Aw hell.

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,527]

The ticket system.

 

Everyone loves it, right? 

 

---

 

Way back when, long before the pony forum you know and love was invited to speak at BronyCon, we introduced the support ticket system as a replacement for, among other things, the mishmash "Site Questions & Feedback" forum (since repurposed to a strict feedback-only forum).

 

One of the main purposes we implemented the ticket system and moved all technical issues and site questions into it was to ensure users would get accurate responses to their queries every time. The old questions + feedback forum suffered from an extreme problem of inaccurate or sometimes entirely wrong answers being given to some people's questions about the site.

 

Unfortunately, because the ticket system is primarily staffed by our highest-level admins, who carry a slew of other responsibilities - tech admins are constantly embroiled in Poniverse development, and community admins have a small army of moderators to manage - getting a response to a ticket often takes longer than most people feel comfortable waiting. That explains the deluge of meta status updates we've observed over the past few weeks, and users have voiced this feedback to us directly as well. We know it's a problem, and today, we have a solution.

 

 

 

Starting today, we're introducing a brand new support forum.

 

Hold up a second, Feld. How in Tartarus are you going to bring back forum-based site support without all the problems you ditched it for?

 

We're bringing the "MLP Forums Q&A" forum back, but with a few twists:

• Replies to topics in the forum require moderator approval before they appear, to ensure accurate responses will be given.
• Questions that receive a definite reply will have the bespoke reply marked as a "best answer". The "best answer" will be marked in an unmissable green and displayed at the top of the topic, above the OP.
• Dedicated, technically-oriented staff will staff the forum, moderating answers and helping out with issues that come up.
• Topics that require the attention of a high-level developer will be closed with a message directing the OP to open a ticket.

The ticket system isn't being eliminated, but the forum will provide a way for smaller issues that don't require a high-level manager's attention to resolve to receive fast, publicly archived resolutions. Only those issues that actually require admin attention will need to run through the ticket system.

 

Result? Minor issues get faster responses, tickets get faster responses.

 

 

 

And less work for Zoop.

 

 

 

 

Everyone wins!

 

[Zoop 8,384]

Ah hell.

[Gone Airbourne 21,977]

 

And less work for Zoop.

One thing I will always remember Zoop by :3.  

Sorry I seriously had too .

 

This means everyone will be happy. So remember to give less work for Zoop!

[An Old Head 4,816]

So this new support system is basically a win for all of us. n.n An upgraded support system is what this forums'll have needed eventually, that stream of new members coming in after BronyCon will be using it a lot. Got in in while you were ahead; that's soup-a-cool.

 

Big-up!

[Mephala 2,633]

This all sounds good to me. As Flipturn said, we're gonna have loads of new guys coming in, and it's best that we adapt to the system now so we can utilize it to its best extent. Nice work as per usual.

[Miss Light Diamond 2,802]

Everyone wins!

 

 

Is that a Canucks jersey I see ?

In all seriousness this is wonderful, I was always so nervous sending a ticket because I was worried it was just me being my usual stupid blonde self or if it was an actual serious problem...

HASAAAAH.

 

Sploops...I made Feld0 sad 

Edited April 9, 2013 by Jolteon
No need to quote the entire wall of text. Please. You'll make a Feld0 sad. :-(

[Scootalove 10,689]

Huzzah! I guess that could solve problems. So, maybe this could really help or, you know what it will go well I guess. Since it will be operated very precisely.

[Shift 4,272]

Once we get that huge slip of new people after Bronycon, like that huge stream after S3 Opener, us oldies can show the newer ones around and that forum will be booming.

And less work for Zoop.

Edited April 20, 2013 by ѕнιғт

[Radiance64 7,053]

Whew, with that thread title I almost thought something bad had happened!

Anyway, sounds good, should help more people with their problems and whatnot.

[Zygen 6,066]

New support system you say? And this new support system means less work for Zoop?

Sounds good to me .

But seriously it does sound like this could go over well, looking forward to seeing how it goes.

[Apple Bloom 2,933]

Well, I didn't see this coming. 

I knew that tickets had become a bit of a problem, but I didn't know just how bad. This system seems much better, anyway. I like that best answers are shown at the top and will remain visible, in case anyone has the same issue in the future. It's like a user created FAQ for tech support.

