Forums for Local Help/Builders to physically assist in huilds?

[Dedayog]

Similar to how the G35 (or other car communities) have a subforum for Mechanics in various states/cities, I was thinking of something where you could have users in various cities offering build help for new folks.

 

Like:

 

Building Help

 - Atlanta

 - jstudrawa (specializing in AMD/Intel/Nvidia low to high end consumer desktop builds) Offering build advice at your place or his, over the phone walk thru's etc, etc. etc.

 

Basically I see a lot of people going about building PC's with nothing more than the internet and Youtube to go on.  I know, for me, it was so much more help to be shown in person how to do it or have someone there overseing.

 

I'm really just spitballing here, but I think there is a definite need for it but not real sure how to go about offering help or providing solutions.

 

Would love more input from folks or ideas.

[Fasauceome]

I hope I could put my site link back in my sig if we do, I would get a lot of use out of putting my name up for PC work on LTT.

 

I think the main issue would be that there would need to be a standard. What would it look like to have brand new users trying to advertise themselves? People with low rep but high post count? 

[Dedayog]

2 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

I hope I could put my site link back in my sig if we do, I would get a lot of use out of putting my name up for PC work on LTT.

 

I think the main issue would be that there would need to be a standard. What would it look like to have brand new users trying to advertise themselves? People with low rep but high post count? 

Yeah, I wouldn't want it to end up being fee based or anyone getting scammed or whatever.

 

I'm thinking more of just helping out, or supervising.  Teaching.  Not just building PC's for people.

 

If Joe Schmoe wants to build, I go over for an hour or two and watch and advise.  Not build it for him.

 

I am probably thinking a little too Good Samaritan type for actual implementation.

 

The end goal for all this is to get people more comfortable with building their own machines,  I think a lot of people would do so if they could just get over that obstacle of uncertainty.  

 

[LogicalDrm]

Imo best solution would be to have Google Sheets or something like that. Considering how wide this forums reach is, subforum would get messy fast.

[colonel_mortis]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I really don't feel like something like this would get any significant amount of use. Aside from the challenge of making it discoverable (there's no way that we would have a subforum for each major city in North America & Europe), I think the user base of people who would drive somewhere with their PC and pay someone to give them a hand building the computer is fairly slim, and the user base of people who would offer their services to random people on the internet for free is similarly slim.

 

It's a nice idea, but I think it works much better for cars than for computers.

[myselfolli]

Well you could solve the discoverability issue with a map pretty easily. But I agree with @colonel_mortis, it probably wouldn't get used too much...

[LogicalDrm]

23 hours ago, myselfolli said:

Well you could solve the discoverability issue with a map pretty easily. But I agree with @colonel_mortis, it probably wouldn't get used too much...

If someone has time to do it. With custom Google maps thing etc.

[Bombastinator]

This might make a better meetup than a subforum.  Also if your area has a “freegeek” it’s a npo that already does this.  Might be able to get away with a really structured mostly locked and pinned subforum on locations where local groups do this.  There are a lot of them.  The internet is by definition non corporeal.  It’s not particularly good at the meatspace stuff.  There are groups that are though.