The future of HxHD

[Kyle]

So... The helpdesk manager has quit and there aren't really any suitable candidates to take her place. The answer is NOT abolishing the helpdesk, neither is it to reform it into "habbox lounge" or other derivative. I wonder, have you considered opening an application for management? Not just for those that currently work in the helpdesk, maybe you could look a little further afield into other departments or even the community as a whole? Proving that you can perform a senior role adequately does not necessarily mean you can deal with the pressures of a management position. Look for someone who can and is prepared to apply for it.

First and foremost, the current survey is nonsense and its statistical results should not be relied upon to make a decision about any changes in structure. You ask 'How often do you go to the Help Desk for help?' to current active habbox community members that, for the most part, DO use it as a lounge. You're completely neglecting a rather large population here -- those that aren't actually members at habbox. I'm sure if you ask any helpdesk staff (past and present) whether users do go in to get help then you'll find that plenty do and are almost always satisfied with the responses they get, they just aren't all in a hurry to sign up to the forum and get involved.

The survey has separate sections for reasons for visiting and the SNQ so I'll separate my thread appropriately. I won't be filling in the survey as I'm of the opinion that in order to move forward there needs to be some sort of public consensus which can only really be achieved through proper discussion.
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Habbox Help Desk is a lounge... but it's a help desk first. It's one of the few ways use can find out about habbox and it's one of the few constant streams of new users that feeds into the ever-expanding (admittedly now less than ever) community. People come in for help and after their needs are satisfied often stick around for a chat.

I'm sure you'll find plenty of people have referred those they helped or met in the helpdesk to join the community and many more of the current community are those very users. They initially needed help so looked for somewhere that fulfilled their criteria, not a lounge that they could simply chat in. You'll find that throughout history habbo help desks have always provided more functions than just to help users. They're supposed to be community hubs like HxHD is.
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The Saturday Night Quiz has had issues since I can remember but none that aren't either forgotten after a few days or easily fixed with proper management. In my experience as a staff member, the view seems to be that there isn't really any point hosting other than to get an extra hour added to your total and even then it isn't worth it because of the inevitable storm of hatred that followed if you made a couple of mistakes in the process. I have a few suggestions that my or may not help:

Encourage all staff to host at least once or twice. Prioritize hosting permission for newer or trialist members so they get to experience it as soon as they can. If there's a trial period coming up then disable applications to host for that period so you know there will be space for the newbies to host. If people are scared to host, encourage them to join forces with another member of the team to host together -- I did this with shockwave when he had been staff for months but had never hosted and it worked out just fine. Don't cut the rewards in half for those that do double up, give each one a full hour to their time.

For those that do host... put a little bit of effort into it. It's really not difficult to think of 20 questions but if you are struggling, don't just head straight to google and copy a list from a website, select them from a number of lists. Remember not to have a full general knowledge quiz either, try to incorporate questions about habbo and habbox too so those that do use habbox will be rewarded for their loyalty.

[RyRy]

Given that they could ask ex-management instead, it's a given that they won't open up applications for the job as you suggested.

By not taking part in a survey you're basically saying I dont want to go through the channels given to me to voice my opinions, instead I want people to listen to my opinions and agree/disagree and not necesssrily think about it fully themselves.

You have to understand that from when HxHD was formed to present day, the amount of support offered within the client is now massive and removes the need for help desks. Turning it into something else refreshes the concept IMO, but doesn't take anything away from what the room is now primarily used for: hanging out. Habbox has got to modernise a bit sooner or later, its an unnecessary department now. If you want to help, be a Habbo Helper/Guardian.

Regarding SNQ though, mostly agreed.

[RealClifford]

I must agree mostly with what RyRy has just said.

HxHD is mostly a redundant department now. Habbo has such a diverse range of help tools available to users now that most questions that HxHD may have had in the past are now eradicated. Yes, there are the occasional users that go there for help, but it's not in anyway what is used to be, and I doubt it ever will whilst the support that Sulake has provided in client remains.

I think if we can keep the concept of the HxHD but incorporate it with fresh ideas and events to help encourage new users to get involved with it, it may still remain useful and beneficial past the use of a 'lounge area' for members.

But, that is just my two cents.
Again though, I do agree with SNQ from my experience.

Possibly branching that out to have numerous SNQ's for the different time zones could be beneficial if the staff are able.
I have been away for a fair while though so my opinions may be quite dated.

[FlyingJesus]

Adding to HxHD is a good idea, but definitely not revamping it entirely as a lounge I agree. I was online this evening and saw a good few people get genuine help from the staff so clearly the need for it isn't totally gone, but I see no problem with adding extra functions - it would at least validate the sheer number of staff they have compared to number of people requesting assistance, and of course a bigger presence on the client is always going to be useful.

