Weekly Status Announcement Thread

by SophieDophs Wed 21 Oct - 2:28

I don't know about other members, but I found it difficult keeping up with the state of the recent server problems because Typlo posted new info in amongst posts in very long threads, and also edited an existing post (which then doesn't show up as a 'new post').

I propose that the support forum has a 'Weekly Status Annnouncement' thread that does all of the following:

Acknowledges common technical problems experienced by members that week or day (then at least we'll know that staff are aware of the issues, which will cut down on the number of duplicate reports by members).
Explains what is being done about the problem (e.g. that it's being fixed, or is on the list to be fixed, or fixed tomorrow, or passed to the techs, etc).
Allows all staff to add to the announcement (not just Typlo).
Is locked so that only staff comments are allowed.
Has a new post every time a staff member makes a comment in the thread (as editing previous posts does not alert members to the new information that it may contain).
Has some form of colour icon or title to indicate the severity of problems, i.e Red, Amber and Green (e.g. the latest server problems would have shown a Red signal).
A link to the 'Weekly Status Announcement' forum is placed in the top navbar, so that members can go straight to it and check for problems that may affect their forums.

Communication really is the key to a happy membership and I think if Forumotion communicated cleanly and regularly in this way, then members would feel they are being taken into consideration.

by thames 300e Wed 21 Oct - 3:42

yes yes yes totally agree

by FlamingToaster Wed 21 Oct - 3:48

yeah this is a really good idea, as long as the staff remember to use it.

by dotDavid Wed 21 Oct - 4:10

Like you said, this suggestion is because of the server issue, meaning this suggestion may have never happened. I am not going to yes or no, but I would like you to understand how "I think" this is may or may not work.

1. No offence, but who likes to update a thread on problems/issues, where we can have something better like new innovations and especially every week

2. So what do we do if there are no issues, or do you really want to think that FM will suffer every day?

3. FM has officials and volunteers. The officials are people who work for FM (as a job), and the volunteers are like you and me. That would mean the volunteers, regardless of rank, can not update anything as they also get the news from Typlo. Such major issues like this one will be hard for the officials to update such a topic as they have real jobs, like financial management, and company agreements etc.

4. Duplicate reports by members are only because users don't have the initiative to check the updates section, if such events occur. Personally I think those users are disrespectful as they should realize there are already 3-4 topics and so they still go ahead and make another topic, then that leads to a snowball effect, leading to 50 pointless topics of the same issue.

5. The navigation, I believe, is rarely used, so a link may work for some, but not all.

6. Staff are aware about these issues ie. only topics are made to recognize faults and let users give opinions and ask questions.

7. All issues of this nature are sent to the technicians as its there real-life job (they don't want to get fired:))

8. I think its up to the user to keep up with recent news. If they lag behind, its not up to a staff member to constantly remind them. Like said in point 4, those users just ignore the fact that something may have changed. It doesn't take long to skim a page of posts, and its easy to spot an orange, or green, or black name in the list.

Despite all that, I would like to say this was a well thought suggestion. Clearly set out to let other users to know what you want. If you would like such a suggestion to be made final, I would recommend this:
1. Instead of Weekly, just make it "Technical Status Announcements" etc.

2. Global mods and staff other than the officials know no more than we do when news comes in. They too hear the news from Typlo etc., therefore number 3 is invalid.

3. Include an RSS feed to our forums, so we can get the news before visiting the SF.

4. You mentioned that editing doesn't show up as a new post, so it seems that there are no new innovations, I would say use something like the announcement header layout that Typlo uses for new updates; it would definitely draw attention.

5. Send a message to the forum's ACP outlining the issues such as missing emoticons, would make it better, and then a link to an only topic would make users only post there, and not anywhere else.

I think thats about it. Just some improvements and you could see this through.

~ dotDavid

by SYKO Wed 21 Oct - 4:16

vote yes. i agree...

by FlamingToaster Wed 21 Oct - 4:20

wow you really thought about this suggestion didn't you david, but that fact that there is 8 negative points and only 5 possitive points/improvements i think that might persuade people to vote no.

by dotDavid Wed 21 Oct - 4:28

FlamingToaster, Its not really 8 negative, but 8 more things that may cause this to be rejected. The 5 positives are just 5 ways to improve it, so users will say yes.

i think that might persuade people to vote no.

Am I that influential? Very Happy

Edit: Also, this suggestion may help us, but its really for only one person to decide, Typlo, as he will be the one updating. So, you really need to look at it from his perspective, not the users.

by MrMario Wed 21 Oct - 18:24

Acknowledges common technical problems experienced by members that week or day

This wouldn't work cause there will still be people post this. Plus Typlo doesn't have all day to just members updated about something cause he has other things to do then this. I can see if there is a system statue for this. Just like Twitter does.

Explains what is being done about the problem

Typlo always passes the bugs/glitch going on and there is no date to when its being fixed or not. So that they don't keep members from complains about it was suppose to be fixed yesterday.

Allows all staff to add to the announcement

We can already do this but we want someone that works at Forumotion to post since we don't get information about whats going on till Typlo tells us. But he doesn't always tell us till its was already done.

Is locked

I would be happy if its locked from members as it should only be for updates cause there would be updates that you and I would miss and it was because of a normal member post.

Has a new post every time

You should look at the first topic at the beginning or look at the title to make sure its not changed. Cause I see topic title change and there is something new. But still members would be lazy to do that. I don't see a problem doing it to make the members happy.

Has some form of colour icon or title to indicate the severity

Sure why not something that would make it better to know if its a need of reading.

A link to the 'Weekly Status Announcement' forum is placed in the top navbar

This would mean that you would need to keep the topic as is and edit it so its harder for member to know whats going on. Your better off with the Announcement that is already placed.

by Walshy95 Sat 31 Oct - 17:21

We need to look on the perspective side of Typlo, first. Seeing as he is the only one who can make announcements, he will obviously be the one who will be able to answer to this suggestion better than us. This may make the Admin's jobs harder than they currently are, but we don't know that.

by **Shadow** Mon 9 Nov - 3:46

Interesting suggestion, although a few points I would like to point out :

- Keeping track about all technical problems of the week can be useful, but generally for all global issues we solve them within a few days/hours.
And global issues usually happen during migration/maintenance/updates, that occurs only once in a while (well apart for migration that won't happen anymore).
After, if we start listing all particular technical problems that occurs to only one forum or so, in my opinion it would take too much time and won't be that interesting for most users.

- All technical problems are sent to the techs, and they don't have time to keep me informed all the time on what is being done, they would simply lose too much time.
I'm only informed when the issues are finally solved, so "Explains what is being done about the problem (e.g. that it's being fixed, or is on the list to be fixed, or fixed tomorrow, or passed to the techs, etc)" isn't possible.
One thing is sure : they are always passed to the techs, as we post them on a specific webpage based on http://www.mantisbt.org technology.