Encourage Peer to Peer User Support

You're losing me now ;)

This sounds to me a bit like "This community is friendly and helpful, so let's direct new users to a different website" - probably not what you meant, but that's how I read it.;)

OK I did not mean a completely separate website. I think the site is a bit mixed up. A new user who has just bought the product and has problems expects to have something in the box with a phone number and a url etc for aftersales support. I find it difficult to find things on this site. It could be organised more clearly to help people find their way through the site if they have basic problems like a device is dead - how to get it fixed. The same could also above for more techinical problems that require more interactive support. Most of the stuff is here already, I think. I just can't see it clearly.

Oh, that. Yes, you're right. It's all a bit much: opinions, rants, announcements, wishes, and some real questions and answers in between. As far as I know, the possibilities here are pre-defined by what AskBot provides, so it may not be easy to actually split the site. A possible solution could be to find a tag for questions/answers that are relevant to new users (or end users in general; questions concerning every day use of the device) and provide a link on the site that filers only these questions. The tag could be as simple as "help", and a link could be right besider "all" "unanswered" "followed" above ...

Perhaps GiffGaff was not a good example. It sounds like you know more about it than me and I did not want to create a lot of work for this. I guess I really just wanted to tidy up what is already there and maybe provide a bit more encouragement to helpers and to give purchasers the feeling they are getting the same sort of support as buying from a shop