11th Feb 2006
IRC Support Experiment
Recently, after discussing it with some active regulars and with the blessing of mconnor and beltzner, I initiated a system of sorts to try and improve access to support in #firefox on irc.mozilla.org . Those who have been helping provide support are adding “help!” (with the exclamation point, without the quotes) to their highlight word list/stalk list, the idea being that someone in need of help can say this word and it pings everyone available, ideally to be used when the channel is slow/dead, of course.
The two main motivators behind this idea were a) I was constantly missing people in need of help in off hours because I was chatting away in other channels and not noticing #firefox had been active (or assuming it was firebot humming way) until after the user had come and left. Secondly, having come into this by association rather than my own expertise, I especially find I’m not able to support tougher issues, especially when it comes to linux. Again, on off hours, if I was the only one active, I would have to try and guess if someone was around and ping randomly. Not only did I run the risk of missing someone that was around just not paying attention, but addressing someone specifically can make them feel obligated to help, and also open them up to having to deal with users PMing them (which isn’t normally a problem, but the times that it is, are a hassle!)
Funnily enough, in initial discussions the biggest assumed flaw with the “trigger word” system was getting users to use it. In the past the topic in #firefox began with something along the lines of “Need firefox support/have a question? Just ask!” Well so many people were coming in and asking if anyone was around, rather than asking their question that the assumption was no one reads the topic. So the original plan was we would use the trigger word mostly to call for backup when we were stuck and down the road try and get the bot to detect when someone was in need of assistance and throw the trigger word itself, if everything went well. Well, within 30 minutes after I changed the topic to “Need help? Say ‘help!’” It was used twice.
So, that’s the background, it so far seems to be working well, and anyone who wants to, is welcome to use it, as everyone who is capable is welcome to answer questions. Personally, I like having it in my highlight list, as the client I use makes editing that list quick, and I don’t really have issues with being pinged when I’m busy. Others though definitely prefer a system that’s easier to enable/disable, perhaps by using a bot to detect the trigger word and then ping active helpers. Another idea, which I’m personally excited about is a module for irc clients that would allow quick enabling/disabling of the trigger word perhaps with a command like /help etc.
I’m excited about seeing what people think of the system, and how they’d like to see it implemented in the long term, if the trigger word should be tweaked or not etc. I’d love it to be simple and useful enough to see it implemented in the other support channels like #thunderbird and #umo, where there aren’t as many people supporting, and where those supporting are maybe too busy to watch a channel, but have the time to help if they notice. So let me know what you think and/or if you have a better idea!
Recently, after discussing it with some active regulars and with the blessing of mconnor and beltzner, I initiated a system of sorts to try and improve access to support in #firefox on irc.mozilla.org . Those who have been helping provide support are adding “help!” (with the exclamation point, without the quotes) to their highlight word list/stalk list, the idea being that someone in need of help can say this word and it pings everyone available, ideally to be used when the channel is slow/dead, of course.
The two main motivators behind this idea were a) I was constantly missing people in need of help in off hours because I was chatting away in other channels and not noticing #firefox had been active (or assuming it was firebot humming way) until after the user had come and left. Secondly, having come into this by association rather than my own expertise, I especially find I’m not able to support tougher issues, especially when it comes to linux. Again, on off hours, if I was the only one active, I would have to try and guess if someone was around and ping randomly. Not only did I run the risk of missing someone that was around just not paying attention, but addressing someone specifically can make them feel obligated to help, and also open them up to having to deal with users PMing them (which isn’t normally a problem, but the times that it is, are a hassle!)
Funnily enough, in initial discussions the biggest assumed flaw with the “trigger word” system was getting users to use it. In the past the topic in #firefox began with something along the lines of “Need firefox support/have a question? Just ask!” Well so many people were coming in and asking if anyone was around, rather than asking their question that the assumption was no one reads the topic. So the original plan was we would use the trigger word mostly to call for backup when we were stuck and down the road try and get the bot to detect when someone was in need of assistance and throw the trigger word itself, if everything went well. Well, within 30 minutes after I changed the topic to “Need help? Say ‘help!’” It was used twice.
So, that’s the background, it so far seems to be working well, and anyone who wants to, is welcome to use it, as everyone who is capable is welcome to answer questions. Personally, I like having it in my highlight list, as the client I use makes editing that list quick, and I don’t really have issues with being pinged when I’m busy. Others though definitely prefer a system that’s easier to enable/disable, perhaps by using a bot to detect the trigger word and then ping active helpers. Another idea, which I’m personally excited about is a module for irc clients that would allow quick enabling/disabling of the trigger word perhaps with a command like /help etc.
I’m excited about seeing what people think of the system, and how they’d like to see it implemented in the long term, if the trigger word should be tweaked or not etc. I’d love it to be simple and useful enough to see it implemented in the other support channels like #thunderbird and #umo, where there aren’t as many people supporting, and where those supporting are maybe too busy to watch a channel, but have the time to help if they notice. So let me know what you think and/or if you have a better idea!
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