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How can we improve the support process?

Started by Joshua Dickerson, April 08, 2007, 08:04:02 PM

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Why are there so many duplicate support posts? (Top 3 reasons)

The simplemachines.org website is too hard to navigate.
Search fails to return accurate results.
Not enough documentation in the manual.
Support staff is faster than searching.
Human laziness.
Don't know what to search for.
Other (please post below)

Joshua Dickerson

Please lets not turn this in to a discussion about becoming a team member. There are a couple of topics about it around.
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Sarge

I voted for "To (sic) enough documentation in the manual" and "Human Laziness".

The issue of better documentation has been raised a few times and responses have been made in other topics. So I won't discuss it any further here.

"Human laziness" is two-fold (or at least so it seems to me). First, some users don't search to see if their problem has happened before and how it has been solved; instead, they just open yet another topic about it. Getting support is not always faster than finding the solution yourself by searching previous topics. Nor do some users explain their problem well enough or post additional information when asked to.

Second, I've seen topics where someone from the support team posts a somewhat vague response and leaves it at that. It has even occurred to me that there might be an unwritten rule about not leaving a "help needed" topic unanswered rather than not leaving it unsolved.

Lest I be misunderstood, I don't think that the team does a sloppy job or that they're incompetent. On the contrary, I truly believe they're amazing. I also know that they're all volunteers and offer SMF support on their free time.

I suggest that, when a team member responds to a help request, he/she sort of assigns him/herself to the topic; that is, they personally make sure (as much as possible) that the topic is followed through and solved, rather than just answered to. Of course, other team members and normal users can offer advice and solutions, but a team member should be (self-)assigned to that topic until it's somehow solved or the user doesn't respond anymore.

P.S. Shouldn't one of the choices be "Not enough documentation in the manual" and not "To enough..."? I think it's "too enough" confusing as it is. :P

    Please do not PM me with support requests unless I invite you to.

http://www.zeriyt.com/   ~   http://www.galeriashqiptare.net/


Quote
<H> I had zero posts when I started posting

KGIII

To address concerns of a lack of activity in this thread - I say give it time. There have been some great people giving great feedback and this isn't something that is likely to be resolved quickly or anything but rather something that is grown over time. I have been asking people (in my support posts here and there) if they would consider coming here, voting, and leaving their opinions. I have also added it to my signature for the time being.

So, I will ask:

If you are one of the people who are offering assistance to people then, once in a while, ask them if they would partake in this poll and invite them to leave their opinions.

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How can we improve the support process?:
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=163533.0

SMF vs. Godzilla? Who do you think will win?

Joshua Dickerson

Come work with me at Promenade Group



Need help? See the wiki. Want to help SMF? See the wiki!

Did you know you can help develop SMF? See us on Github.

How have you bettered the world today?

Sarge

Regarding setting up a special membergroup for "unofficial support," I personally think it is not necessary; it can even be misleading and dentrimental to the support process.

As mentioned before, just because someone has posted working solutions quite a few times doesn't necessarily mean that this person is credible enough to give him/her an admin username and password to your forum, for example. If someone abuses their "badge" or whatever, it can damage the credibility of those who "assigned" him/her to the position -- that would be, I guess, the official support team.

I'm happy enough to offer support whenever I'm able to -- of course, also when I'm not too lazy to. :P Giving me a spiffy badge wouldn't change a thing about it.

On a different note: I think there should be more support (official or not) in the SMF Coding Discussion board, both on new mods that people are writing and on approved mods that users are having problems with.

I would like to see the Customization Team deal with some aspects of installation and use of a mod, since they already reviewed it during the approval process (didn't they?)

    Please do not PM me with support requests unless I invite you to.

http://www.zeriyt.com/   ~   http://www.galeriashqiptare.net/


Quote
<H> I had zero posts when I started posting

Sarge

Quote from: KGIII on April 12, 2007, 07:45:19 PM
If you are one of the people who are offering assistance to people then, once in a while, ask them if they would partake in this poll and invite them to leave their opinions.

