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* Simple Portal Archived Forum

This is an Archive Forum.

The content in this forum may be out-of-date or have been superseded by newer information, and links in forum pages to other sites may not work.
This forum contains archives for future reference.

Visit our thread at Simple Machines Forum for current support.

SMF 2.1 users: EhPortal is a ported version of Simple Portal specifically designed for the SMF 2.1 branch.
Please visit web-develop.ca to download EhPortal and for its support.

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* Shoutbox

Refresh History
  • Shoutbox is not for support!
  • {OCS}MasterSeal: Yup, Still adore SP
    April 21, 2019, 07:08:06 PM
  • {OCS}MasterSeal: STILL love SP :)
    November 24, 2018, 05:05:50 AM
  • ♦ Ninja ZX-10RR ♦: <3 aegersz
    September 13, 2018, 03:36:09 PM
  • aegersz: I STILL <3 LOVE SimplePortal
    September 13, 2018, 07:11:39 AM
  • aegersz: o LOVE you guys - Simple Portal rocks !
    May 09, 2018, 05:18:59 AM
  • Chen Zhen: our apologies for the site being down.. please read server issues topic
    March 22, 2018, 05:32:38 AM
  • {OCS}MasterSeal: LOL PLEASE forget I just posted that. I found the answer in my own dang post back in 2015. lol sorry!
    July 04, 2017, 10:47:55 PM
  • {OCS}MasterSeal: I know this SB isnt' for support, but I just have a general question. Who would I contact to find out where SP stores its block info? Is it DB driven or files? I searched the site but came up with nothing. probably my fault any insight is appreciated.
    July 04, 2017, 10:43:36 PM
  • ♦ Ninja ZX-10RR ♦: Excuse me but what does Simpleportal have to deal with that?
    February 05, 2017, 08:21:14 PM
  • WhiteEagle: of course IMHO that site appears to be dead :(
    February 04, 2017, 01:08:05 PM
  • WhiteEagle: If I can get that, then I'll use it for that site...
    February 04, 2017, 01:07:35 PM
  • WhiteEagle: decided to not use SMF for any projects, unless I can get a copy of the premium version of the fanfiction archive plugin
    February 04, 2017, 01:06:54 PM
  • expertdecisions: cloudflare
    January 28, 2017, 08:01:47 AM
  • aegersz: SM release 2.0.13 !
    January 12, 2017, 06:00:13 AM
  • raffo: Tks Emanuele, even if I didn't understand the fix :D
    November 07, 2016, 02:01:20 AM
  • emanuele: [link]
    November 01, 2016, 12:43:50 PM
  • emanuele: raffo: the English support board is a good place. ;)
    November 01, 2016, 12:43:38 PM
  • raffo: Where can I find the fix for the shoutbox?
    November 01, 2016, 05:06:09 AM
  • {OCS}MasterSeal: To the SP team, I make a point to come here and thank you as much as possible for your work.  so again, THANK YOU!
    October 28, 2016, 10:38:05 AM
  • emanuele: That's indeed funny, the limit is present only in the patch and not the full install.
    October 22, 2016, 06:14:58 PM

* Recent Posts

Adding Forums Button to Nav bar by jirapon
[August 01, 2019, 09:07:12 AM]


Re: Board Icons by ♦ Ninja ZX-10RR ♦
[July 30, 2019, 04:03:41 PM]


MOVED: Czech translation???? by ♦ Ninja ZX-10RR ♦
[July 30, 2019, 03:04:51 PM]


Board Icons by jirapon
[July 30, 2019, 07:28:44 AM]


Re: Thankyou Simpleportal, by ♦ Ninja ZX-10RR ♦
[July 29, 2019, 09:41:29 AM]

Blocks speak! Do you have an interest in getting more blocks - or even making your own? The Blocks Board is for you!

Author Topic: Shoutbox for support  (Read 3185 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline ScottDB

  • Semi Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 46
  • SMF Version: 2 RC1.2
  • SP Version: 2.2.2
Shoutbox for support
« on: August 12, 2009, 06:09:20 PM »
I've noticed that every time I come here it has to be mentioned over and over again that the soutbox is not for support. I know the problem with having one for support would be that everyone would want to use it instead of posting. Was wondering if there might be a way to use it with some kind of permission based app on it where you have to post first. Or at least set some rules and guidelines, and have a warning and ban system set up. Just a thought
Thank you,
Scott

Offline Eliana Tamerin

  • Comrade
  • *
  • Posts: 2889
  • Gender: Female
  • SMF Version: 2 RC2
  • SP Version: 2.3.2
Re: Shoutbox for support
« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2009, 08:39:58 PM »
The biggest problem with having a shoutbox or chat system for support, is that there's no guaranteed way to search that. We only store so many shouts on a page, and even database table can get purged once in a while to save space.

When users look for support, the first thing we recommend for them to do is search. If users are looking for a way to get a FORUM button on their custom theme's menu on SMF 1.1.x, like the default theme has, then a search could lead them to the General Custom Theme Tutorial. If they ask in the shoutbox and someone explains it, that's one more time that the tutorial has to be written out, and one more person's effort wasted. That topic's a sticky for a reason.

There are other topics, too, other issues. I've seen several people comment on others' support topics claiming they have the same issue. Sometimes those topics are months old, and their issues have been fixed by the solution in the topic. Sometimes they can help the developers figure out a bug by providing more feedback. But ultimately, the topics allow far more information and have a better retainment of that information for future users.

The last reason is, the entire Team is volunteer, nobody gets paid. So nobody's obligated to stay on SP.net watching a shoutbox to provide support for. Yet if we didn't, I'm sure there'd be complaints that the support shoutbox doesn't get attention, problems don't get solved, and we'd lose users because that would give us a bad name. While I love having competition to SP, as it keeps us challenged and motivated, I don't want to see people leaving SP for those competitors because we didn't provide what they needed.

Now, if we had the money, manpower and the community effort to do so, I suppose we could maintain a support shoutbox. It's much like many linux distros have IRC chatrooms specifically for support. Their community is large enough and motivated enough to provide support if they can, but sometimes they can't. There are forums for support as well for those groups, and I'm sure that their chat support is far less efficient than their forum support, mostly because of what I've talked about.

If you want to provide the money, the manpower (with the know-how) and the motivation, then it's probably something to seriously consider. ;)
Ms. Eliana TamerinIt should be painfully obvious by now that I don't respond to support PMs. Don't send me PMs for support. They will be ignored and deleted, post on the Support Boards to get support.

Offline ScottDB

  • Semi Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 46
  • SMF Version: 2 RC1.2
  • SP Version: 2.2.2
Re: Shoutbox for support
« Reply #2 on: August 12, 2009, 09:34:32 PM »
Thanks for taking the time to answer this silly question. I saw it in the shoutbox and thought "Hey, why can't this be possible?". I never thought about the extra work that it would cause the support people. Actually I was thinking it would make it easier on them.
May I add that your reply was very well thought out, informative and described the situation completely. I guess that's what makes you a great person to be project manager. Keep up the good work. This is a great forum with great software.
Thank you,
Scott