We are always looking for Support Specialists!

Started by jerm, March 29, 2008, 06:53:52 PM

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Eliana Tamerin

Wow, I'm honored. Thanks to the wonderful Support Team who offer dedicated support. We specialists only hope to try as hard. ;)

Awesome artwork, Perplexed. Looks good so far to me, once you get it polished up.
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Spaceman-Spiff


shadow82x

haha thanks people and goodjob Lex, and Eliana

Can the trophee get any bigger? lol!
Colin B
Former Spammer, Customize, & Support Team Member

Eliana Tamerin

Would you rather it be this large?



And congrats to both shadow and Lex. Sorry I forgot to say that earlier.
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metallica48423

That actually looks one of the original images submitted, lol
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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Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen

Quote from: Eliana Tamerin on April 29, 2008, 08:47:42 PM
And congrats to both shadow and Lex. Sorry I forgot to say that earlier.
And to you and shadow as well. :)
Slava
Ukraini!


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How you can help SMF

DenDen60

#66
HI.

I do not have enough knowledge to be able to offer support. I do have enough knowledge to reduce the "noise" that affects support. By "noise" I mean repeated demand for the same type of support. Included in that "noise" is all the posts around that initial demand that brings no added value to the thread.

If other members are interested, I would be willing to coordinate such an endeavour. The task would require to:   

  • look at all the different types of knowledge out there
  • Identify which types is or are manageable
  • do a survey to understand the need of the users
  • Develop a methodology to manage it in concordance with the users need
  • propose an action plan to do it and
  • Implement the change.
If anyone is interested, let me know.

metallica48423

Can you please go into more detail on what you are referring to, and what you feel should be done to alleviate that?
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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DenDen60

One of best ways to reduce support is make it easier for users to find the exact information they are looking for. To be able to do this, you either need a great search engine, that can find the information you want in the language you want and in the context you are using that information, or great docs that can answers any questions.

There are presently no search engine capable of doing this and it is impossible to create docs that will answer all possibilites.

The only way to do this, is to manage the interactions between the user and the knowledge base. in this case the forums and the docs. We do so by redirecting the user to the proper place in the knowledge base. To be able to do this :

  • the knowledge base must have been thought out in a way that facilitates knowledge retreival, which means that the users can easaly find the adequate information, and
  • a methodology be developped so that we can eliminate unnecessary comments or duplicated questions at least in some crucial part of the forum.
IMHO of course

babjusi

Quote from: denden60 on May 21, 2008, 03:41:50 PM
One of best ways to reduce support is make it easier for users to find the exact information they are looking for. To be able to do this, you either need a great search engine, that can find the information you want in the language you want and in the context you are using that information, or great docs that can answers any questions.


There is a very detailed doc area here and the search works just fine. Only no one seems to use either of those

DenDen60

Quote from: babjusi on May 21, 2008, 03:44:05 PM
There is a very detailed doc area here and the search works just fine. Only no one seems to use either of those

Yes but do they answer the needs of the users? I suspect they dont, otherwise people would use them. Which makes me think that one of the firts thing to do would be to better understand the users and it's need through a survey.

IMHO of course

Eliana Tamerin

Have you tried them first? Try looking through the docs, see if it answers the questions you have. Try searching, see if you find the answers you need.
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Night09

Do people like myself who know some aspects better than others concerning smf still qualify to apply? I know it says no minimum but was curious to know if theres some kind of limits.

I have answered issues on the forums but still need to ask as well sometimes,just wondering ;)

Eliana Tamerin

Don't worry, you never stop learning. Even the team members ask questions sometimes, and even long-time veterans who have made several mods do as well.

You can always help people, even if you can't solve every problem. If you can even point one person towards the correct place (the docs, search, or the proper forum) instead of solving their problem, you've been an assist.
Do NOT PM me for support.

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babjusi

Quote from: denden60 on May 21, 2008, 03:55:35 PM
Quote from: babjusi on May 21, 2008, 03:44:05 PM
There is a very detailed doc area here and the search works just fine. Only no one seems to use either of those

Yes but do they answer the needs of the users? I suspect they dont, otherwise people would use them. Which makes me think that one of the firts thing to do would be to better understand the users and it's need through a survey.

IMHO of course


Look, most answers that the users ask here have been/asked before like thousands of times. So a simple search would reveal plenty of solutions. All the basic and some more are explained very precisely, eloquently and with military precision I would say. But what most of the users do? They don''t bother to perform a search before they ask about their problem. Ths is based on my observation here for more than a year and a half. If you cruise through the topics in this forum, you will see what I mean

babjusi

Quote from: Eliana Tamerin on May 21, 2008, 04:48:54 PM
Don't worry, you never stop learning. Even the team members ask questions sometimes, and even long-time veterans who have made several mods do as well.

Very true and well spoken. Smf is like a University where the sky is the limit.

metallica48423

Quote from: nightbre on May 21, 2008, 04:22:18 PM
Do people like myself who know some aspects better than others concerning smf still qualify to apply? I know it says no minimum but was curious to know if theres some kind of limits.

I have answered issues on the forums but still need to ask as well sometimes,just wondering ;)

Quote from: Eliana Tamerin on May 21, 2008, 04:48:54 PM
Don't worry, you never stop learning. Even the team members ask questions sometimes, and even long-time veterans who have made several mods do as well.

You can always help people, even if you can't solve every problem. If you can even point one person towards the correct place (the docs, search, or the proper forum) instead of solving their problem, you've been an assist.

This is too true.  I still continue to learn every day.  Theres always things to learn, but you shouldn't judge yourself based on what you don't know, but rather what you do.

SMF's support needs in this aspect call for a wide variety of skillsets and knowledge.  When i make a judgement to put a watch a member, it is not only because they help out or how much they help out, but many other things.  I look for things such as a willingness to learn and grow, I look for a good synergy with others (including team members), I figure out whether the team is something that will help them grow or hold them back, and whether teamship is something they'd want out of interest of helping out, rather than just being on the "inside",  I evaluate where I see someone fitting in, where I feel their interests lie, and I try to set them up to pursue those interests.

Theres no hard-set limits.  The support helper group is freely joinable, and the support helper of the month is something we do to show appreciation for efforts.  In the end, we all do what we can :)

Support is really about more than just helping people out, if you really deeply look at it.

Nightbre, just keep at it and keep learning :)
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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Night09

The learning never ends !

I first got SMF to make a wow forum and now I play with SMF more than wow lol. :P






DenDen60

#78
Well it is a genuine offer. If some people are interested in knowledge management, just inbox me and will see if we can make something out of it.

If you want to know more about knowledge management, here are a few links on the subject:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_Management

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_Management_System (especially the following element) 

  • Context: One perspective on KMS would see knowledge is information that is meaningfully organized, accumulated and embedded in a context of creation and application.

Eliana Tamerin

Could you answer the questions directed to you? I asked if you tried the search and docs, since you were so quick to condemn their effectiveness. Have you found them ineffective from your own experience?
Do NOT PM me for support.

SimplePortal 2.3.6 is OUT!
SimplePortal Project Manager
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SimplePortal: Power of Simplicity!

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