Help Request going away...

http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/04/10/change-to-help-request-feature-launching-in-beta-grid/

Apparently, Help Request is going to redirect people to a website where they can get phone numbers, email address and such.

OBQuestion: what will people who have been careful to not abuse help request, those of us who try to use it only when a Linden is needed, do now? If my home sim has been down or running at 0 sim fps for an hour, will I really have to wait on hold or send an email to get a grid monkey to give it a kick?

Unhappy.

edit: and we really don't need another spammy "LL suck!!1" thread. I'm actually looking for answers on what to do when a Linden is actually needed.

This is disappointing.

Perhaps the could come up with a revamped bug report/ AR system that will allow Lindens to prioritize in world issues a little better?

I don't think anyone can argue that Live Help was an efficient solution to customer service. (I don't mean the volunteers were unhelpful. Many were very dedicated but completely overwhelmed) Hopefully they have something better up their sleeve. I stopped Live Helping a while back because it was so incredibly stressful being bombarded by so many IM's at once and knowing that you couldn't get to them all.

I suppose that means we have to throw yet another bug report onto the 12,000 heaps.

Since being here and in light of the exponential growth of SL I actually started to wonder some time ago by when they would get rid of that comunication channel. The strategy of putting layers between the user base and the provider (LL) is clear ... and unavoidable, IMHO.

Just before they shot the Linden Answers forum, I suggested a triage scheme to help filter out spam and things that could be answered by residents. Kinda sounds like LL has already made up their mind to shoot Help Request but I wish they'd consider something like that first. /me digs for that thread (edit: and finds it)


Aside from being a little slow sometimes and not trusting me right away when I tell them there's a problem , they've always been great and I'm almost surprised how responsive they are given the in-world population..

Live Help should be reserved only for premium accounts and estate owners. It really burns me up that we must lose this resource because they got flooded with silly questions.

Face it kids, we're on our own.

I've always found Live Help to be very helpful.

And just forget about all the new signups? Do you know how silly that sounds?

As if a Premium member has never asked a silly question. I know. I've asked plenty

So, what happens to all the current live help members? Will they no longer be a part of their Live Help group or are they setting up a new system for the current volunteers?



This suggest that the Live Help group will stay in-tact, however one of the nice things about live help is that the helper could be anywhere in world, even on their private sim that only they or their friends had access to. The Lindens are proposing that, now, in order to come in contact with a live helper, they must be on the mainland or within visual range.

While this does allow for a better one-on-one communication from live help to resident, this makes an inconvenient move for the Live Helper that likes to stay isolated from projects while dedicating part of their time to Live Help request.

Is live help becoming more or less decentralized from establishing resident communication?

Not silly at all. having contact with a live person for help should be a premium option.


I said it like that to try to avoid saying newbies (non-paying unverifieds). Obviously they were overwhelmed with newbie questions. I honestly question why premium customers and estate owners must shoulder the expense and lose resources for the non-paying unverifieds. Just wait for the announcement that mainland tier will be raised to help pay for the cost of all the non-paying unverifieds who will be using voice, but that is another issue in itself.

Along with being an elitist.

This is not a surprise to me at all, could see it coming a long time ago. They don't want to be involved in the game at all. The only thing they ever had to say to me was file a bug report anyways, that's like there fallback answer to everything I believe. It's sad there is no support in the game, but then again, there really hasn't been for quite some time. Another step in the wrong direction, but that's only my biased opinion.

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It is not elitist to expect a certain service level in return for the monthly premium fees. And since, LL has cut several premium benifits over the last year (stipend down from 500L$ to 300L$, end of First Land program), its is only equitable that they add some to make up for those reductions in service.

As a general principle,I agree. But something as basic as Help should be available to all residents, regardless of payment status. Just my opinion.

Oh, I would agree with this, but right now, LL doesn't agree with anyone on this topic. I'll settle for premium only at this point.

I've only needed Live Help a handful of times that I've been in SL, mostly to help the hubby that one day and the rest were both an issue with the home sim and dealing with griefers on Linden Owned Lands. (Wow.. that spells LOL, which is probably not a good thing.) These were issues I could NOT resolve by myself and greatly hampered the use of the world. If I have an issue I cannot resolve, I do NOT want to be directed to email the lack of support, nor do I want to leave my name and number on an answering machine during 'office hours.'

Don't get me wrong, I use the knowledge base first and foremost. Thats a nice tool, but that's all it is. It can't resolve major grid breakdowns, gray goo attacks, nor can it fix something that isn't on the client end. At least with Help Request, I could get a hold of a human and let them know what's up. Maybe it's some poor volunteer, but that volunteer can pass me on to a Linden or pass word onto a Linden. Now, even if I call during office hours, I can't get ahold of a human being.

A webpage will never replace that connection. A webpage can't ask you the right questions to help diagnose the problem. That takes a technician or simply a human being trained in call management and triaging. I did that for five years, preventing the technicians from having to make a trip into a house because the oven's control panel locked up. (Trick, unplug the thing. It's a dummied down computer, which locks up like a normal computer. IF it does it more than 5 times in a row, then you probably should call.)