Admin Announcement Support Ticket System Introduced

in regards to this I notice that the MSC (member services center) has also been closed.
is there any replacement service contemplated or in the works at this time whereby members can discuss their staff actions?

Lulav said:

LINK to SUPPORT TICKET PAGE

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After you get to the Support Ticket page; click on the "Open new ticket" button which opens a pop-up box "choose category"
Screen shot example:

Choose the appropriate category; click on this; it will open up a page "Create New Ticket" (looks like a PM--conversation) add a title & contents on what you want to discuss with the Staff and click on "Create Ticket" and a new Ticket will be created.

You will be notified by the alert system when you have an answer from the Staff.

pdudgeon said:

in regards to this I notice that the MSC (member services center) has also been closed.
is there any replacement service contemplated or in the works at this time whereby members can discuss their staff actions?

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The Ticket system replaces the MSC;see my post above.

ok. while I can see the worth of such a system as far as efficiency goes, what concerns me is that the process itself also has the effect of distancing staff and members from each other.
any solution for that?
Whenever things go wrong (whether in cyber or in real life) that's the time that we all need more frequent contact, understanding and reassurance...more people to people interaction.

pdudgeon said:

ok. while I can see the worth of such a system as far as efficiency goes, what concerns me is that the process itself also has the effect of distancing staff and members from each other.
any solution for that?

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Yes; "support ticket system" doesn't have quite the ring to "Members Service Center"; but I think that was do to the Xenforo forum software upgrades.

mnorian said:

Yes; "support ticket system" doesn't have quite the ring to "Members Service Center"; but I think that was do to the Xenforo forum software upgrades.

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very true. I've seen the effects of similar systems in real life. When things are running smoothly they work just fine. but when there are problems with either the system itself, or a manpower shortage and things get backed up, then a worse problem is created than would have happened under the old system.

To summarize, the worse the problem--whatever it is that brings members to this forum--the more human intervention is necessary in order to solve it successfully.

Brent W said:

This will be our main method of communicating with you from here on out and we will be discontinuing the use of the private and public help support forums starting now.

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pdudgeon said:

To summarize, the worse the problem--whatever it is that brings members to this forum--the more human intervention is necessary in order to solve it successfully.

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I've heard concerns that we don't have a private way for the members to contact Staff; but just to be clear; the Support Ticket System is still private.

PD; as so many forget in the larger world; but here on "Christian" Forums we shouldn't; if the Lord Jesus isn't in mix to solve a problem; then all our efforts are in vain.

"A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain." NKJV

Brent W said:

That is a very good point and never the intention.

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ok, I've had an idea that might just work along these lines.
How about creating a position of Community Ombudsman.

The task of the Ombudsman would be to send a greeting on behalf of the Staff to every user of the new system when they check in, assuring them that the Ombudsman would work as a contact person from staff who is there to answer questions about the process, or relay messages from staff about technical problems (ie who's affected, when it might be fixed, yes we know about the problem, etc.)

That way staff doesn't have to stop what they're doing to answer questions, and members aren't left waiting for info.

Back in the days Tishri always used to be super at doing this sort of job...wonder if she would take it on?

TBH...when I saw the SUPPORT link at the page top I thought it was FINANCIAL...as in FORUM SUPPORTER, and would never have linked it to the former MSC in any way.

Also even some ambassadors have missed the announcement and thought MSC no longer existed.
So it seems like some clarification is called for, because I am willing to bet most forum members missed this boat entirely.
Removing the MSC link might also be a good option to avoid confusion.

The https://www.christianforums.com/forums/supervisor-help-desk.1143/ is still up and running; where does that fit in...if at all?

Just my 2 cents as a former staffer ~ thanks

ETA: I see changes have been made since April, and having just used the new system.....I love it

pdudgeon said:

ok, I've had an idea that might just work along these lines.
How about creating a position of Community Ombudsman.
The task of the Ombudsman would be to send a greeting on behalf of the Staff to every user of the new system when they check in, assuring them that the Ombudsman would work as a contact person from staff who is there to answer questions about the process, or relay messages from staff about technical problems (ie who's affected, when it might be fixed, yes we know about the problem, etc.)
That way staff doesn't have to stop what they're doing to answer questions, and members aren't left waiting for info.
Back in the days Tishri always used to be super at doing this sort of job...wonder if she would take it on?

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I think one of the problems is (and @Brent W correct me if I'm wrong) that a lot of the changes we have seen are not done by anyone on staff or management of CF; but is done by the software developers of Xenforo.Ltd which you can see their link at the bottom of all CF pages; here is there home site: XenForo.com and also Xenforo uses Pixelexit a software style company: Home to help develop the style of the forums.

Here is the Xenforo upgrade release page:
XenForo 1.5.13 Released

And these companies just don't have CF to build software platforms for but a lot of other forums, game sites; etc.

CF is part of Whipp Media; an online community company; home site here: Whipp Media (also a link at the bottom of all pages)
which has CF, Baptist Board, Christianity Board, and other forums and boards; which Xenforo and Pixelexit; and other software companies help build the software for.

So you see it's not just an easy thing to keep track of the software upgrades; and these companies are constantly tweaking their software, apps, and style generators; and staff here at CF is sometimes as surprised by the new upgrades as the members; sort of like when Google brings out a new upgrade to Chrome or Chromebook; and everybody is scrambling to figure out what happened to their last post on CF.

As far as a Community Ombudsman; the Ambassadors and Moderators are our greeters and helpers to new members and older ones too; and those that are both; like me; I feel are as close to ombudsman as CF has; and I know I and others try to keep members up-dated and aware of the changes; as soon as we find out ourselves.

To me - one problem with the new system is we have lost the ability for self help/other posters help

Under the old way in the Tech problem board some questions of the "how do I do ........ " could be and sometimes were answered by other posters .

Also we could point out that a snag was affecting many folk as well as the Poster who brought it up.

Now with the new support tickets 'thing' you have no idea if someone has reported a problem - you could be hit with many posts about the same fault

mnorian said:

...................(snip)

As far as a Community Ombudsman; the Ambassadors and Moderators are our greeters and helpers to new members and older ones too; and those that are both; like me; I feel are as close to ombudsman as CF has; and I know I and others try to keep members up-dated and aware of the changes; as soon as we find out ourselves.

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I understand that.
What I was thinking of was an ombudsman to run interference for the repairs/rules violations part of Cf, so that the technical staff and the mods could dedicate their time to fixing things instead of having to jog back and forth between fixing and interfacing with the members.

That way we would have one dedicated person giving out the information and finding answers instead of pulling the mods or teckies away from their regular jobs to also do that, or alternately having to page an Admin away from their job for an answer.

Hopefully the result of having an Ombudsman dedicated to this one task of providing answers/info would be quicker response times all around,
more efficient use of staff time,
shorter hours expended by staff,
more reports finished quickly as a result of that uninterrupted time,
and improved communication between staff and members.

worth a try?

Anhelyna said:

To me - one problem with the new system is we have lost the ability for self help/other posters help

Under the old way in the Tech problem board some questions of the "how do I do ........ " could be and sometimes were answered by other posters .

Also we could point out that a snag was affecting many folk as well as the Poster who brought it up.

Now with the new support tickets 'thing' you have no idea if someone has reported a problem - you could be hit with many posts about the same fault

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The "Questions about CF" is back by popular demand; but they said "for now" so i don't know it will be for good; but hope so; as I think it was a good forum. Link here:

Questions about CF

mnorian said:

"A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain." NKJV

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Psalm 127.1

Maybe a sticky or stickies at the top of the ticket page notifying all of which issues concerning the site have been reported and are being addressed (or will not change) ?