New Support System

I read in the announcement a while back that the new support system will also be a replacement for the contact us, so bans aswell, I'm presuming. So, if this is true, will the support staff be able to overule the SMods/admins/AGMs who ban people? I ask this because I know when MAD banned Neversoft and Nemo it was stated only he or sierk could reverse his actions so will not be pointless having the new support system seeing how the support staff are just normal staff and don't have the authority to overule administrators?

You actually have a good point there, because for them to review banns and infraction problems they are going to need access to the Modcp, i think that this is a good question to bring up to the management.

Unless we report back to our manager and she distributes work through out the departments, but then i don't think that is sort of possible because smods don't review banns. :S

Unless they will view ban reports via mod forum?

Also, what was that habbo poll all about?

And where are our new skins? :(

As far as I'm aware, the ban issues will still be delt with by administrators.

So whats the point of the support system then..

I think it's so we can give advice, and probably to help the members develop a sustainable argument to aid them in becoming unbanned.

But to be honest we need the support system to be implemented soon, it's only what, 2 months overdue?

I'm not entirely sure why they spent such much money on a support system and quite clearly so much time in trying to implement it into vBulletin when they could just use this system that works directly off vBulletin. Unless this other system has some very needed features that HelpCenter doesn't have I don't see why they bothered wasting good time and money.

Or a simple forum which only 'x' can view and 'x' can reply would be more then good enough also.

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Originally Posted by today

So whats the point of the support system then..

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See Smiddy's post below.

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Originally Posted by Smiddy

I think it's so we can give advice, and probably to help the members develop a sustainable argument to aid them in becoming unbanned.

But to be honest we need the support system to be implemented soon, it's only what, 2 months overdue?

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The support team is there for just that, support. Community support, to be exact. What exactly this entails, I'm sure will come to light for everybody once the system is finally implemented.

As for the ETA - I've heard nothing about it since the idea was implemented, the months ago, so can't comment on that.

The last I heard there were some developer problems :eusa_danc Haven't heard much since then. I'm sure MAD will be able to enlighten us when he returns.

Erm Community Staff will not be able to overrule bans but I think they will distribute reports to the relevant authorities to deal with.

Mat64 > Well since we already spent a bunch of money on it I figure we should use it :P

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Originally Posted by Elkaa

As far as I'm aware, the ban issues will still be delt with by administrators.

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Wasn't one of the main reasons the support system was being implemented because of Administrators like yourself who were assigned to deal with ban issues wasn't able to keep on top of the e-mails that were coming in and took a considerable amount of time to respond to appeals. Surely this will be exactly the same situation then other than Support people being able to "give advice" which could actually be done through the standard contact us now.

I thought the new support system would give community support guys access and ability to deal with all queries/appeals etc coming in.

The support system is there to give better support than what we're currently able to do, with only one person manning the contact us. Having a dedicated team on it, they'll be able to look into things, and have specific people to contact to discuss things with. However, given they're not moderators, super moderators or administrators having them deal with bans wouldn't be appropriate, especially as they wouldn't have access to the key information needed within the moderation subforums, usernotes and modcp. That in itself requires an administrator to do it. I am sure, however, the support team will be able to offer a great deal of help to 50%+ of the contact that we usually get. (Unable to register; lost on the forum etc)

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Originally Posted by Elkaa

The support system is there to give better support than what we're currently able to do, with only one person manning the contact us. Having a dedicated team on it, they'll be able to look into things, and have specific people to contact to discuss things with. However, given they're not moderators, super moderators or administrators having them deal with bans wouldn't be appropriate, especially as they wouldn't have access to the key information needed within the moderation subforums, usernotes and modcp. That in itself requires an administrator to do it. I am sure, however, the support team will be able to offer a great deal of help to 50%+ of the contact that we usually get. (Unable to register; lost on the forum etc)

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Just sounds like a more sophisticated version of 'Ask the Forum Staff'. :(

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Originally Posted by nvrspk4

Mat64 > Well since we already spent a bunch of money on it I figure we should use it :P

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Yeh I know ;), the point is you should have looked more at was already available and as far as I can tell easier to implement :P.