I don't get this whole attitude of "modernising" which seems to translate as "doing less and being intentionally pointless" that some people here seem to want. Scrapping things just because you personally don't like them isn't a good argument.

[Inseriousity.]

I agree, changing to a lounge is a backwards step and will just cement the room as a hangout for Habbox members only. It should retain its help desk status as those most likely to use it are also those people that Habbox desperately needs. When roxy was agm, she had the idea Habbox central; a room full of links to habbox rooms of which hxhd was one. I wanted to bring that back but put the help desk at the centre of it instead. Rooms that newbies are most likely to frequent with a mysterious door tele that would lead to hxhd and habbox staff/members who could hopefully greet them and get them to make the leap from habbo to habbox.

[Red]

I don't think the helpdesk is a redudant dedpartment at all. The problem is that there are no staff and habbox's habbo community is just DEAD. Soemone posted a thread about there only being like 2 events a day? So that must be a redundant department too then :S I worked there for well over a year and during my time I helped countless people, both with habbo and habbox issues. And this was still after helpers and guardians were introduced. I'm both and that tool isn't as popular as people above are making out and people still continued to come in for help. I also have quite a few referrals and signed up a lot more users who didn't use me as it. Changing it into a hub isn't going to make the room popular. It's the same few cliquey people in both events/the helpdesk atm. As a help desk, it at least brought in new people, and help desk staff were making a conscious effort to be nice to new people and encourage them to go to events or join the forum.

[Empired]

I pretty much totally agree with Kyle about all of this. I would love to see HxHD get new things, but I would totally be against anyone trying to take the "Help" part away because people do still need it. I notice most of the people who are wanting HxHD to be turned into a lounge barely go into HxHD at all and so probably don't really know what's going on.

Anything added to HxHD now can only be a plus, but taking things away will make it worse as well.

Also Kyle is totally right about if you double host you should still have an hour each.

[Phil]

I pretty much agree with what everyone is saying, it doesn't need to be abolished and made into a lounge, it just needs a revamp. I think what Kyle said about opening applications is a really good idea and I was actually only saying this to Kelly yesterday. I think what the HxHD needs is a brand new pair of eyes with lots of fresh ideas! Just because there are two Senior staff there now, I don't think either of them would be ideal for management right now.

I didn't feel the survey was as powerful as it could have been. When I was filling out the questions and saying that I never go there for help sounds like I'm putting it down but that's not the case. I've been a Habbo(x) user for years and there are no longer any questions that I really need to ask, it's really for the people who just sign up to the sites and want to go there to ask where they can earn some credits and make some friends. Like the amount of times I've been in the HxHD and seen the question "How do I earn credits" and the staff member send them to an army (........REALLY GUYS!?!?")

Given that they could ask ex-management instead, it's a given that they won't open up applications for the job as you suggested.

I don't think asking a past member of management is really an option here unless Rosy would step back in but I don't think she would consider it. Before Rosy, the last manager was kaylinboo and that was two years ago. [

QUOTE=RedClifford;8033359]
I think if we can keep the concept of the HxHD but incorporate it with fresh ideas and events to help encourage new users to get involved with it, it may still remain useful and beneficial past the use of a 'lounge area' for members.

Possibly branching that out to have numerous SNQ's for the different time zones could be beneficial if the staff are able.
I have been away for a fair while though so my opinions may be quite dated.[/QUOTE]

This! I think it'd be good to see more games in the HxHD. Like even back a year or two ago, the HxHD and a battle ball arena and people loved it! There's also things like the HxHD Sleepover which yeah did happen recently but it's been a very long time before that and this is something that people enjoy. Having various SNQ's is an interesting idea!! Or just maybe changing the time every week?


People obviously believe that HxHD is close to rock bottom if they think it should just be abolished. If this is the case, this is the perfect time to take risks to try and get it back up to where it should be.

Wow I do go on...

[FlyingJesus]

For obvious reason ie me being great at everything I think it's a good idea to open management apps to the general membership - obviously only someone who has longevity and trust on the site would be picked so it's not like we'd be letting any old random take over the place, but there are plenty of people around who have very good management and control skills but either don't want to join from the bottom or simply don't see the point in a job where they aren't being put to proper use. It's absolutely daft that someone like Cassie is basically "next in line" for a management job when there are people who aren't shameless bullies with an IQ of 6 around

[Shar]

I think it might be a good idea to open management to the general community. The manager of HxHD doesn't really require many skills...it would be nice to have someone who can come up with some creative ideas for HxHD instead of just trying to get the manager title but doing **** all.

I think somewhere down the line SNQ has become a big chore for everyone...I agree with Kyle on this one. All staff should host it at least once and maybe perhaps as part of their trial the trialists get to come up with the questions (if there's a group of trialists as people being lazy about thinking of questions can be a problem) and then host it.