Technicial support or community support?

[MadTommy]

Shouldn't this section be called community support rather than technicial support. Technical support actually makes it sound like there is some sort of support offered by ED. But all i see is customers helping each other, no input from ED whatsover on these boards.

 

It would be nice if ED attempted to answer even some of the many valid questions that customers have asked recently.

 

(fanboys please flame away, i'm wearing my flame proof suit today :))

[sobek]

Shouldn't this section be called community support rather than technicial support. Technical support actually makes it sound like there is some sort of support offered by ED. But all i see is customers helping each other, no input from ED whatsover on these boards.

 

It would be nice if ED attempted to answer even some of the many valid questions that customers have asked recently.

 

(fanboys please flame away, i'm wearing my flame proof suit today :))

 

The testers and moderators are all over these boards, so what is it that you actually want? That the devs come over here and waste their precious working time on offering support instead of fixing bugs or developing new stuff?:huh:

Edited March 1, 2011 by sobek

[159th_Viper]

That the devs come over here and waste their precious working time on offering support instead of fixing bugs or developing new stuff?:huh:

 

In addition - what we cannot answer, more often that not what goes on behind the scenes is that 'ED Tester contacts Dev: Dev provides clarification and ED tester informs member'.

 

What this does is save the Dev time and effort as the relevant info is filtered and condensed into what is relevant, saving time and effort. In any event, having regard to the amount of PEBKAC errors vs the amount actual issues, utilising Dev input as a first point-of-call would be ridiculous.

 

Another issue that people probably do not realise is that English is not their first language. How many of us frequent the Russian part of the forums for possible hints/troubleshooting? Do not expect them to do so merely as a matter of course.

 

Technical support is just right: Community aiding in said support is irrefutable - it however remains support that is technical in nature.

[EtherealN]

I tried repping you for one of the things in there Viper, but couldn't. :D

 

One further note as well: in those cases where direct action is needed by developers or admins, we will forward the thread to them directly. In these two sections you will sometimes see people like Tez and Const post. When you do - note their titles. ;)

[Nate--IRL--]

Shouldn't this section be called community support rather than technicial support. Technical support actually makes it sound like there is some sort of support offered by ED. But all i see is customers helping each other, no input from ED whatsover on these boards.

 

It would be nice if ED attempted to answer even some of the many valid questions that customers have asked recently.

 

(fanboys please flame away, i'm wearing my flame proof suit today :))

 

It's nice to feel appreciated.

 

Nate

[Eddie]

Good to know our efforts are appreciated eh. :D

[sobek]

It's nice to feel appreciated.

 

Nate

 

I can start a 'group hug for nate' thread if it tickles your fancy-button :)

[MadTommy]

The testers and moderators are all over these boards, so what is it that you actually want? That the devs come over here and waste their precious working time on offering support instead of fixing bugs or developing new stuff?:huh:

 

 

What does this have to do with testers or moderators? Unless i'm mistaken they are not part of ED as a company. There input if much appreciated as is input from other knowledgeable members of this community. They do not speak for ED nor can or should they.

 

I assumed moderators moderate these forums & testers test builds. Both are voluntary and give up their own time to do so... i certainly don't expect them to be providing technical support or answer valid questions about this complicated simulator.

 

You might think that answering customers questions is a 'waste of their precious time' however I certainly don't and would be amazed if i'm the only one who feels this way. Offering support is just as important as fixing issues. They are both very important to quality of the product and customers enjoyment of it.

 

There is next to no communication from ED regarding issues, support or ongoing fixes, that is what i'd like to see improved. The release version is not shy of issues & bugs of which ED say next nothing about or give any indication of the chance these will be fixed. The lack of communication from December and the imitate release of Beta5 to this point has been near total.

 

I have all of ED products & promote them to other gamers... but there are some things they do not do well.. one of those is communication & support.

Edited March 2, 2011 by MadTommy

[Nate--IRL--]

Suffice to say, when communication was more forthcoming in the past, ED got burned badly, when they had to row back on stuff that was only even hinted at. Official pronouncements are now kept limited.

 

Stuff will get patched and fixed, it just may take time for them to get to everyone's pet bug.

 

Nate

[PeterP]

There is next to no communication from ED regarding issues, support or ongoing fixes, that is what I'd like to see improved. The release version is not shy of issues & bugs of which ED say next nothing about or give any indication of the chance these will be fixed. The lack of communication from December and the imitate release of Beta5 to this point has been near total.

Hello Tommy,

I see your point but it is already there. need a example:http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=67835.

I visit this forum since 5 years on a regular basis. I did my registry after buying BlackShark.

 

And every-time a had a question coming up i found it easily after beating the search function - or posted the question - and got instant reply from the community.