Sure, I'll do that. ;)

    Please do not PM me with support requests unless I invite you to.

http://www.zeriyt.com/   ~   http://www.galeriashqiptare.net/


Quote
<H> I had zero posts when I started posting

margarett

I agree (more or less) with all opinions given.
Nevertheless, I think that, if a way to FORCE users to read, search, etc, before posting a new thread is not created, everything is useless. You can create new docs, you can create 2x more "official supporters", whatever. For 95% of common users, they will just ignore it and go directly to a new topic.

Sarge's idea of supporters assign them selfs  to support threads is nice, and I do something like that here (bookmark a topic and follow it). The point is, some times I don't know enough, and I have to leave it as it is.
Also, about the "unanswered" topics... Well, I sure prefer to know that someone at least looked at it and tried to help (even that it's clear that it does not have a clue about the problem :P ), than to have it abandoned...

Still, I must say that the ideia of delete old posts (ok, make it an archive in an hidden section) fits me fantastic. Never thought of that, but it's damn sure a good point! (maybe this time the developers create the mass moving of posts :P )
Se forem conduzir, não bebam. Se forem beber... CHAMEM-ME!!!! :D

QuoteOver 90% of all computer problems can be traced back to the interface between the keyboard and the chair

Joshua Dickerson

I think the makeup of the staff makes it very hard to assign yourself to threads. If there is a topic they can't answer, they bring it up in the team boards for help from other team members. They almost always follow up by checking if a topic has been solved. If something goes missed, they will pick it up down the line and post "Has this been resolved" so they can mark the topic as solved.
Come work with me at Promenade Group



Need help? See the wiki. Want to help SMF? See the wiki!

Did you know you can help develop SMF? See us on Github.

How have you bettered the world today?

KGIII

Mindless Meandering Meritable (though) Mumbles:

I have it set to default to notify me of replies and that's the first section of the board I check and probably the most often checked section of the site for me. It would be an interesting experiment to check and see what it would be like if this were the default option - that way more people who are requesting support are notified of responses as it is unlikely that people will tick the box to disable that.

My PC Support Forum
Please ask in-thread before PMing
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How can we improve the support process?:
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=163533.0

SMF vs. Godzilla? Who do you think will win?

Dannii

I wonder if a public tagging system might make it easier to find topics and answers to problems.
"Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise."

Tristan Perry

It'll always be Human laziness - as you say, nearly all questions have been asked before. However, and I say this as an experienced forum user, how many times have you all joined a forum, and asked a question before searching? I've done it, and I should really know better :P Heck, I tell others to search before posting :P

It depends how willing you are to reduce the amount of duplicate support threads are created - however, and this may need to be re-thought as to not be as rude, although if a common question is asked, reply with something along the lines of "This has been posted before, please use the search feature or support documentation" - heck, maybe this could be added as an automated link for the support group members in the support boards? Either way, this would help reduce the workload and make generally a lazy member-base (that's common across the internet, not particularly these SMF forums) find the answers themselves.

oliveskate

I think the support is great and fast.
It's a little hard to navigate threw the site, I think. But other wise, I love it!
Awesome support forums!
Xbox 360 Forum:
www.360gamerscore.net

Come on and join the Community today :)

Harro

Any suggestions on how to make it easier to navigate the forums?

KGIII

Quote from: Harro on April 20, 2007, 07:13:15 PM
Any suggestions on how to make it easier to navigate the forums?

I personally very seldom see the front page of either the site or the forum itself. I seem to navigate via the new posts and unread replies more than anything.

My PC Support Forum
Please ask in-thread before PMing
                   SMF Help
                   Visit My Blog

How can we improve the support process?:
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=163533.0

SMF vs. Godzilla? Who do you think will win?

Selroth

I'm a bit too tired and fatigued to read through all the posts in this thread, but I wanted to leave my thoughts in hopes to contribute, at least a little bit, before I forget and vanish into the night. 

