Help Desk

Dohnny Jepp

I was thinking, the help desk is always miss used and even after a name change to highlight more specifically what it should be used for it was still miss used. This miss use I can imagine although amusing probably wastes a lot of time.

So I suggest that. . (wait for it). . . the help desk should be scraped!! Remove it from the forum list completely!

Now I hear everyone muttering how insane I am! What will people do with no help desk to help them!!! It will be anarchy! . . . or will it!

This is what I think we could do to remedy this issue once and for all. Instead of having the help desk have a link on the tab bar reading "Have a Problem?, Contact an Admin" or something of the sort. So when someone has an issue they click on that and it brings them into a "special" PM/Post. This PM/Post could either go to a special invisible admin only forum or to a special inbox that all admins have access to!

Now the structure of this PM/post would have a drop down menu at the very top where the person in question needs to select a reason for sending the pm. The reasons could include - "complaint", "site query", "how to query" and "confirmation emails". ( and no "other" option).

After the person sends the Pm the admins reply through standard PM.

With this system there should be less confusion.

The Benefits of this is that because its not a new thread, new users will not mistake it for a place to make a query post about what shoes to wear to oxygen! Also because of having to select a reason to send the PM then people about to send a post about toothpaste will realise there isnt an option so its the wrong place!.

In regards to the complaint procedure, this system would be more similar to step 1 and 2. So whereas a person might be eager to skip those steps so he can make a public post. . well guess what now its gonna be a Private message so may as well send it to the Cmod as opposed to the admin.


I admit this may be too much work for the gains available but I thought it worth suggesting:).

nucking futs

That wouldn't solve the problem at all. All it would do is shift it from the question being asked in public to it being asked in private.

BuffyBot

Isn't it part of the Help Desk's reason for being to help the lost and confused? I don't understand why people get all up in arms about it tbh.

Magenta

It could be renamed to something like "Site Issues".

PDN

Dohnny Jepp wrote: »

So I suggest that. . (wait for it). . . the help desk should be scraped!!

I agree. Just scrape the crap off it and it'll be fine.

Spiritoftheseventies

If you take away help desk and replace it with PMing one poster may think (depending on the response) that one mod is more/less helpful than the other and that could lead to problems. Help Desk is more transparent anyway.