Difference between Feedback, Helpdesk, and Conflict Resolution

Killer Wench

Is Feedback for feedback on how the site is moderated, is helpdesk about how the site functions, and is conflict resolution about mediating conflicts between moderators and posters?

RoundyMooney

It seems to have evolved that way. Don't forget the Site Development forum for reporting bugs and glitches with how the site is performing.

Forget about feedforward etc., those forums fell into neglectful obscurity aeons ago

Killer Wench

RoundyMooney wrote: »

It seems to have evolved that way. Don't forget the Site Development forum for reporting bugs and glitches with how the site is performing.

Forget about feedforward etc., those forums fell into neglectful obscurity aeons ago

Okay, so maybe helpdesk is about individual poster's issues and site development is about site issues.

Can't these forums be consolidated under one primary forum. It is all very confusing.

RoundyMooney

I haven't used either, but that would be my understanding.

I do know that Helpdesk used to be linked on the front page, and was bombarded by new users with queries about changing jobs, central heating boilers, and partners! People just saw help desk and thought it was a catch all for any questions they might want to ask.

Spear

Killer Wench wrote: »

Can't these forums be consolidated under one primary forum. It is all very confusing.

That's not going to happen. They have very different rules and purposes and they need them. Plus I've already got enough to mod.

Killer Wench

Spear wrote: »

That's not going to happen. They have very different rules and purposes and they need them. Plus I've already got enough to mod.

Why not create a forum called "Spear's Forum" and then dump all of your areas there?

Shield

The charter for the Help Desk is currently being rewritten to make its purpose easier to understand from the Feedback forum.

In essence, the Help Desk is intended to be used by those users who need help with boards.ie because I believe hundreds of thousands of lines of original vBulletin code have been added, amended or removed by Boards.ie Ltd employees.

We would usually see posts from people who just don't know how certain pieces of the code work, like embedding the video reference code into YouTube in one single post, looking to have their name changed, wanting to know why they can't access private forums like Soccer, how to become a Subscriber, and so on.

The Help Desk is also intended to be used by a user who wishes to make a complaint about an individual moderator, or a specific incident where no official warnings/infractions/bans were issued (making it unsuitable for the Dispute Resolution Forum), and the nature of the complaint is that the regular user usually feels like the moderator is abusing their position because they locked a thread or edited someone's post without notifying them, etc. We even have a separate Prefix, which me and Spear deliberately had the words "Moderator Issue" in red so it would be eye-catching, and likely to be investigated without any delay. Further information on the function of the Help Desk can be read here.

Feedback tends to be a user giving their opinion not just about one moderator or incident, but about general things like how they feel the site is run and moderated, what they like about the site, what they dislike about the site and feel could be improved by doing X or Y, etc.

Feedback is intended to be a line straight from normal Registered Users to the site administrators, as the only 2 moderators are admins, and moderators read every word of every post that is posted in their forums.

What normally happens is that one of the admins will take the feedback thread and give the OP a reply or an acknowledgement. A good example that pops up here and there is "Seeing that there's a 'Thanks' button, should we also have a 'No Thanks' button as well?". That's a common one, and the OP would be directed to where this was previously suggested and rejected, OR the OP would be encouraged to search the forum for where it was suggested and rejected.

I hope the above might help you understand how and why they are separate forums, why there is a need for separate forums, as each forum has its own separate objectives.

I'll end on something which not many people would be aware of, and that is that each new suggestion, comment or idea IS discussed both in public on the thread itself, but also in the Moderator's forum, and also in the Administrator's forum.

-Shield.

RoundyMooney

Shield wrote: »

Feedback is intended to be a line straight from normal Registered Users to the site administrators, as the only 2 moderators are admins, and moderators read every word of every post that is posted in their forums.

Killer Wench

Shield wrote: »

The charter for the Help Desk is currently being rewritten to make its purpose easier to understand from the Feedback forum.

In essence, the Help Desk is intended to be used by those users who need help with boards.ie because I believe hundreds of thousands of lines of original vBulletin code have been added, amended or removed by Boards.ie Ltd employees.

We would usually see posts from people who just don't know how certain pieces of the code work, like embedding the video reference code into YouTube in one single post, looking to have their name changed, wanting to know why they can't access private forums like Soccer, how to become a Subscriber, and so on.

The Help Desk is also intended to be used by a user who wishes to make a complaint about an individual moderator, or a specific incident where no official warnings/infractions/bans were issued (making it unsuitable for the Dispute Resolution Forum), and the nature of the complaint is that the regular user usually feels like the moderator is abusing their position because they locked a thread or edited someone's post without notifying them, etc. We even have a separate Prefix, which me and Spear deliberately had the words "Moderator Issue" in red so it would be eye-catching, and likely to be investigated without any delay. Further information on the function of the Help Desk can be read here.

Feedback tends to be a user giving their opinion not just about one moderator or incident, but about general things like how they feel the site is run and moderated, what they like about the site, what they dislike about the site and feel could be improved by doing X or Y, etc.

Feedback is intended to be a line straight from normal Registered Users to the site administrators, as the only 2 moderators are admins, and moderators read every word of every post that is posted in their forums.

What normally happens is that one of the admins will take the feedback thread and give the OP a reply or an acknowledgement. A good example that pops up here and there is "Seeing that there's a 'Thanks' button, should we also have a 'No Thanks' button as well?". That's a common one, and the OP would be directed to where this was previously suggested and rejected, OR the OP would be encouraged to search the forum for where it was suggested and rejected.

I hope the above might help you understand how and why they are separate forums, why there is a need for separate forums, as each forum has its own separate objectives.

I'll end on something which not many people would be aware of, and that is that each new suggestion, comment or idea IS discussed both in public on the thread itself, but also in the Moderator's forum, and also in the Administrator's forum.

-Shield.

Thank you Shield for your very thorough response. That new forum should be called Shield's forum, and you can let Spears' play in it occasionally.

seamus

Helpdesk: I don't understand how things work, please help me

Feedback: I understand how things work, but I think I can suggest an improvement

Dispute Resolution: I have been banned and I dispute it.

Boards.ie: Danny

Killer Wench wrote: »

Okay, so maybe helpdesk is about individual poster's issues and site development is about site issues.

Can't these forums be consolidated under one primary forum. It is all very confusing.

I'd be firmly against amalgamating Site Development with Help Desk too. The tech team don't have the time to be trawling through threads of account-issues, moderator issues, "How do I" threads just to cherrypick bug reports.

A lot of time has gone in over the last year into just getting people to post bug reports in Site Dev instead of Help Desk, Feedback or with off-the-cuff remarks in a thread in one of the 900+ forums on Boards.

We read everything in Site Dev, we don't read everything in Feedback/Helpdesk

Danny

pickarooney

seamus wrote: »

Helpdesk: I don't understand how things work, please help me

Feedback: I understand how things work, but I think I can suggest an improvement

Dispute Resolution: I have been banned and I dispute it.

Much more helpful than a charter nobody will read, IMO.