The implementation of this new system should be worth while or at least I hope it is as in the past there has been numerous complains about the support system and the shortcomings of people not getting in touch with staff properly or feeling as if there is really no one there to help out. Hopefully the new system will allow community staff to help members out and act as a real point of call to talk to and assist them in becoming unbanned or in sorting their problem whereas an Administrator will be in charge of ensuring that a decision is made regarding if a member should be unbanned or not. I can imagine it will be finished not too long after MAD gets back as nvrspk4 said. :) I think implementing it needs some work but when the system gets going and everything gets sorted out it will provide a much better standard of support for members - something which I'm sure most people will appreciate.

This is one of the matters I've been trying to push forward and will continue to push forward is that interaction between staff and members needs to be as good as possible. There is already consideration at the moment of more ways for departments to be present in the public eye - especially ones that are hidden away behind the scenes and barely see the light of day. It is important that communication between members and staff continues to improve and I think the support system to allow support to improve as well as the hard work from the community department and possibly some other new things that are in the works at the moment.

I still dont see why a simple forum and set permissions or give the Support Staff the email details.


Does this "support system" allow guests to view the tickets? But only their tickets and not everyones? Or once posted, can all guests view them... Can guests even make any..

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Originally Posted by today

I still dont see why a simple forum and set permissions or give the Support Staff the email details.


Does this "support system" allow guests to view the tickets? But only their tickets and not everyones? Or once posted, can all guests view them... Can guests even make any..

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Problems with giving support staff the email details is that I guess they would probably would get in the way of each other and in the way of the administrators trying to work out what the situation is in terms of unbanning someone etc. I think that this system *should* be more effective than the email system or a forum and will directly be able to answer issues of members both by administrators dealing with bans and support staff. I'm not sure exactly how the system will operate in terms of who will be able to view what but I'm guessing that people's tickets will be individual and will mean that staff can focus in on individual issues and assist people more effectively and replies can be made by different staff and everyone can know what is going on and what the situation is - instead of people getting confused and who has said what in an email system.

Basically the way I see this from the original point made, it now appears that this system is a new looking way of the contact us form. Community Support Staff will be used to answer the less interesting stuff such as "how do I play games". The way it appears now is that all Community Staff don't actually have a support job, I assume the majority of the main emails that come in requiring a valid response are complaints, ban appeals and reputation, serious rule breaking on the forum, which by the responses of the Administrators the staff will not have the responsibility to see. So basically, the way it appears is that Support Staff will be answering the stuff the Admin's don't have the "time" to deal with, and then the things that do require looking into will be dealt with by the Admins which is exactly the way it is dealt with now.

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Originally Posted by Antony

Basically the way I see this from the original point made, it now appears that this system is a new looking way of the contact us form. Community Support Staff will be used to answer the less interesting stuff such as "how do I play games". The way it appears now is that all Community Staff don't actually have a support job, I assume the majority of the main emails that come in requiring a valid response are complaints, ban appeals and reputation, serious rule breaking on the forum, which by the responses of the Administrators the staff will not have the responsibility to see. So basically, the way it appears is that Support Staff will be answering the stuff the Admin's don't have the "time" to deal with, and then the things that do require looking into will be dealt with by the Admins which is exactly the way it is dealt with now.

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You'd actually be suprized at the amount of emails that come in (10-15 per day) which are just about general forum/habbox issues, and not about bans.

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Originally Posted by Elkaa

You'd actually be suprized at the amount of emails that come in (10-15 per day) which are just about general forum/habbox issues, and not about bans.

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Right.. Well either way, you have created a department so they can answer the less urgent queries whilst you guys deal with the stuff they should be dealing with, the main reason people wanted the support system was the Admins (in particular yourself) were taking too long to answer stuff and which is why people were happy that such queries and appeals would go to nominated support and community staff.

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Originally Posted by Antony

Right.. Well either way, you have created a department so they can answer the less urgent queries whilst you guys deal with the stuff they should be dealing with, the main reason people wanted the support system was the Admins (in particular yourself) were taking too long to answer stuff and which is why people were happy that such queries and appeals would go to nominated support and community staff.

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I've not delt with the contact us for months now. We need to wait until its properly setup before we can start reading feedback and replying too it as well.