I've been very, very impressed with SMF - and I haven't even gotten it to work.  The "feel" it has, the power it presents, and the stability it seems to have.   I'm surprised I haven't heard of it before - it should be a lot more popular than it is!  And that's one of the natural weak points that will vanish (at least, I'm having trouble bridging the gap between postnuke and SMF).

Reading through some of these forums, and seeing this thread, I see that you all care about your hobby (or job?) supporting the product, and that excites me.  I mention the points above to hopefully illustrate, at least what I feel, you are doing right (something that's sometimes more important than what you're doing wrong).

When I got hit with errors, I'm left with just a simple error message.  It either didn't give me any deal, or I have no f'n clue what it's talking about or any hints on what to do to fix it.  I don't think it'd be that difficult to include a help file with the system that gives you some recommendations and "common causes" when you click on an error message (like a link).  This isn't always possible, however.  Though, errors typically have keywords and key phrases, and these are what users pop into Google.  Phrases like "Modification Parse Error" are somewhat easy too look-up, so if there is a page dedicated to just that error and possible causes and work-arounds it'd be helpful (assuming it was expanded/updated when new causes are found).  It gets trickier when all a person can pick out of an error is something like "fWrite()" fuction or "broken pipe", but you can tell the user what it does/means and what it relates to (the database?  the php files?  MySQL?  Is it a permission issue or a configuration issue?)

Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about though.  But sometimes you have to bring yourself down to my level - the retard level - and try to figure out what I would see in an error message and what I would do with it.
Everything is built from imagination.

metallica48423

Just remember, if we bring ourselves down to your level, you can beat us with experience :P

nah i'm kidding :P

This actually goes hand in hand with my idea of having an index of 'common issues' (see the tips & tricks index to see an idea of how id figure this'd be structured)

The idea basically is this.  have a series of topics dedicated to explaining causes and solutions to common errors and frequently asked support topics.  These topics would be locked and used for indexing only for general information and not support for that error, but to serve as a 'base point' for people experiencing those errors.    In this way, people get general information on common errors they might experience, and may not have to post a support topic at all.

Then having a sticky topic for the index linking to all of those topics that is similar to the tips & tricks index, in alphabetical order.  In this way, the support staff can expand the system in the future as new issues become commonplace. 

This is just an idea thats been floating around in my head for quite some time now.  I would appreciate any and all feedback, as i think (personally) that the idea could be a great contribution and a great deal of help.



I feel that it might
Justin O'Leary
Ex-Project Manager
Ex-Lead Support Specialist

QuoteMicrosoft wants us to "Imagine life without walls"...
I say, "If there are no walls, who needs Windows?"


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Joshua Dickerson

Come work with me at Promenade Group



Need help? See the wiki. Want to help SMF? See the wiki!

Did you know you can help develop SMF? See us on Github.

How have you bettered the world today?

metallica48423

#57
Perhaps.  But seeing as how often people look at the FAQs section of the online manual (or the online manual itself)... :P

I think something needs to be stuck right in people's faces so that they can say 'oh, well i probably should look here first!'

its human laziness, they don't want to look for their answer -- they just want their board fixed.  That is my opinion though :P.


maybe a 'troubleshooting' section for the online manual, and some sort of link that is in plain view of people before they post topics.  I think my idea is more leaning towards some sort of troubleshooting index than an actual FAQ, although i suppose for terms of redundancy it is the same general idea
Justin O'Leary
Ex-Project Manager
Ex-Lead Support Specialist

QuoteMicrosoft wants us to "Imagine life without walls"...
I say, "If there are no walls, who needs Windows?"


Useful Links:
Online Manual!
How to Help us Help you
Search
Settings Repair Tool

lilgoldfish

faster response time for support section.

yea that is true blackmage that is so true. im trying to get my friends board fixed too....but apparently noone bothers to look at my post, so im stuck here...waiting.
I will try to help as much as I can with support, No guarantee I am correct.

Joshua Dickerson

A faster response time for support? I am trying to lessen the amount of support topics, not increase it.
Come work with me at Promenade Group



Need help? See the wiki. Want to help SMF? See the wiki!

Did you know you can help develop SMF? See us on Github.

How have you bettered the world today?

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