Maria’s Guides

I retire the old, underutilized system and replace it with a simpler, spam-protected solution.

One of the biggest challenges I have as an author is providing clarifications and corrections of my work to readers on request.

In the beginning, I used to just answer questions submitted via e-mail. But when I started getting dozens of questions a week — half of which covered the same handful of topics over and over — I knew I needed a better solution.

So I built a FileMaker Pro powered database of questions and answers that I called the FAQ system. That worked fine for several years, with only two problems: people who neglected to read the previous questions and answers before repeating a question and readers of one particular Windows book (which will go unnamed here) who were absolutely obnoxious in their requests for help. (I subsequently cut that books questions and answers right of my database and stopped providing support.)

Years passed. I switched to a WordPress-based site. I didn’t have any desire to update the old FileMaker Pro database to match the new site’s interface. I needed a new solution. I switched to an XD-Forum forum-based FAQ system. It worked very much like the FileMaker Pro database, but with one big difference — site visitors refused to use it.

Oh, don’t get me wrong — I did get a few questions I could answer. But the majority of people decided to e-mail me instead. Since I don’t provide support by e-mail anymore, their questions remained unanswered.

Two weeks ago, my support forums were attacked by spammers and I had no software to protect it against future attacks. I needed a new solution.

So today I instituted a comment-based Q & A support system. In the support pages for each of my books, there’s a Q & A link. Following that link takes the visitor to a page that provides introductory information and a list of the questions and answers submitted so far. At the end of the questions and answers is a form they can use to ask a new question. The form utilizes the site’s comment feature, so all entries are filtered by Spam Karma, the excellent spam protection software by dr Dave. Very little spam should get through, and, if it does, getting rid of it is as easy as clicking a link. Registration is not required — although an e-mail address is — and visitors can elect to “subscribe” to comments so they get their answer, as well as related questions and answers, delivered right to their e-mail box. E-mail addresses do not appear online and I don’t use the ones I get for anything. In fact, I don’t even know how to retrieve them from the bowels of WordPress. So you don’t have to worry about spam coming from me.

So if you see any articles on this site referring to an FAQ system, they now refer to the Q & A system.

Let’s hope this works.