I've had a few people contact me through the MSN IM function on my techspot profile of late, all asking for help. This is no bad thing, and all of them have been very polite about it.

I was just wondering how common it is. does anybody else get IM requests for computer help from techspot? does it happen regularly?

Just curious really.

You wouldn't want to know how many people randomly IM my AIM SN asking for either computer help or free stuff. I usually don't mind the people that want a bit of computer help or want my advice on a particular computer product. I usually don't appreciate the people that IM me saying something along the lines of, "yo, i need ur help now, ok!!"

LOL! Sounds like I've been lucky!

Still, those "Yo, I need ur hlp now, ok?" people are a little group that I'll never understand. Why they do it, I mean, you see them all over the place, and the answer to that particular demand always turns out to be "no, it's not."

In all honesty though, everyone that's conacted me so far has been polite and quite greatful that I gave them my time, and the occasional solution.

In all honesty though, never in my wildest imagination did I consider the possibility of people asking for free stuff. That's just crazy

I think they naturally assume since I review items I will have extra stuff to give to them.

Look at my signature. I had to put that in to stop the requests!

i was actually considering setting up an im contact in my profile, then realized that i had not the patience/time. i can barely stand IMs as it is...

I get them on ICQ a lot, I try and help, but I tell them they are better off askign on the forums where there is a much more comprehensive knowledge base than 1 person alone can provide.

I usually try to help if it really is a simple question that they would feel silly asking on the forums, but more times than not, I just advise them on how to ask the question on the boards so it will get good helpful responses.