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| Why does everyone hate Support Volunteers so Much? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 4 2005, 06:39 PM (3,788 Views) | |
| Brian S. | May 5 2005, 06:52 PM Post #61 |
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Member
  ![]](../../../../0/1/0/p601690/pipright.png)
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Ditto. 
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| Platyna | May 5 2005, 07:20 PM Post #62 |
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Lady Lazarus
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I am going through the support forums...if I know an answer I am posting...but it drives me crazy when, after I post a thread reloads and what do I see - a person, especially one who seems to be a classic "IF support volunteer" there is even now a guy that, I think will make me to resign from posting on support forums today...guess what is his member tittle... Regards. |
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| Seth | May 5 2005, 07:41 PM Post #63 |
I has a pony
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The fact that you asked means that you're not  Seriously, the truly annoying "volunteers" are very few. But they can ruin it for everyone if we're not careful. |
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| Captain Kam | May 5 2005, 08:24 PM Post #64 |
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Custom member title
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Here's an example of a situation:
Which is better? Number 1, or number 2?  The difference is: Number 1 is defined in that wikipedia entry that I linked you guys into. Idiotic and not helpful at all. Number 2 gives the answer without even mentioning that it's in the wrong forum. |
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| Brandon88 | May 5 2005, 08:31 PM Post #65 |
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Member
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I always knew you were cool Brian S.
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| Platyna | May 5 2005, 08:35 PM Post #66 |
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Lady Lazarus
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Number 2. Since moderators are to decide what should be in what forum. AFAIK moderators here are not blind nor retarded.  Regards. |
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| Zero Resistance-ZNS | May 5 2005, 09:29 PM Post #67 |
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eÜil Zero lÖrd™
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Did you read my other posts? Do you get paid to give support? You volunteer. Thus, you are a Support Volunteer. What we hate are those that are 99.99% wrong and those that label themselves. |
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| Deleted User | May 6 2005, 04:44 AM Post #68 |
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Deleted User
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Not necessarily. I've had some of the more annoying ones ask me. But, the fact that seeing your name didn't fill me with a sense of dread means it's unlikely that you're a problem. Brandon88 brought up a good point, and I believe it's addressed in the Support Volunteer topic, as is most of the rest of what's been said here, and that's the apparent need for Support Volunteers to post regardless of whether their post is needed or appropriate or not, and to post what's already been posted because they're rushing to be "the winner" or whatever by posting before others do. For God's sake, read the entire topic before posting, so you don't re-post something that's already been said, or post something that's already been ruled out or is otherwise irrelevant. And if there's anyone but the topic starter in a support topic when you go into it, you shouldn't even post at all until you see if they decided to post. Even if you know somebody else that's already in the topic is notoriously bad for giving poor support, you should never rush to beat them to posting, and certainly not if you know they're good at support. You should either move on to another topic or open another window/tab and check back in a few minutes or something to see if the other person answered, and if they did, see if it's correct, and if it is, only post if you think whatever you have to say will truly be beneficial, and if the other person's answer was wrong, post a correct answer if you can. There's nothing inherently wrong with answering even hundreds of support topics a day. I was doing that when I first joined because I had little else to occupy my time those days and because I was working on my own forum and I like helping people and there wasn't too much help being offered in the forums at the time. My name would sometimes show as the last poster in most topics on several pages in each forum, but that certainly wasn't my motivation, nor did I or do I care about post count or trying to impress anyone. If you're thinking about anything else but helping somebody in need and making them happy when you give support, you're doing something wrong and are at least borderline Support Volunteer material. And though I'm loathe to bring it up again, since Iostream did, and just to clarify, Paul did actually know a lot and help out a lot, I'm not denying that, and I think we're all thankful for whatever help he and several others gave under similar circumstances, but no matter how much you know and how many people you help, if you're clearly doing it for the wrong reasons, and actually interfering with support by trying to help when you shouldn't be because others are more knowledgeable about whatever the problem is, or in any other way being a hinderance, that's not good for anybody here and certainly doesn't impress those whose opinions really matter and who can see through such things. That said, there are