The third forum was a dedicated iPad forum site, which also provided insights into how to reset the router and also how to interpret the settings. The responses didn't offer more support than Apple; in fact some of the recommendations contradicted what was learned at the Apple Genius bar. Overall Assessment of Exercise

Online help desk sites and the value of community-sourced websites vary based on the level of ongoing support and communication and ownership the top contributors take for their performance (Chen, 2004). The level of ownership and altruism of those contributing to these forums is directly related to how often they are promoted as experts in their areas (DeSanctis, Fayard, Roach, Lu, 2003). Much has been written about gamification and the use of recognition systems to ensure a high level of activity in online forums. The use of feedback systems to give positive mention of the highest performing members of these forums is exceptionally effective in creating loyalty and permanence of contributions (Nambisan, Watt, 2011). The...

What is immediately apparent from viewing these support systems and the interaction of users and their frustration levels, is that there is a wealth of data that manufacturers need to be mining to better understand their customer bases (Li, Wu, 2010).
References

Chen, Y. (2004). To help helpdesk: A field study of online help systems in campus context. Campus - Wide Information Systems, 21(2), 81-94.

DeSanctis, G., Fayard, a., Roach, M., & Lu, J. (2003). Learning in online forums. European Management Journal, 21(5), 565-577.

Li, N., & Wu, D.D. (2010). Using text mining and sentiment analysis for online forums hotspot detection and forecast. Decision Support Systems, 48(2), 354.

Nambisan, P., & Watt, J.H. (2011). Managing customer experiences in online product communities. Journal of Business Research, 64(8), 889.