Live Support

You may know what I mean. Live Forumotion Support,

What do you think? It should get many more people asking questions before created a forumotion forum or that needs support.

It's good for people that don't have time to post questions in this support forum. Please, don't post here saying, "who's going to do it?" .

I think this was available long time ago, with Kirk and the gang, but I think that failed...

But, what I'm talking about, is a website where we can log in ( without signing up ) , state the problem then a supporter contacts the person to help. What do you think?

You mean something like this? http://osticket.com/

I'm voting no here Marc

1. There's about 4/5 people online over 24hrs/day.
   
2. No-one is on at 1 specific time guaranteed, Ill use myself for example;
   My shift load is currently is dismay and while were re-working our roster my hours are in the sky - being un-predictable.
   
3. Kirk's version is different, and it only failed because no-one visited him, other than those of us who knew kirk.
   
4. Not everyone knows everything, for example, I might say something isn't possible, but someone with the right knowledge will say it's possible, and say how it is achieved.
   
5. The SF is visible to guests, and someone can rapidly correct the error of someone else.
   
6. How would you achieve this? Though the CB?
   
7. How would it work, would it be on a 'rostered' type of work?
   
8. It could be spammed quite easily, if someone was online ready to support.
   
9. I personally would do this, as I would want the ability to decide who to post/attend to first, and if I need more time to do something with a code than I said, I could do so. Where as in a chat, you'd be consistently bugged with the question "How much longer are u going to be?"
   
10. Most people would want to talk to "staff", and we don't have many Smods online long enough to do something like this.

I think my point is stated pretty damn well!

MrMario wrote:You mean something like this? http://osticket.com/

Something like that.

Darren1 wrote:There's about 4/5 people online over 24hrs/day.
No-one is on at 1 specific time guaranteed, Ill use myself for example;
My shift load is currently is dismay and while were re-working our roster my hours are in the sky - being un-predictable.

This is expected because it's a free forum hosting company.

Darren1 wrote:Kirk's version is different, and it only failed because no-one visited him, other than those of us who knew kirk.

No one visited because it wasn't advertised well enough.

If someone adds a link called, "Live Support" on the homepage of Forumotion, then you'd see a lot of people asking questions.

Darren1 wrote:Not everyone knows everything, for example, I might say something isn't possible, but someone with the right knowledge will say it's possible, and say how it is achieved.

Easy fix. Don't contact the person if you don't know how to solve their problem,

Also, try reading this : https://support.namecheap.com/livesupport.php ( maybe a message like this can work out well enough )

Darren1 wrote:How would you achieve this? Though the CB?

How would it work

There are many live chat scripts available over the Internet.

I already explained how it should work in my first post.

Darren1 wrote:It could be spammed quite easily, if someone was online ready to support.

There is something called, 'disconnect', you know.

And you read the person's problem before contacting them to solve their problem.

Darren1 wrote:I personally would do this, as I would want the ability to decide who to post/attend to first, and if I need more time to do something with a code than I said, I could do so. Where as in a chat, you'd be consistently bugged with the question "How much longer are u going to be?"

It's a free forum hosting company. The person isn't paying for live support. ( or some things can be arranged... )

You can make the person wait as long as you wish.

Darren1 wrote:Most people would want to talk to "staff", and we don't have many Smods online long enough to do something like this.

Strange... Someone looking for support wants to make friends with staff? lol. But, there might be some strange people like that out there.

But, I don't think that staff can be the only people answering people's questions.

Some people are saying, "forumotion support sucks" ( same words used ) , that's the only reason why I'm suggesting this.

Darren1 wrote:I think my point is stated pretty damn well!

It might not be added because this is a free hosting company.

This seems like more of a a hassle than a benefit. Live support never works, even for big companies who pay staff to sit there all day and answer questions.

I voted no

LH Justin wrote:This seems like more of a a hassle than a benefit. Live support never works, even for big companies who pay staff to sit there all day and answer questions.

Wow! Never heard that one before...

Have you ever used a live chat system from a company which makes money? ( it works out well )

Behaviour??? wrote:I voted no

Without any reasons? Well, this is for the people that use forumotion forums that needs support to fix a problem fast.

So, it's your lost.

My natural tendancy on this, as Kirk knew back then, was towards a No.
However, I did like his initiative to go and do it anyway

I find Live Support difficutly feasable and not that much more efficient than the post-and-wait support forum. Besides, as many people mentionned, there's always members online, so if the title's explicit, and the problem clearly layed out, it should go quick

Master Marc wrote:

LH Justin wrote:This seems like more of a a hassle than a benefit. Live support never works, even for big companies who pay staff to sit there all day and answer questions.

Wow! Never heard that one before...

Have you ever used a live chat system from a company which makes money? ( it works out well )

Yes I have, it doesn't.

Something like this has to be managed by staff members, and for it to even be useable have have someone online at all times. The problem is in chat's sometimes people have no idea what you're talking about and it always ends in the "customer" telling the "agent" to do it for him.

Live support is just impractical.

Voted no. We can try it, but you can gaurantee it won't work. It would be too complicated to use and could turn out to be very annoying.

