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| An Amendment to the Forum Rules; Please vote respectfully. | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Aug 30 2014, 02:01 PM (2,526 Views) | |
| Ferby | Aug 30 2014, 02:01 PM Post #1 |
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So recently I have been getting quite frequent requests for support or assistance via the private messaging system despite a note in my signature asking people not to. Not only do I find this quite irritating but it decreases my motivation to continue to provide support on the forums. Every one I have gotten I have reported which lead Ryan to get in contact with me about how asking for support wasn't against the forum rules unless they are contacting a member of staff. The difference really between official members of the support team and members who provide support because they want to is a single group permission which shouldn't define if you can be contacted for support. I provide support when I feel I can help or even if I just want to. I have no obligation to provide support on these forums. Receiving these types of messages not only demotivates me because members feel I am obligated to help but they also irritate me because they target me specifically to fill out their request. I am sure I am not the only one to receive these types of requests and I may be the only one to speak out and attempt to make a change about it. So I have set up a poll (see it as a petition) to amend the forum rule to not allow members to message other members for support. Members refers to any registered user on the Zathyus Network Support & Resource Forum. "Do not PM, IM or E-Mail members (regardless of position) for support—this includes sending messages in these formats with a link to your support topic. Use this board or send in a support ticket from your Admin CP. Any other requests for support will go ignored, and your ability to use the PM system may be removed." Regardless of the final decision or poll results, I will still refuse to provide support via private messages. I hope members will respect this decision because whether this leads to me eventually stop providing support or not, I am unsure. Thank you
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| DaPizzaMan | Aug 30 2014, 02:05 PM Post #2 |
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#TeamSupport
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I don't think there needs to be any amendment to the forum rules. But I hope people will respect your signature in the future. |
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| Arrogant | Aug 30 2014, 02:30 PM Post #3 |
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I disagree. I think regular members should have the same "protection" that members of staff do in instances like this. The support forum exists for members to ask for support, so there's absolutely no need for members to ask anyone for support via the PM system. |
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| Ferby | Aug 30 2014, 02:33 PM Post #4 |
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I don't understand, why not? |
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| Pete B | Aug 30 2014, 02:37 PM Post #5 |
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Seems fair enough, I would agree with it. |
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| Jason | Aug 30 2014, 02:58 PM Post #6 |
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Completely agree. I've even had the following message (I won't divulge who it came from) when I declined to help for reasons that were perfectly justified in my opinion -
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| skyfallzeus | Aug 30 2014, 03:01 PM Post #7 |
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Farewell zb thx for the memories
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Ive always respected your rule for not asking support via pm to you mate. Any support pertaining to codes or themes should be formally addresed on the actual support sections |
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| Jonathan | Aug 30 2014, 03:08 PM Post #8 |
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I hit no, but then hit the show results button instead of the Submit vote button. UPDATE: ok apparently you can vote after hitting that button on this board. Silence. ![]() I sympathise with those that receive PM support, but a rule change isn't the answer for me. I still receive PM support, and I don't warn users who do so. Half of them are new and won't have even read the rules. I wouldn't warn users who PM support members if this did become a rule (unless it was persistent, of course) The solution is to adapt the current PM notice when you try to PM a staff member and re word it so that it tells users most members do not like being PM'd for support questions. Edited by Jonathan, Aug 30 2014, 03:12 PM.
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| Jason | Aug 30 2014, 03:11 PM Post #9 |
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I think that solution would be a fair compromise, but when it does happen, and is reported, I think there should be suitable punishments for the worst offenders. Obviously new members should be treated with some leniency, but in my experience the worst offenders are people that I probably would have quickly banned if they had been on my forum. EDIT: Bah you edited while I was posting lol Edited by Jason, Aug 30 2014, 03:12 PM.
