Support Community

Well, I'm back from holiday and its time to catch up on some blog activity. The community has grown expotentially since launch back in April. To all those contributors, Thank You. Keep it up. Your peers value your help and the community is better for it.

In the social media world there is a principle called 90-9-1 that researcher Jakob Nielsen calls “Participation Inequality.” It states that 90% of users are lurkers, they read or observe but don’t contribute; 9% contribute occasionally; and 1% are active participants who contribute a lot. For those in the 1% group, you have an opportunity to influence. Take that responsibility seriously and you will gain the respect of the community.

If you’re one of the other 99%, when you see a question or post that asks about something you have knowledge of, move into the top 10%; comment appropriately and offer helpful suggestions or solutions if you have them.

To Recap:

1. Contribute Where You Can --- Share your experiences.

2. Communicate -- Say Hello ocassionally.

3. Create What You Can -- Participate -- Be part of the top 10%

An online community is an interactive group of people joined together by a common interest. The Support Community is such a group. It exists for users and enthusiasts to share tips among themselves on how to solve problems they have encountered with their computers. It is also a forum to explore new ideas and new ways to use technology.

This week I returned from 2 weeks of vacation, so I am playing catch up. You have probably experienced the same thing. I do not have anything to post about Ethernet or technical support this week. I am excited about our new Sponsors of Tomorrow campaign, so I am sharing this with you.

You can probably tell from my first blog post that I am proud to work for Intel. One reason is the world-changing work we do. I like Sponsors of Tomorrow because the activities and videos provides a small taste of what we do at Intel.

The Sponsors of Tomorrow site has fun activities and a chance to share what you want to see in the future. Be sure to try your hand in figuring out the right order for putting on a "bunny suit" or just have fun playing with the virtual wind tunnel.

I have the most fun showing the videos to people. Take a look at Oops and Intel Star. You might have to watch  Intel Star a couple of times to catch everything that is going on with our star. I played  Oops on our big-screen TV at home just to get a better look at the chip. I think I can almost see it. Enjoy!

When I search the Internet for any parts to add to my computer, I often find parts on sale at steeply discounted prices. If I buy from a discount seller, I might not be getting a retail part, or worse, I might be getting a counterfeit. Buying from an authorized retailer is a good strategy for avoiding counterfeit parts.

Counterfeit products are a problem in many industries. You might think of counterfeit products as something sold on a street table or in a flea market, but plenty of these knock offs are sold online.

Sometimes you might encounter counterfeit Ethernet adapters labeled as Intel adapters. Counterfeit Ethernet adapters tend to be manufactured as cheaply as possible. The counterfeiters are not worried if the adapter will fail to work when you install it, perform poorly, or break after a short time. You might not find out that your adapter is a counterfeit until after the adapter fails, and you try to return it for a replacement.

If you have a counterfeit, there is no one to turn to when you encounter problems. The bargain can turn out to cost you more than a genuine adapter when you take into account the cost of buying a replacement, suffering from poor performance, or being without a working network connection.

Fortunately, finding a source for genuine parts is not difficult. Retail versions of genuine Intel® Ethernet adapters are sold through authorized retailers and supported by Intel Customer Support. If something goes wrong with the Ethernet adapter because of a manufacturing defect, buyers are covered by Intel’s limited lifetime hardware warranty. Software and driver updates are regularly available from Intel Download Center.

In short, if you want to have the peace of mind from knowing the adapter will work as expected, along with the limited lifetime hardware warranty and access to Intel Customer Support, then your best bet is to buy from an authorized retailer.

Hello. I am Mark Hanna. Welcome to my support community blog. Let met tell you a bit about myself.

I am 1 of 2 worldwide Product Support Engineers, PSE for short, for Intel® Ethernet adapters. PSEs are responsible for writing and updating the technical content on support.intel.com; posting the latest software to the download center; making sure the contact center agents are prepared to help you with your support questions; and representing the voice of you, the customer, to the engineering teams that develop our products. I have been working in technical support at Intel for over 10 years.

At work I am driven by a desire to have satisfied customers for Intel. Although some of what I do focuses on how to solve problems that occur after you buy an Ethernet adapter, I do my best to influence product development in such a way that you will not have any reason to need technical support. I fully believe in the Intel values, which include both "Customer Orientation" and "Quality". You can read more about our values at http://www.intel.com/lifeatintel/values/.

I welcome (and crave) your feedback so that I will get to know you better. In turn I hope to offer you some insights into the support community at Intel and give you some interesting tidbits about our Ethernet adapters.