Earlier today I wrote a post about Microsoft Support sucking ASS.  Well, I just wanted to put in a plug for the community that is Experts Exchange.

I live on the web, and I don’t think a day goes by that Experts Exchange isn’t in the top 10 (if not #1) results of searches for almost anything technical.  For years I tried to view responses on Google cached pages, etc., or at least get tidbits of info from their site.  But I used to work for a company who was too cheap to pay for a membership there, so a couple years ago I joined Experts Exchange as a contributor.  I’d like to think I joined to give back to the community, which is partly true, especially since I’ve been a leech for so many years. But the truth is I joined so I could answer a few questions to earn some points so I could access the site and post some questions of my own.  I used to have more time to answer questions, but for the last year or so I have been so busy at work I just can’t do that.

So, while troubleshooting a major problem with SQL server over the past few days I pulled out the company Am Ex and dropped $99 for a one year membership.  And, of course, I’ve found information there which has been helpful in my quest to recover from a major SQL issue.

Then today while working on this problem and not being able to find info I needed to view the progress of a SQL DB restore I actually went to Experts Exchange and searched there using the same terms I had used with Google: sql restore status.  Wouldn’t you know it, the first result was someone answering the same question with a detailed T-SQL command to do what I needed!

So, thanks Experts Exchange, all contributors there, and a special thanks to udayakumarlm!