Hello,
I think automatically closing topics without a reason or resolution is not helpful and it spams up the search results, making it hard to find an active conversation that covers the exact questions another person would have.
Assuming the reply time is long enough, keeping stub threads around and old, closed threads is causing issues for people.
Whilst those in the fold, who have a system to handling a forum application for support purposes, know what to do and where to go and how things work on here, when you’r PC has stopped working and you need an answer, researching an incomplete user manual for how to make a forum work for technical support, with the lack of guardrails and organisation, as mentioned, it is plainly obvious to me, an outsider, that this system you are used to is not helpful for many other people outside the fold.
My forum description is an expression of the fact that, I am required to create an account for each and every single application or component on my system on various systems around the world. I honestly don’t know how you’ve managed to make it an insult to the dev team, so sorry if I don’t agree on that comment.
There are a plethora of red flags with a lot of projects and the way some groups organise and exclude others because of resource shortages.
The common and misguided usage of simple web forum software for complex technical support roles is simply a bad idea and creates the situation we have where there are far too many dead-ends and useless threads.
Maybe if it were easier to locate and find relevant information, people wouldn’t recreate ostensibly redundant threads.
Maybe, if there was a structured information system to help people that could be updated.
And, at the fundamental level, if you don’t have the manpower to do what needs to be done, it stands to reason that the outcomes will follow suit.
Start with the right tools and the jobs is much easier.
If anything, I am taking umbridge with those people who think this forum is the best possible structure for technical support, and proceed defend it when it is shown not to be.
As you have put it, quite well, in your comments, there are MANY different ways to describe a problem, not to mention having to know which prescribed [sub]component it relates to for categorisation. Leaving it up to a user to use the forum the same way the creators do is rather shortsighted, however clear the rules of use appear to you.
There are no pro-formas for filling out bug reports, user problems, just tags with no explanation, no obvious segregation of expired or outdated threads from previous versions, nor archiving expired or unresolved threads, which, by their nature, are dead and no longer able to be refreshed with new information, necessitating the creating of a NEW stub thread…
I just don’t understand why you would want to keep going with badly suited tools and then complain when they don’t work as you want them to, or when someone tries to do the best with what they are provided, sans guided information on HOW to use this wide-open forum mechanism.
IMHO, if a thread has no solution, it should be marked as such, or conversely, solutions which are provided should be searchable without getting confusing, or even contradictory, or defunct information from the search, too.
Also, you could take what you have learned about utilising this platform and help to create a purpose-made technical support platform which helps organise and present useful, working information taking into consideration problem areas, fixes, versioning, beta tests, etc.
However, now I am aware that you don’t have the manpower required to provide a high level of structured support, I know not task the forum and potentially detract from whatever amount of usefulness the forum provides to others.
Maybe having the right software could reduce the time spent on husbandry and admin?
Incidentally, when you mentioned tags, I had a quick look and couldn’t find a list of forum tags and descriptions/uses on the forum. For example, what do the ‘uphold’, ‘payments’ vs ‘payout’ and ‘research’ tags mean for a thread?
Just to reiterate my point one last time with a story.
I am part of a collective of musicians, one of the more technically-minded ones but no guru. We used to use WhatsApp Groups to book rooms for recording, rehearsal, etc. EVERYBODY hated it, but plenty were ‘used to’ it, enough to not make a difference and make any change too much work. Whenever we had a new booking, we would have to search through the chat to see who booked what and when. Double-bookings were a thing, as was taking hours to checking a booking was made. The second group was for information news, both were conflated leading to spam in the bookings group. Needlessly frustrating organisation.
I decided, in my frustration, to set up a privately hosted, shared calendar for us to all use. We haven’t looked back. EVERYBODY loves it.
Drawing your attention to the use of an information organisation tool (calendar) best suited to the task at hand (booking dates). Social platforms are notoriously BAD of organisation - as was mentioned when asked why forum users cant make their own tags - It would be chaos.
Since using a more suitable software solution, bookings (and the state of the rooms) have improved because people know what is going on without exerting their brains. The information became so much more accessible to members and it improved the functioning of the unit as a whole simply because the right information is at the right place at the right time. Isn’t this what Information Technology is all about -Finding the best solution for an information system?
I just think this forum system is a chaotic way to organise troubleshooting info and bug reports.
Anyway, I’ve put my 5 bob in. Do with this opinion what you will, but I would ask that it be left open for others to respond to and not automatically closed in the expectation that all members have read and partaken of the discussion as they wish.
If one were to create an online support system from scratch, what functionality would you like to see in it which would streamline and simplify your work?