure the majority of readers would never face, however, this misses the point. By reading this column I have gained a detailed understanding of how PC's work, the various design and configuration issues that affect different technologies and I have been able to apply this knowledge in my work. This has been invaluable to me. Thank you Frank.

I am convinced that other readers who do not want to be spoon fed by Microsoft and Intel want this detailed knowledge, presented through real life examples. Plug and Play may be here now but if you don't have the detailed knowledge of hardware and low level configuration issues that this column imparts, how do you know what you are buying, when manufacturors' and VARs' technical support staff can't answer the simplest of questions.

Please dont turn the clock back so that only the few know the secrets of computing. Keep Computer Answers. Do you agree Ben?

Robert Claxton

Dear Mr Tisdall,

May I make so bold as to suggest that discontinuing the Computer Answers column in your magazine will detract from its perceived value.

You already have too much in the way of reviews and too little in the way of "real" hands-on. Most of us do not go out and buy new kit every month. We tend to use what we've got.

I urge you to retain the column.

D Cefai

This was my first visit. Sorry it cannot continue.

D Hopkins

I hope you find a way to keep this going.

D McE

So what is replacing Computer Answers? Or is it not being replaced. It does seem a valuable part of the magazine.

A A (Softcare)

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