I'm a user. I for one have no idea what passive-aggressive tactics you're talking about. It's primarily a user forum, though Dell tech reps monitor and reply often. Sometimes (rather often) users have a question or concern about a system that's still under warranty or otherwise covered by support, in which case they may ask for a service tag, to be provided in a private message since it's not public info. The service tag is certainly relevant if the system is under support, but even if it isn't, all kinds of config info is referenceable with the tag. I don't think it's a requirement to get a reply from a Dell rep, however, and the users don't care one way or the other. Do you have a technical question?
I've noticed ANY time someone asks a question here, the official Dell response is "I've IM'ed you for some  saes number you won't have because you bought your machine used." I'm reporting these comments as inappropropriate. If this is HARDWARE support forum, t makes NO difference who Dell sold it too. If this is a function of Warranty service, then DELL should NOT let us aftermarket purchasers make a forum account. If you don't want to host site to support aftermarket purchases, you should make it clear so your aftermarket products can be sold without ANY expectation of even basic knowledge support. If anyone had a warranty claim, they would make it INSTEAD of coming to forum to educate themselves.  I fail to see how silencing support HELPS your product reputation, but at least we can calculate that lack of support into our aftermarket purchase conditions. You're allowed any walled garden the market will support, but passive aggressive gestapo tactics are just preventing us from helping each other solve problems with YOUR hardware. I for one find it RUDE and for worse than NO ANSWER AT ALL!!!Please either cease this anti-support practice, or delete the accounts of after market buyers.I ask anyone else who finds this practice unacceptable to respond politely to this post, and maybe suggest a place for us Dell-Expatriots to gather instead of here.   Dell Precision Tower 7910|2x E5-2630 CPU|96GB Ram.2x GT1050Ti| 2x 1TB Adata SSD | 1 500GB HD| `4TB HD
iS THIS FORUM FOR hardware SUPPORT or SALES support?