HP Support Forums - overview and FAQs

frequently asked questions (FAQs)

The Support Forums are currently available on a worldwide basis. The language for content is English.

» top of page

Anyone can access, search and read existing discussions in the HP Support Forums. However, to participate by posting a message, creating a profile, or subscribing to notifications, you must be a registered member. Simply click 'login' on the left sidebar of any Support Forums page. Registration is free.

» top of page

You can perform a general search of all Support Forums areas by entering a keyword into the search box located at the top of every Support Forums page and clicking the 'go' arrows. The default selection is to search the IT Resource Center Support Forums. Clicking on 'more option' provide you a search interface with additional search options. You can also search all of HP by clicking the associated radio button.

» top of page

No. The HP Support Forums are THE gathering place for professionals to exchange knowledge, best practices, and experience in support of their product or work environment. The Support Forums are not "real-time" like chat rooms, although responses to questions often occur in a matter of minutes! The greatest difference is that the discussions are focused and pertain to the community charter. Unlike a chat room where discussions can get off-topic very quickly, the Support Forums are intended for support. Also, the Support Forums are searchable, and with all the knowledge submitted, they are a goldmine of information!

» top of page

By clicking the 'login' link located in the left sidebar on any Support Forums page, you will be directed to the login screen. If you don't already have long credentials, simply click 'register now' under 'new users'. If you have login credentials, simply enter your member ID and password.

» top of page

At the login page, you can use the automated Member ID/Password retrieval process (located on the login screen).

» top of page

To update the information in your registration profile, simply login and then go to My Profile located on the left-hand navigation bar. From there, you'll be able to select your registration information page and edit the fields you wish to change.

» top of page

Great question! It is imperative you locate the correct discussion area first. Go to the Support Forums home page and select a relevant 'family' area. You will be directed to a page that includes a host of sub-categories. Select a category that best fits your question or topic. To create your message, click the "new message" button. A message creation screen will appear. Enter a subject line - this will be the title of your message. Compose your text in the text box, attach any files you wish to include, and then click the 'submit' button. You can also click the 'preview' button to see what the message will appear like in the forum.

» top of page

Well, unfortunately for some, no. The HP Support Forums are not a chat room. They are a community of like-minded professionals who gather for problem solving, knowledge exchange, and learning. Posting messages of value using "good" words will help ensure the community remains vibrant and valuable for all. We encourage you to share your knowledge and allow thousands of others to learn from your expertise. When members read your messages of value, they will learn more and recognize you as a valuable contributor to the community. "Rants" or "flaming" messages serve no useful purpose in the community and will not be tolerated. Messages need to be on-topic and within the scope of the community - no off-topic discussions, such as on sports or weather please!

» top of page

The Support Forums community is a valued area with well-behaved members. Everyone benefits from a positive experience. So, HP encourages active and open discussions among the community members, but do insist that conduct is civil - be it posting a message or emailing another member. You may not use or allow others to use your registration membership to:

1. Post or transmit any content that is abusive, vulgar, obscene, hateful, fraudulent, threatening, harassing, defamatory, or which discloses private or personal matters concerning any person.

2. Post or transmit any material that you don't have the right to transmit under law (such as copyright, trade secret or securities) or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as nondisclosure agreements).

3. Post, transmit, or link to sexually explicit material.

4. Impersonate any person, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity.

5. Post or transmit any advertising, promotional materials, or other forms of solicitation including chain letters and pyramid schemes.

6. Intentionally violate any other applicable law or regulation while accessing and using our site.

7. Post or transmit any file that contains viruses, corrupted files, "Trojan Horses," or any other contaminating or destructive features that may damage someone else's computer.

HP may at any time and without prior notice remove or edit any posted message, or ban your account for violating the above reasonable provisions. You are responsible for all statements made and acts that occur through the use of your member name and password. Lets be civil, courteous, and stay within the scope of the community charter.

» top of page

Assuming you are in a discussion topic and want to reply to the question, or make a comment, simply click the 'reply' button. If you are not logged in, you will be prompted to do so. If you are logged, you will be directed to a message creation page. Simply compose your message, include any file attachment you wish, and click the 'submit' button. If you want top preview your message, click the 'preview' button. Your message will be posted immediately upon submitting it.

» top of page

Great question! The subject description will become the title of your new discussion thread. If you are posting a new topic or question, by all means make the 'subject' relevant. Avoid vague subject descriptions. Include hints as to the product, software version, hardware, etc. Also indicate if it is a question, or simply a topic of discussion. The more relevant, the better the odds someone will reply.

» top of page

No, not really. All capital letters is considered as shouting in the online world. Better to you're your messages posted in lower case.