I think is a very good idea..But now also they help us with in 24hrs,if us post that problem..and also i think this idea is good because if any one dnt knw where to post the problem then to them it will be easy to tell in live support..

Nice,I like it..

LH Justin wrote:

Master Marc wrote:

LH Justin wrote:This seems like more of a a hassle than a benefit. Live support never works, even for big companies who pay staff to sit there all day and answer questions.

Wow! Never heard that one before...

Have you ever used a live chat system from a company which makes money? ( it works out well )

Yes I have, it doesn't.

Something like this has to be managed by staff members, and for it to even be useable have have someone online at all times. The problem is in chat's sometimes people have no idea what you're talking about and it always ends in the "customer" telling the "agent" to do it for him.

Live support is just impractical.

hehe ill run it Justin, you know I have more than enough experience on Forumotion.

Drag~

lol Drag, what would happen when ur offline, I know I'd be around, and so would others, but if we didn't wanna go to the live support?

Another thing that stands against the suggestion is:
How would we be able to tell if someone has the appropriate knowledge to do it?
If a test is used; It should contain basic and/or in depth coding -> CSS HTML, Templates, HTML Ect. But some people don't know any of these, but do provide basic support, thus they wouldn't be able to help out alot of coding questions.

Darren1 wrote:lol Drag, what would happen when ur offline, I know I'd be around, and so would others, but if we didn't wanna go to the live support?

Another thing that stands against the suggestion is:
How would we be able to tell if someone has the appropriate knowledge to do it?
If a test is used; It should contain basic and/or in depth coding -> CSS HTML, Templates, HTML Ect. But some people don't know any of these, but do provide basic support, thus they wouldn't be able to help out alot of coding questions.

Yeah it wouldnt only be be me.... we would need a dedicated team of 10-20 people who have been tested.

Drag~

LH Justin wrote:Yes I have, it doesn't.

Okay, new question : Have you ever paid good money to a company & gotten live support?

LH Justin wrote:Something like this has to be managed by staff members, and for it to even be useable have have someone online at all times. The problem is in chat's sometimes people have no idea what you're talking about and it always ends in the "customer" telling the "agent" to do it for him.

Live support is just impractical.

Not all the time.

And, you can always tell the client to do it themselves. ( it's a free hosting company )

Darren1 wrote:If a test is used; It should contain basic and/or in depth coding -> CSS HTML, Templates, HTML Ect. But some people don't know any of these, but do provide basic support, thus they wouldn't be able to help out alot of coding questions.

The only knowledge you need is Forumotion knowledge. As I said in one of my posts above, you can tell everyone that uses live support to only ask easy questions related to something that the person can't find in forumotion's admin panel, etc...

And, before the live support member chats with a forumotion user, they'd see the question first before they actually contact the forumotion user.

dragonintel wrote:Yeah it wouldnt only be be me.... we would need a dedicated team of 10-20 people who have been tested.

That's the only problem. I wouldn't be one of those people although I'm suggesting this, mwahaha!

Master Marc wrote:

LH Justin wrote:Yes I have, it doesn't.

Okay, new question : Have you ever paid good money to a company & gotten live support?

Yes...

It sucked...

make it easier to contact support

i want to upgrade my forum thru VBulletin...im ready for the payment, how much it will cost...?

heres my forum...
http://gsmphilippines.forummotion.com/index.htm

#zypha1978

If you have any problems please open a topic in the support section: https://help.forumotion.com/support-forum-c1/

and its not possible. We don't have access to the databases (:

Its a great suggestion Darren if used properly. Problem is the coding questions.....in my opinion, those belong in the forum. But questions related to like a website is down, or there's a huge bug, etc....that's great for live support.

Pimental,
If there was a bug, or down time, wouldn't is be easier to redirect to an only topic or announcement as we currently do?

I don't think that it's a great suggestion, but I don't think it's a suggestion that will be incorporated because it's too difficult to commit too.
For example, I'm commuted to my education & work; even though they are at opposite ends of the day, and I've only got a total of 10 more hours over 2 months, doing exams, I wouldn't be able to sit here and be logged on, nor if I was at work, or called into work (It happens in shift working ), and there are times, were, frankly, I just don't want to come on because of different reasons beyond our control, or I can't make it on.

It's the same with alot of peple, including staff.
Again, it would have to be staff who "moderate" it, doubt they'd have the time to go through hundreds of conversations to give 1 person a warning, and then go and moderate the support sub section.

Oh god, I can see the Inner Caihlem coming now, I'll stop here

In the long run;
=> Too much ADDITIONAL work, support section is easier,quicker, an more than 1 person can verify, and non "staff"' or non "regulars" would able to help out.

I have voted no. However, that doesn't mean I don't like the idea; it's just that I find the idea itself impractical and I see nothing wrong with the current way we give out support at the moment.

I already have it on my forum =]

It works brilliantly, you can see an example of it on one of my newly started gaming forums

http://gamebase.betaboard.net

(You need to be logged in to view it, as it is set as a widget)

Well, I think that we could have specific hours for this. Not a 24/7 thing. When it gets big we could.

i vote no sorry

I'm refusing this suggestion. We have a support forum and there is no need for a live chat. Having support forum and live chat it would require more people and would make it harder to mange which would make both services fail.