MSDN Documentation

So, over the last couple of years, I've been what I consider a 'defender' of MSDN documentation.  After all, the docs are miles ahead of what they used to be.

As a user, I've also taken to reporting doc bugs to Microsoft.  My first couple of experiences with this was pretty good.  In one case, the doc team actually rewrote an entire code example based on my feedback.  I was impressed.

Recently, however, my experience has not been as good.  Most of the doc bugs I report now get a generic response from a support specialist that is little more than a glorified secretary.  It's obvious that these support people have no idea what I am talking about.  They merely take the email, and forward it on to the appropriate team.  When they get a response, they cut and paste that response in an email.  It is frustrating, because these support people have no clue.

The other thing that I'm finding is a resistance to change. I've found a few examples where the docs were wrong, and I could prove it through experimentation.  However, the product teams weren't really interested in correcting the issue.  For example, although the documentation on debugging windows installer custom actions can be shown to be wrong, I received a 'brush off' response.

So, I'm making a new promise to myself. 

Every time I find a doc bug in a Microsoft product, I'm going to post about it.  I've tried to correct issues through appropriate channels, and it doesn't seem to work.  Instead, I'll let google juice do the work for me.