» top of page

Yes, simply include the URL in your message. Keep in mind that any references to inappropriate web sites will be removed.

» top of page

Yes, simply click on the 'preview' button to see a sample of how your message will appear in the Support Forums after you submit it. You can submit the message from the preview page by clicking the 'submit' button. Otherwise, you can return to your message create window to perform any edits you wish.

» top of page

Yes, you may attach a file up to 1MB in size to your message. To attach a file, in the message create window type in a file and location, or click the 'browse' button and select the file you wish to attach to your message. Click 'submit' to post the message and file to the discussion area. Please note, all files are reviewed for viruses prior to being posted, but it is at the discretion of the member to open any file posted to the HP Support Forums.

» top of page

On every page is a link called "printable version". To see a page format that is conducive for printing, click on "printable version". Use your browser's print command to generate a printed page.

» top of page

Every registered member has a 'public profile'. The profile of any member is found by clicking on their name wherever it appears - in a message, in a top users list, or in the overall members list. Many members have taken the time to enhance their profiles by clicking on their own name or going to 'my profile' and then editing their profile.

» top of page

The Support Forums public profile is a unique page for each individual member. Others can read the content that is both system generated and member provided. The purpose of the profile is to provide a greater sense of personality or identity to each member who contributes to the HP Support Forums. The profile page contains the following information:

o Name (First and Last)

o Cartoon Representation (optional)

o Country/Region

o Personal Quote (optional)

o Company Name (optional)

o Member technical certifications (optional)

o Member Origination Date

o Date of Last Contribution to the Support Forums

o Number of Replies to Which You Have Assigned Points

o Points Earned and Status

o Areas of Expertise

o All Replies Rated Between 0-7 Points

o All Solution Replies Rated Between 8-10 Points

o All questions you have posted

The above member information helps contribute to a greater community understanding of the identity of the contributors to the HP Support Forums. Please note that private member information, such email address, member ID number, and configuration of systems and contract levels are not displayed as part of the public profile.

» top of page

Some of the fields in the Support Forums Profile are system-generated while others are user-entered. The user-entered fields can be modified at any time. To change the information, simply login and then go to My Profile located on the left-hand navigation bar. From there, you'll be able to select your Support Forums profile to edit the fields you wish to change. You can also access your profile by clicking on your name in any message you have previously posted.

» top of page

Every member can add to their personal profile a list of favorite discussion threads, favorite members, and favorite forum categories. It is a terrific way to create a personal list of Support Forums bookmarks and discussion areas. The easiest way to add a discussion thread to your favorites list is when you are in the thread itself. You will see a small folder with a red (+) sign. Click the folder, and the thread will be added to your list.

» top of page

You will see some community members have an HP logo icon next to their user names. These folks are our official site moderators. Their primary purpose is to help keep the discussion groups running smoothly, answer HP-directed questions, and report any issues with the service. HP is not responsible for content provided by HP employees who are not official site moderators. On occasion, the site moderators will answer your questions, particularly those regarding how to use and navigate the site. The moderators contribute to various discussions as they see fit, but they are free to contribute or not contribute. Our moderator staff is drawn from a wide variety of support folks who have knowledge in some, but not all, discussion areas. They will assist you as much as possible, but remember that this site is a peer-to-peer discussion area to share knowledge, experience, and best practices.

» top of page

Yes, at the sole discretion of HP, messages may be edited or deleted for content, or moved to more applicable discussion areas. While HP will not censor member's thoughts, a posting that is deemed not acceptable may be edited and/or removed without notice at the discretion of HP. Examples of such posts include:

1. Off-topic comments not related to a technical issue regarding an HP product or related business support issue.

2. "Rants", "slams", or legal threats against HP or another company or competitor, similar to "chat room" behavior.

3. Threatening, defamatory or abusive posts, either between forum members or directed towards an HP moderator, employee or management.

4. Bigoted, hateful, racially offensive or religious comments.

5. Language that promotes illegal activity or discusses illegal activities with the intent to commit them.

6. Unauthorized copyrighted material.

7. Advertisements or posts that contain any form of commercial solicitation.

8. Spam messages or posts repeated on various boards and folders with little or no reference to relevant topic.

9. Personal phone numbers and addresses (to protect privacy).

10. Personal e-mail addresses that are not your own, including, but not limited to, personal HP e-mails.

11. Vulgar, obscene or indecent language, information or images.

12. Hyperlinks that lead to sites that violate any of the forum guidelines.

13. Posts that solicit or promote the use of an illegal substance.

14. The dissemination of computer viruses or other destructive material.

15. Posts where a person impersonates another person or affiliation with an entity, including, but not limited to, HP.

Occasionally, a message is moved from one category to a more relevant one due to the message initially being posted in an area that simply didn't apply to the topic at hand. Please keep in mind if the area where you are posting a new message or topic is relevant.

