Awhile ago I asked why Mikrotik was off-topic, and I was met with the paid support requirement response, which was completely correct. I've somewhat given up on trying to figure out an alternative, mainly because I couldn't get feedback from more than one or two people about it.
Anyway, right now I'd just like to get the help center phrasing fixed. As of right now it says:
hardware that has a paid support option (enterprise/provider class products, some small business class devices)
The problem here is that you can realistically stretch this to include DD-WRT because of the unofficial third parties that offer paid support (it's about the semantics of 'has'). I personally would recommend:
hardware that has an official paid support option (enterprise/provider class products, some small business class devices)
because that would completely filter out that problem. However, by that definition Mikrotik absolutely fits the bill as they actively maintain a list of certified consultants. Among the requirements are having a 75% or higher score on the MTCNA AND any of their engineer-level certs, actively participating in their forums, and consistently attending the MUMs (Mikrotik User Meetings) and running workshops or doing case studies there. Seeing as on their website they have a list of these people, it seems that any reasonable definition of official would cover it (if you believe otherwise please say so, it just seems self-evident to me).
If the community doesn't think that this is enough, and certified partner support options don't fit the bill of what we consider enterprise, then I'd recommend saying this:
hardware that has a paid support option from the manufacturer (enterprise/provider class products, some small business class devices)
As I said, I'm not going to push hard for Mikrotik anymore, but I'd at least like the documentation to be less ambiguous (and I'm sure the community would to to reduce the number of off-topic posts).