actually occasions when it's ok to post even if you don't know the answer to a specific problem. Mainly when there are only a few people online and the topic starter is still online and hoping to get help from somebody.. anybody.. you know? I've been there. I'm sure most of you have at times. But it does no good to post "sorry, I don't know" or whatever, so even if they have to wait until the next day for an answer, waiting would be better than just spamming their topic. But if you can offer some sort of help, like if they seem new and might not know about the documentation, you could say you're not sure but maybe the answer can be found in such and such a topic or forum and give the link. And I mentioned the dreaded "thank you" post, and somebody else brought up how nice is it to be thanked, and that's true.. we all like to be thanked, but here's the issue: It's actually a good thing for the person with the problem to say "thank you, the problem is resolved" or whatever, not just because it's polite, but because it let's us know for sure that the topic can be marked as solved and then closed. The problem is when the people giving the support are saying thank you to the people that thanked them or complimented them or whatever, or when they post that the problem has been solved. Only the topic starter should ever post that the problem has been solved, and though I used to do it now and then when I first joined, I quickly realized that posting a thank you to somebody who complimented me on my support was actually hindering support for others by needlessly bumping the topic, so I stopped. It's really all just a matter of common sense and respect, which is why it's so frustrating when we see people doing a lot of the stuff they do. [/latenight ramble] |
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| Auron89 | May 6 2005, 03:56 PM Post #69 |
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Member
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Yeah. I agree with Phrank on that issue. Especially the part about thanking someone for complimenting you. 
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| paperboy | May 6 2005, 04:01 PM Post #70 |
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penguin foo master
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im not reading what phrank posted my attention spam prohibits it hey is that a horsey |
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| Lothlómendil | May 6 2005, 05:17 PM Post #71 |
Spam Queen
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Can we not spam? :huh: |
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| Jimi | May 6 2005, 07:33 PM Post #72 |
LOST
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Unless my eyes decive me, i have seen staff spam, its not spam though because staff go on for a few pages until they feel like stopping, but yeah...   :rolleyes:
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| Deleted Account | May 6 2005, 07:38 PM Post #73 |
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Member
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Here's what I hate: I go into a topic, and see that someone needs help. I think "Alright, I have a couple minutes, let's see what I can do." Since I am the only person in the topic besides the creator that needs support, I go on and post a reply. I try to answer the question fully, but after I have posted, I find four posts in front of mine, all one line long, saying absolutely nothing. For example: Let's say the question is: "How do I make someone an admin?" I'll begin posting a reply, and by the time I am done: Post 1: Just edit a member and put them in the admin group Post 2: You shouldn't have put this in coding support. Post 3: Can we stop backseat moderating? Post 4: Stop spamming, don't post unless you contribute to the topic. Post 5: ^That was spam. -_- Post 6: I don't get what you mean by this. Please gove a better explanation? Post 7: Get a member and put it in the admin group. Post 8: just make a member admin. Post 9: go to edit user, put change details, user group, admin. Post 10: ha, I beat you guys!1 Post 11: -My post- Post 12: Ok, thanks. Post 13: A mod should lock this, you know, or else people will bump this topic. Post 14: Hypocrite, you just bumped the topic. <_< Post 15: Could a mod please lock this?! There we go. Slightly exaggerated, but that is the gist of what I see in most topics. I hate this. |
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| Jimi | May 6 2005, 07:40 PM Post #74 |
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LOST
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Thats actually pretty funny, i needed a good laugh, sadly it is true sometimes, i have been witness to such... |
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| Mez | May 6 2005, 08:18 PM Post #75 |
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Zetaboards: now RFC2324 Compliant
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ah but how did you know it was going to be the post above me. I havet been here long enough to really see the term 2support volnnteer" instilling fear in me. However, I do have a problem with what I call "idiots" Simply, if you want to help out, that's great! but, you should arm yourself with a knowledge of how things are done first so when you DO start supporting you do it right first time. It's what I always do. If I start say for example, going to a new chat room, a new forum, whatever, I lurk for a few days, and then join in, so I can get the gist of how things work, and how lax the moderatiojn is (some forums will go mentla if you go slightly off top ic, some dont mind as long as it isnt too abd - some will actively encourage you to go off topic!) But, on the main, the support forums are ok, it's good to see so many people wanting to help. If only those few would learn how to do it proplerly. |
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