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| Helena | Aug 30 2014, 03:13 PM Post #10 |
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M is for Mod
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Two givens: Members who seek support via PM impose on the member they are PM'ing (unless invited), and also cheat the community out of seeing a problem and it's resolution and thereby helping many instead of one. Members who give support via PM cheat the community out of seeing a problem and it's resolution and thereby helping many instead of one. Conclusion: Support requested and provided via PMs does not help the community as a whole and puts unnecessary pressure on the requestee. The question then is, what is the staff responsibility in investigating and policing the rule? The rule is there so that there is validation when staff deal with our serial PM support requesters who think they merit special treatment (or who haven't bothered to read the rules, which amounts to the same thing). It's true that we don't encourage PM'ing for support, but some people do like to be available via PM and we can't really effectively police that. The recourse members have now is add the offending requester to your PM address book and disallow further messages from that member. There is no need to even reply. You already have a request in your signature, and they've violated it. Plenty of reason to remove their ability to contact you further. Since there is a way to block repeat offenders, I don't see a reason for a rule about it. Regardless, your amendment would be better worded to add members to the existing wording rather than setting members as the main offendees. |
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| Jonathan | Aug 30 2014, 03:13 PM Post #11 |
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I edited my post: I would warn/punish users who persistently PM support requested. |
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| Ryan | Aug 30 2014, 03:16 PM Post #12 |
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I voted no.I didn't say this at all. I said:
You have the same protection that we do. If someone is harassing you via the PM system you can report them and we can handle it. However, we cannot (and do not) punish members or contact them on your behalf for sending a PM for support or requests a single time.
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| Nicolas | Aug 30 2014, 03:19 PM Post #13 |
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"PLES RING IF AN RNSER IS REQIRD."
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Lout - I thought I asked you not to tell anybody what I said. [1]Obviously, I understand the frustration of getting unwelcome solicitations for support from members - who are often new to our community and impatient wanting immediate help and assistance, forgetting we're volunteers and members of a community helping each other out out of the goodness of our hearts and shared interest in forums and this software. It would be an easy enough thing for me to change the one word in the one rule and make you all overjoyed - but I do have a concern about this change. If the rule did now say not to PM any member for support - I could see a great number of users responding to people who PMed them for support pointing out the rule, some in a not-very-nice way, and some might go so far as to backseat moderate - and we wouldn't know it happened because it was done over PM. Not everybody would just report users who PMed them for support and enforcing the rule would be fairly challenging from the staff's perspective. Additionally, we often respond to the users who PM us for support the first time with a certain measure of grace. We might give them their answer, but we'll always gently remind them of the rule and warn note their account. This, too, would be difficult to expect to continue if the rule were expanded to encompass members as we don't know how you've treated or responded to the users. Finally, some users simply like to make themselves available for support - while I think that's not good for a number of reasons, it is sometimes understandable for codes/themes/etc. I would simply recommend informing a user you'd prefer not to be PMed for support and then if the ignore you, report their PM and explain the situation and block them. Harassing users is already against our board rules and the staff will be more than content to step in at that point. [1] In all seriousness, though, do remember that our rules also state "Posting private conversations including, but not limited to: personal messages, instant message conversations or e-mail conversations, hidden, altered or removed content." I'll allow this one because it doesn't say who it's from and illustrates a point. |
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| Jason | Aug 30 2014, 03:29 PM Post #14 |
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All the years I've used ZB and I didn't know this was an option... Edited by Jason, Aug 30 2014, 03:30 PM.
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| Ferby | Aug 30 2014, 07:03 PM Post #15 |
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I can see all your points and whilst I agree with most of it, I must point out that it is not repeat offenders. It is actually a wide range of users who contact me, not just specific ones. So I cannot just block them from PMing me because it isn't just one person. I do not mind providing support on my own code via private messaging because, at least then, they ask me because its my own code and if I'm not able to help them, I ask them to post a code request stating I cannot help them. But unfortunately support requests for my own codes are quite rare via PM whilst support requests for other codes are very frequent. I am, in no way, suggesting that we punish users who break this rule but just want it to be acknowledged by staff that although we are in two separate positions, we're not different in providing support and we should be given the same rights to not be bothered with support requests via PM. As Lout has shown, some members (if refused or asked nicely not to bother us) can be quite inappropriate and impolite. It just gets tiresome having to reply to these users that I do not wish to be bothered with requests via private messaging unless it's about my own code. I'd like some sort of system in place to reduce that. |
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8:54 PM Jul 10
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UPDATE: ok apparently you can vote after hitting that button on this board. Silence. 

I said:
8:54 PM Jul 10