Modding Support System?

[benheck]

Yo there. I currently get a lot of email asking questions that are either kind of simple or should be asked in the forums.

My thought is, what would you all think about some sort of "support ticket" program on this site? Basically, random visitors could ask a question, and people who choose to participate could answer for them, or perhaps do a mod/hack they request?

I would also need to think of a way to make it worth the (answer participants) time. Think of it like "Yahoo Answers", but for modding, and you could possibly get mod work from it too.

Thoughts? It kind of sucks that a lot of people come to my site for help but I don't have time to answer every question. I am but one man!

-Ben

[eurddrue]

I guess it would work, but it would be a female of the dog species if they suggested an xbox360 laptop as compared to a noac portable...

[ShockSlayer]

I guess it would work, but it would be a female of the dog species if they suggested an xbox360 laptop as compared to a noac portable...

I agree.

I'd do it, but we'd need a list of answers to give to people asking ridiculous requests.

SS

[Skyone]

I'd do it, but we'd need a list of answers to give to people asking ridiculous requests.

Pick up your local copy of "Common Sense" then.

[jjhammerstein]

I would answer questions, it'd be fun.
I feel qualified enough to direct people to topics that answer their questions, etc.

[Tibia]

I'd be all for this. It's a great idea.

Perhaps, SS, for the totally waste of time questions, we could have a preset answer available? For example, with the x-Bob 360 laptop, it could emphasize the immense time and cost?

[bicostp]

Why not just a FAQ page, with the last entry being "Q: My question still isn't answered! A: Go ask on the forums."?

[Skyone]

Why not just a FAQ page, with the last entry being "Q: My question still isn't answered! A: Go ask on the forums."?

I'd have to agree. It seems that these long-term forum projects (i.e. Benheck Wiki) tend to fail, anyway.

[XCVG]

There was a wiki?! What happened to it?!

[bicostp]

There was a burst of interest in it in the first month of its existence, but after that nobody bothered with it anymore. It wasn't set up again after the last server changed because nobody cared.

[Kurt_]

The problem with what I understand to be a support ticket program is that some users may *think* they know the answer, and you just end up with a bunch of people full of misinformation.

I like the idea of a FAQ, but the noobs who want a PS360 laptop for $50 and five skittles will probably skip over it, so you'd need to direct any potential email traffic through the FAQs first.

[nightwheel]

The problem with what I understand to be a support ticket program is that some users may *think* they know the answer, and you just end up with a bunch of people full of misinformation.

This is where a disclaimer would be in order on stuff like this. So it can cover our butts hopefully.


Anyways, I'm all for this idea!

[palmertech]

I say this might be a perfect controlled environment in which an answer-bot would reply to common questions with simple answers and links to relevant topics.

[ghosstt]

What would be really cool is something like the WoW Ticket system. They ask a question, and up by our PMs or something, you can see the list of open tickets(questions) and you can answer them. Either A)Electric Rain could think of something to do this or B)phpBB3 might have something like this.

[benheck]

Yeah Ghost that's the idea. We'd install an open-source ticket system on a subdomain, random people could sign up and submit questions, and us users could choose which questions we'd know the answers to, and then answer.

I also get a lot of requests for stuff that I simply don't have time to do, but forum people would have no trouble. So people could pick up work that way too.

One open source ticket thing is osTicket, anyone have an opinion on it?

-Ben