» top of page

Yes. When you create a new message question or topic, you will be notified by default if someone replies to you. Keep in mind that the system will use the email address on record in your registration profile. If you don't want to be notified of any replies, simply return to the discussion thread and click "disable notification" button near the top of the page.

» top of page

In every discussion thread, a "notify me" button will appear near the top of the page. Click it, and the system will notify you whenever someone replies to the discussion. Keep in mind that the system will use the email address on record in your registration profile.

» top of page

Yes. A daily digest of all new questions or topics posted to discussion areas of interest is emailed to members who opt-in to subscribe to the free service. To enable this feature, simply go to your profile by clicking either "my profile" or your username found in any message you previously posted. You must be logged in to access your profile. To subscribe, simply select the checkbox(es) next to each "area of interest" and click on the "submit" button. To unsubscribe from an area of interest, deselect the relevant checkbox(es) and click on the "submit" button.

» top of page

Member status is established using a points-based feedback mechanism. Authors of original questions "grade" (on a Scale from 1-10) other members who reply to their questions. The higher the grade the more effective the response was in solving the question. This feature is HP's way of turning the reward mechanism over to the community. Each response to a question is eligible to receive feedback for its success in solving the user's problems.

» top of page

If you were to login, the term "unassigned" would turn into a dropdown menu of points. The points are used to rate the repliers to your question. Points range from 1-10. Every reply deserves recognition. Another member has taken the time to try and help you, so please take the time to assign them a point value based on the value of their reply. See "How Do I Assign Points".

» top of page

Another great question! To earn points, simply provide "replies of value" to questions posted in the Support Forums. The authors of the questions "grade" your reply or "solution" using a point scale of 1-10 (higher points awarded to responses having greater value). The question author is the only person who can assign points to replies. The more questions you answer, the more points you"ll be eligible to earn and the more status you"ll hold amongst your peers!

» top of page

All members have an opportunity to earn community status based on the points-for-assistance system. The points are awarded to "replies of value" you provide to questions. There are a number of point milestones that you can achieve as you earn points. At each milestone, a new status icon appears next to your username wherever your name appears in the Support Forums. The more points you earn for messages of value, the higher status you earn in the community.

» top of page

By responding to member"s questions, you have the opportunity to be recognized as a Support Forums leader at 2 different levels - overall (across all Support Forums discussion families) and by individual discussion categories. Top members are recognized in the following way:

· Displayed in the "Top Users" list on the Support Forums homepage, discussion family areas, and family subcategories. Top member scores are displayed and updated in real-time!

· As an overall Support Forums leader based on the point tier you belong to. Members earn new status at each new point tier. Each time you accumulate enough points to cross into a new tier, an icon is displayed next to your Support Forums member name indicating your "status". This is also viewable in your public profile.

Please note, your points are not a cash-equivalent and are not intended for use as a means of bartering or exchange among members.

» top of page

Your member profile reflects the total points you have earned to date. All of your earned points are tracked and visible to other community members, providing you an opportunity to establish yourself as an expert in a given discussion area (for example: Servers, Storage, Printers, etc.). Go to your public profile by clicking on your username, or click on 'my profile" in the left navigation sidebar to access your Forums profile.

» top of page

Only the question author can assign points to a given response. If you submit a question or new topic and another member replies to it, you will see a dropdown menu of points next to the reply (you must be logged in to see the menu). Select the point value and then click the "submit points" button. Note that you can rate multiple replies and submit them at one time.

» top of page

Every response to your question is eligible to earn between 1-10 points. No need to worry about running out of points - when a truly awesome reply rolls in that deserves a 10, you will be able to assign it a 10! However, be careful to assign points based on the value that a reply truly provides. Use the following scale as a guideline:

o N/A: The answer was simply a point of clarification to my original question

o 1-3: The answer didn't really help answer my question, but thanks for your assistance!

o 4- 7: The answer helped with a portion of my question, but I still need some additional help!

o 8-10: The answer has solved my problem completely! Now I'm a happy camper!


Although assigning points is not mandatory, it is a key component of a strong, interactive community, and it is STRONGLY ENCOURAGED. Others have taken time to help you, so please take a moment to give them credit for their assistance!

» top of page

The points are not redeemable for prizes or other monetary gifts. However, the point will help your peers earn improve their Support Forums status. Your feedback also validates the quality of the solutions you have received. Other members can zero in on answers that helped you solve your problem, enriching the community knowledge exchange.

» top of page