[NavelColt 22,881]

Ohey, by the way, though Feld0 kinda sorta forgot to mention it, when we say 'Dedicated, technically-oriented staff will staff the forum, moderating answers and helping out with issues that come up', we're talking about members not already in the staff system. We're looking for members who are interested in basically acting as answerers of the 'basic site questions' questions and 'tech questions' that appear in this forum. The bottom line is, we're getting huge, and instead of hiring more and more general admins and mods to try and deal with this, we're going to try and get members to volunteer their time to help out instead.

 

As with staff it's not a sign up thing. We'll be looking for helpful people that do their best to help out, and we'll approach them.

[Shanks 10,816]

This makes perfect sense for the questions that have a simple answer to them and could if it works out still have those questions be answered while having the ticket system for the more complicated matters. If I know the answer to something I will see if I can jump in on a matter or two.

Edited April 9, 2013 by EarthbendingProdigy

[Zoop 8,384]

 

My master plans are coming to fruition. Soon I will never have to do anything ever again... nothing can stand in my way now. Soon all of the work will be thrust upon other people.

[Batbrony 16,055]

Sounds good, sounds good.  With all the amazing things our tech admins have been working on with the Poniverse, I'm surprised you've been able to even make time for a minor fix like this, but I'm glad and appreciate that you guys took the time to do it, both for the members sake and your own.  This sounds like it'll make it easier for members to get minor issues taken care of, and put less stress on our tech admins by ensuring they only have to deal with and fix really serious technical issues and focus their efforts on the Poniverse without having to worry about a crap ton of support tickets.  Great job guys! 

[Flicker Sweet 3,391]

Yay! This is awesome!

 

not sure what you mean about the ticket responses taking a long time though.....I always felt that they were relatively swift.......

[Creamy Arty 6,252]

I know what I'm getting @Zoop for Christmas this year.

 

 

 

The real point of all this restructuring is that the old ways contained too many OCD triggers for a lot of the staff. The layout of some things drove me up a wall, and certain other things bugged other staff members. Hopefully we can all get through the day now with less fidgeting and clenching of teeth.

[3005 332]

I'm curious as to how this eliminates any workload if staff is still having to approve each individual reply. If only the "best answer" is going to be filtered through, doesn't sifting through the garbage-posts waste the staff's time? 

[Zoop 8,384]

I'm curious as to how this eliminates any workload if staff is still having to approve each individual reply. If only the "best answer" is going to be filtered through, doesn't sifting through the garbage-posts waste the staff's time? 

 

It shifts the burden from the high level tech admins who need to be spending their time on Poniverse development to people that we're hiring specifically to deal with basic tech support. Only issues that the base level support staff can't handle will be elevated to the tech admins.

 

At this point we need our developers focused on developing. ^^;

[Doctor XFizzle 8,669]

As with staff it's not a sign up thing. We'll be looking for helpful people that do their best to help out, and we'll approach them.

 

There's only so much a Timelord such as myself can do. Saving the Earth, restoring galaxies, repairing cracks in time. My TARDIS can only hold so many users.

 

But hey, less work for Zoop so he can get his body buff for Swoop. *flips page to begin next chapter of shipfic*

Edited April 9, 2013 by Doctor XFizzle

[King 5,625]

Ohey, by the way, though Feld0 kinda sorta forgot to mention it, when we say 'Dedicated, technically-oriented staff will staff the forum, moderating answers and helping out with issues that come up', we're talking about members not already in the staff system. We're looking for members who are interested in basically acting as answerers of the 'basic site questions' questions and 'tech questions' that appear in this forum. The bottom line is, we're getting huge, and instead of hiring more and more general admins and mods to try and deal with this, we're going to try and get members to volunteer their time to help out instead.

 

As with staff it's not a sign up thing. We'll be looking for helpful people that do their best to help out, and we'll approach them.

 

This sounds rather interesting...

It's a great idea that should lift some of the burden from the moderators and admins shoulders...

Hopefully this should help Zoops back...*cough* Recline Further in his chair *cough*

 

So far im liking these new changes, hopefully they will help with sire management and resources

[Betez 1,734]

I guess I like the idea. I'll have to see how it all plays out. Glad to see the staff are letting people help out. Now that I think about it more, I do like the idea.

[Concord 1,982]

Hello!

 

Apart from the Lazy Zoop jokes...

 

 

 

 

 

I believe this system will prove to be quite more convenient and less time consuming for the admins and mods. Plus, members would be able to get the awnsers on a much quicker pace. This is definately, an upgrade!