Topic: Where should support requests be placed?

[dmay]

Time to let your voice be heard  

[RonM]

#1 already has 2 places to ask for support - that's possibly one too many.

[fostware]

A mailing list implies immediacy - something that people may not realise can't be expected from a project both in it's management changing phase and in such a volunteer oriented support environment.

[Boris]

I would just rename "experienced" forum to "support"
and leave "general" for other not support or "how-do I?" discussions.
I would be great to have forum/mailist combined but until its possible, my vote for forum.

[matsk]

Is there any "forum software" that support both mailinglist and web forum interface at the same time ?


I think that there also should be some moderators for the different forums to "enforce" the intention with the different groups and move the postings from one forum to another.


/Mats

[slords]

A mailing list implies immediacy - something that people may not realise can't be expected from a project both in it's management changing phase and in such a volunteer oriented support environment.

Why is this such an issue? Just put a small disclaimer warning about this. There are many who follow the mailing lists, like myself, who find forums a bit too tedious to keep up with. Different people have different preferences. There is NO good reason NOT to have both resources.

As I posted to the mailing list a coupld weeks ago, we must make it easy for people to provide support, not find it. The people who need support will search all the necessary areas, but people who are GIVING support may not participate where it is not convenient. It is most important that we make it easy for people to provide support. Those searching for support will find the info.

Brian

[Brushfireb]

OK. That was WEIRD, i think there is a security problem with these forums. I was automatically logged in as SLords (Sorry... I didnt do it on purpose). This is my account, and the above post was mine.

Brian

[tcarroll]

As I posted to the mailing list a coupld weeks ago, we must make it easy for people to provide support, not find it. The people who need support will search all the necessary areas, but people who are GIVING support may not participate where it is not convenient. It is most important that we make it easy for people to provide support. Those searching for support will find the info.

Brian, I certainly agree with you.  I do not normally participate int eh forums as someone who provides support because it takes too long for me to scan through all the topics and individual posts and replies.  I do religiously keep up on the devinfo and discussions lists and provide help or comments when it is something I feel I can contribute.  It is very convienent for me and time efficient.  If the forums were set up with the e-mail option, I would be able to provide more help to people.

Tom

[gbentley]

I mainly agree with Boris (Quote below)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I would just rename "experienced" forum to "support"
and leave "general" for other not support or "how-do I?" discussions.

(Edit: And make this clear from the start)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whilst at my skill level I need to use the forum
to ask questions as time goes by I have found I can even answer some which I have done whilst looking for answers myself.

If answers for support are in several places this just makes it more difficult to get results.

In many cases you can search on a subject and get the information you need without having to post another article - thats a good thing (IMHO) If thats all in one place, thats got to be better.

I guess you will always get a mixture of people some who post straight away as soon as they have a problem and at the other end of the scale those that exhaust every possible avenue before asking for help.

On Boris's suggestion "How to" How Do I" and "FAQ" should be in a seperate (categorised) section for all those repeat requests on frequently desired modifications / issues (answers written by most experienced members - as If you havent got anything else to do

eg

Q: How do I defer mail delivery ?
A: Read Charlies thread [here] on Concurrency

[Boris]

As I posted to the mailing list a coupld weeks ago, we must make it easy for people to provide support, not find it. The people who need support will search all the necessary areas, but people who are GIVING support may not participate where it is not convenient. It is most important that we make it easy for people to provide support. Those searching for support will find the info.
Brian

Often the same people who give the support use the same forums to find the tips and answers given by others. Also many people who give support routinely scouting through all the forums and mail-list anyway. People who prefer mail-list still don't ignore the forums even it not their prefered way of communication. Why not to minimize the number of locations to find the questions for their benefit as well.
Forums are easy accessible, searchable and provide very valuable archived knowledge base for everyone. Mail-list archive is not the same and not as convenient in that respect. I read all the postings in mail archives (like devinfo) for many years (but never post any), and really prefer forums for their convenient access from any location and structure, that makes it easy (for me) to find information then needed. Combining both mail-lists and forums in the  single structure with fewer sections would be ideal solution to satisfy different preferences.
If it possible, it would be great to have mail-list/forums combo with:
1.   Development (new development only) as an evolution of devinfo list;
2.   General discussions (combining general discussion mail-list, general discussion forum and suggestions forum);
3.   Support forum/mail-list (derived from the Experienced User forum);
4.   Bugs (via bug tracker module only)

Forums need to be moderated to enforce the proper posts locations and move topics to the different forums if necessary.

[raem]

Another suggestion is to rename the General Forum to Support - Basic, and rename the Experienced Forum to Support - Advanced.

Aren't the Forums primarily about support anyway ?

I do also feel that the previous functionality where the Forums were linked to equivalent mailing lists should be reinstated.
ie any post that goes to the forum goes to the forum mail list and vice versa.
That way users can come in from either direction, via the Forums or via email replies.

The current devinfo and Ideas mail lists are best left as they are, and I think 2 covers the current requirements OK.

Regs
Ray

[smeghead]

.. at the risk of being slightly OT how about a commercial support list (geographic) so that people who need local on-site support have somewhere to look.  Reputation, particularly on these forums, would help people in their choice of consultant.

Sometimes a quick 1 hour lesson, in person, can save many hours of grief & frustration.

Just a thought.