Support

We (well I) don’t really have (/offer) an official “support system”, this simply because I’m “just a YouTuber and Content Creator” on this platform. All the projects/products (except for the closed-source software/downloads of course) are DIY (Do It Yourself) projects.

There is however a forum where you can (try to) get some support from the community, me or the other people ‘on my team’, but do again keep in mind: This isn’t a company selling retail products, it is a community website where I share my own projects, ‘products’ and more of the alike.

Some of the software is actually closed-source and does receive support up to a certain level, which is often tied (either directly or indirectly) to for example a Patreon Membership. However, the software (as clearly stated in the licenses) is provided AS-IS without any warranties.

I will do my best to offer support where I can and where absolutely needed. But do keep in mind (yes, yet again): This is a community platform which is intended for Do It Yourself people (and those trying to become “Do It Yourself People“). However when you are truly trying to become a “Do It Yourself Person”, this also means you’ll have to read, learn, study and invest time into acquiring new skills.

Often I will make VERY elaborated documentation, posts or educational video’s about the projects, products or “stuff you can do/make“, so that other people can understand how it all works (or how I intended it), it is very important that you actually read and use that documentation (instead of randomly starting to ask questions so others will do ‘the hard work’ for you on your Do It Yourself project 😉 .

For some of the boards/projects/products I have manually written PDF files/datasheets which are way over 30 pages, explaining in detail what everything does and/or why I designed it the way it is. This is basically your first line of support, the next line is the community, Google (or any other search engine) etc.

If you are however in a “mood” where you would say: “Well that’s all nice and well those documents, but no way I’m going to read all that”.
Then I would unfortunately need to say: “Well sorry, then I’m just refusing to help you in any way.“

The simple reason for this is that it already takes up a lot of time to make and design the projects/products so that they are actually suitable for everyone (and not just my own personal use). Then it will also take up quite a lot of time to make the elaborated documentation (including the illustrations which are often also made by me), for others to understand how to use/build the project. I myself obviously don’t need this documentation since I designed the projects myself. And then there is also the point that it will take up quite some time to actually publish and maintain it all.

If there are then a few users whom are actually just ‘too lazy’ to read the documentation I’ve put a lot of effort in to make for them, Yes then I will refuse to help them. Simply because I won’t allow such users to consume more of my time than actually needed, while I could have spent that time on new projects, products, content or even my family instead.

I know this all might sound quite ‘blunt and direct’, but that’s just who I am. I won’t make up “fancy fairy tales” on why I “can’t” help you when I notice that you “didn’t do your own homework” on a Do It YOURSELF project/product. Nope, I will then just say straight up that I find it disrespectful that you actually want to use our (often) free projects, and then also ‘demand’ more time because you don’t feel like reading 5 minutes on something I might have spent over a months work on.

I would then rather work on new projects, content etc for all other users, instead of wasting time on “people not worth or respecting the effort” (I’m/we’re putting in).

So, does this mean that you won’t help anyone at all?

No not at all, I just wanted to be very clear upfront, that it is to be expected that you put in a lot of effort yourself (hence the Do It Yourself part of the projects/products 😉 ) before you instantly start emailing and ‘yelling “I GET NO SUPPORT!”‘.

If it is still truly necessary that you might require support, I will try my best to help you along through the XNL Future Technologies Forums. I will however NOT respond to all kinds of random emails with questions and such. One of the reasons that I require support to go via the forums, is that possible other users with similar issues/questions in the future will already be able to find the answer(s) they need due to your initial question.

And that is how we all work together in building a larger knowledge base and support center as a Community 🙂

Isn’t this obvious on (“YouTube DIY projects/”) DIY Projects? Why this page?

For some it might indeed be obvious that you try to figure stuff out yourself on Do It Yourself projects, however I have encountered dozens of situations in the past where people would for example actually buy something (could be anything) as “Do It Yourself Kit” to “save some money” (while there was also a fully ready to use version available!). And then those people would either keep calling and complaining for support, or even “demand of others” (me included) that they would build their DO IT YOURSELF project.

And I’ve also had the issue (multiple times) where people wanted “something cool” which could only be obtained by doing or making it yourself, but then they “just wanted it without having to do any work for it“, so they always tried to ‘trick others’ into doing the ‘hard work’ for them. So I’m guessing that those familiar with such situations now understand (or re-realize 😉 ) why I decided to put this ‘Support Information’ on here.

Last Updated: 23-09-2022