So this is just a quick discussion that I wanted to talk about recently. Originally posted it in the Suggestion Box but thought it might need it's own topic if we're going to get into things. 

Lately, I've been revamping a few discussions, Vargr had the same mindset which is why we've got a new Build Recommendations, Archives, Suggestion Box, Welcome Thread, there's a new Crucial Discussions tag that holds all of the most important discussions for the group. So, the Help Desk is probably the last remaining thread to revamp, and I just wanted to revamp the Help Desk in more general ways. Not just creating a new one, but seeing if there's a way to make the Help Desk a more welcoming thread, or a more useful one.

I'd like to try out some things that work with the Help Desk, possibly even changing how we create it. For example, is it a good idea to create the base Help Desk, and then I can take each comment and sort it into various 'sub-desks' which can be linked to. That would kind of turn it into a bit of an FAQ/give it a free Search System. Dunno.

If anyone has anything they'd like to see in a future Help Desk, then just let me know and I'll do what I can to play around with it.

A subdesks thing could be neat, like maybe "gameplay" or "outfit" or the like

A subdesks thing could be neat, like maybe "gameplay" or "outfit" or the like

A subdesks thing could be neat, like maybe "gameplay" or "outfit" or the like

As a base, I was thinking of breaking it down into Game Mechanics, Lore, Roleplaying, Presentation/Formatting, Mods and Misc, but I might add in Equipment as another section because that can be kind of important for some builds. 

Especially if a build is looking for an armor combo or the like

So unless I get some more feedback, I'm going to be making the change today. At the moment I'm 2/2 in support of a new Help Desk, and it's going to function incredibly different from the current one.

First of all, I'm going to do away with the current format, and just do a basic. Here's the location for the other site Help Desk's

Tips and Tricks - Link

Art Group - Link

Roleplaying - Link

Classics - Link

Or something along those lines. I might consider reducing the size by having three to a row, but we'll see.

On top of that, I'm going to have the Help Desk be the main area to go through for questions, and then create 'Question Archives'. There's nothing stopping you from asking a question again or anything like that, but the Question Archives are going to have both the questions people ask and the answers (as well as an FAQ later down). I'm probably not going to convert the 400+ reply Help Desk into the new format because I feel like enough questions are either, dated, answered or can be asked again, but if anyone disagrees feel free to mention it.

Each Question Archive will have a different focus. Quests, Combat, Roleplaying, Stats, Skills/Perks, Equipment are the current sections, but I might add more/condense them depending on how I feel. None of the Archives will actually be stickied because to be honest, I can't sticky more than about 10 discussions, but they will be linked by both tags, and direct links.

I'm also going to consider the idea of revamping the Help Desk (starting a new one) every six months but we'll have to see how many comments it gets. I don't really want to go beyond 10 pages, because I think at that point it becomes harder to search through them and might become a pain in the ass. 

What's wrong with the current Help Desk? Or, what specific ways will the revamp improve the user experience? 

I think the strength of the current HD is its utility and simplicity

- Categorizing questions places unnecessary restrictions on the kinds of questions people think they can ask
- If there's nothing stopping someone from asking repeat questions, then the archives serve no purpose (and potentially redirect people, resulting in lower thread traffic)
- It's a lot of work for no real return on the time investment (that I can see) 

Right, struggling to respond which I suppose is probably an indication that I need to think this through a little more (thus, the discussion has now proven itself useful). So first I'm going to break this down a little bit by starting off from the bottom and working my way up to the top because I think the earlier points are easier to share my thoughts on.

Time Investment...

The base concern of it requiring any real time investment is minimal, and considering my time available just isn't something I factor in. If something has any sort of possible gain, then I consider it a positive. Here, we're looking at something that would take no more than an hours work for something that I think would be beneficial. All it really would require is the pretty simple linking process (to things like the Art Requests, Lore Expeditions Thread, etc.), the description and then the creation of the Archives, which would all be fairly similar. So ultimately, I consider the time sink to be minimal. Even moving questions over is relatively simple, though to be fair that could start meaning a couple hours of work a year.

Archives are Pointless

I disagree. So there are multiple benefits to the Archives that I see. First of all, for lurkers, or anyone who for whatever reason doesn't feel comfortable asking the question, it gives them a chance to find an answer to a question they've already asked, and thus be able to have their question answered rather easily. I think that's a single net positive, and I'm not sure if there are enough negatives for signed up members (if any) that would detract from that benefit. I suppose it might be easier for mobile users, personally find it easier to read something than typing a question out when I'm logging in from mobile, so that's an extra (admittedly tiny) positive. Then there's the fact that, having any sort of archive for questions, or helpful tips is just something that I think is positive, then you've got the bonus of making it easier to find a question that you asked previously or the response to it.

To be fair, I think the positives listed are generally aimed more towards people that aren't posting regularly anyway. For someone dropping in daily, these benefits are all probably a lot less noticeable, or minor.

Categorizing Questions

I'm not sure if I disagree on that one. Personally, I think that we already have that problem with the list of links to other groups 'help desks' or the equivalents at least. Afterall, if I see the link to the T&T thread and I know what the group is, do I head away from the Help Desk and ask my question over there. Then there's the possibility, that this is actually a good thing. Do we want people asking gameplay oriented questions over in T&T or do we want people to have multiple options? Either way, I think the current system would put the exact same restraints, and I rarely see it come into play, so I'm not sure if there's a real problem there. If my focus were to direct all questions that could possibly be building related to the Help Desk, doesn't that possibly reduce the point of linking to other groups? Personally, I'd rather also support said groups, and then the extra support of the Archives (as mentioned above), to me at least, provides another additional positive of changing to this method.

 

Strength of the Current Help Desk

Fair points up here, well they're all fair points just I disagree with some. Uh, I don't know, would your response be different if it were worded as 'adding on' to the current Help Desk. Because the difference between, say this and the Lore Expeditions (as the closest example) is that the base format of asking questions doesn't change one bit. I'm not asking people to sort their questions personally, so I don't really see it as the Help Desk changing completely, just adding extra features to it that make certain (trickier) aspects of it stronger. 

 

 

Thanks for the response Legion, really helped me figure out how to word my approach here and my thoughts.