 

I have to praise the Mods/Testers for their perseverance and balanced judgement/work.

The forum would be not the same.

 

And it is really like they say - they filter problem - report them back to the developers (And they do it for free - but this should not be the subject).

Often I see questions/issues that are already addressed (Even in the sticky's)- but testers testers step in and clear the subject. And from time to time there are posts of wags/Tez/Jimmack/Yyo/Coff/Chiz...the list goes on... -and they give clear answers to the "big" questions.

 

Simple as that:

For 95% of he questions I see on the Forum you don't need a "ED Team" member. The community is sufficient to tell the person something like "manual page xxx will answer your question...,and this is how I do it:*.*"

for the left 4,5% are the testers and the Mods and only for maybe the lost 0,5% are the DEVs needed.

And up to now they always said what they had to say- and nothing more but nothing less.

Yes- Sometime it takes a little time and they may not please all members - but they do.

 

My 2ct's

 

I also often read the Russian forum through goggle-translate and search for posts of Chiz - it sometimes is a real eye-opener.

Edited March 3, 2011 by PeterP

[sobek]

[...]

 

We can't go back to where we were before black shark. Back then, communication was kept very open and progress reports were done in short intervals. The problem is that this is simply impossible to do. As Nate already said, every time something didn't not play out exactly the way it was planned, ED got burned down by the gung-ho forum nazis.

 

All we are saying is that the community basically conditioned ED towards doing what they are doing now. This is not of their own making. And there most likely is no way to get back. Sad but inevitable.

[MadTommy]

I certainly agree there are always questions and reported issues that could easily be addressed via the manual or forum search function.

 

I certainly don't expect ED to take time addressing these and i accept also that genuinely relevant & important queries/questions will always be missed amongst them. So yes it will take a bit of effort to sort the wheat from the chaff.

 

However ED makes far too little effort to pass relevant information on to user. I'll give you a couple of examples. (removed)

 

You say ED don't communicate because they have been 'burnt in the past', well i'm not surprised, maybe if they did what they they intend to do OR say something when they can't achieve what they say they are gonna do, this would not happen. People understand intentions cant always be achieved. But stating something, not doing it and then stone walling the issues is not helpful.

 

It is great if the testers are doing as you say, and filter the forums to the DEVs, if that is the case you'd think the DEVs might be able to respond to some of the issues without wasting too much time over it.

 

Anyway, i just thought it was fairly comical changing the 'problems' forum to 'tech support' when so little official support is visible.

 

And i am grateful for the help that the 'insiders' give, be it testers, mods or the odd DEV, but i think on the whole, communication & help form the 'team' is very poor.

 

EDIT, removed examples..: i don't intend this to be a rant.. i'm just trying to point out what it is like from the other side of the wall of silence.

Edited March 3, 2011 by MadTommy

[159th_Viper]

.....Anyway, i just thought it was fairly comical changing the 'problems' forum to 'tech support' when so little official support is visible.....

 

There are indeed none so blind as those who do not want to see ;)

[sobek]

People understand intentions cant always be achieved.

 

Some do. Many don't. This is the consequence of things that happened a while back, not of recent events.

[26-J39]

In addition - what we cannot answer, more often that not what goes on behind the scenes is that 'ED Tester contacts Dev: Dev provides clarification and ED tester informs member'.

 

What this does is save the Dev time and effort as the relevant info is filtered and condensed into what is relevant, saving time and effort. In any event, having regard to the amount of PEBKAC errors vs the amount actual issues, utilising Dev input as a first point-of-call would be ridiculous.

 

Another issue that people probably do not realise is that English is not their first language. How many of us frequent the Russian part of the forums for possible hints/troubleshooting? Do not expect them to do so merely as a matter of course.

 

Technical support is just right: Community aiding in said support is irrefutable - it however remains support that is technical in nature.

 

Sticky that 1 .. :thumbup:

[MadTommy]

There are indeed none so blind as those who do not want to see ;)

 

Typically inane response and a typically poorly veiled insult., but what else can one expect from you.

 

Some do. Many don't. This is the consequence of things that happened a while back, not of recent events.

 

This point that is raised whenever ED's flow on info is discussed all sounds rather childish. A very odd reaction from a company. It is a shame.

[159th_Viper]

Typically inane response and a typically poorly veiled insult., but what else can one expect from you....

 

Let me elaborate: You posted 3 'examples' -

 

However ED makes far too little effort to pass relevant information on to user. I'll give you a couple of examples. (removed)

 

Two out of the three examples cited were adequately addressed by representatives of ED (Members of the ED Team, ie Producers et al) on this very board. We are not going to spoonfeed you.

 

If you somehow missed a post containing relevant information, request clarification prior to attempting to instigate a witchhunt ;)