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Support/ForumRedesignPRD: Difference between revisions
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!!Problems with current system | |||
* Users have a hard time finding others with the same problem so they start lots of redundant threads | |||
* | * Users don't realize their problem is different so they hijack other open threads. | ||
* | * In a given thread, the only thing that lets other users sort through the possible solutions is if the original poster comes back and marks a post. | ||
* | * Solutions are intermingled with more info from the people with problems or people saying "me too" | ||
* | * Users don't realize that the other contributors are also users and it doesn't build a community. | ||
* Contributors don't have easy tools to prioritize which threads need responses or good workflow. | |||
* We don't identify the original poster unless they log in or return via email | |||
** Email generally isn't good. | |||
* We don't group threads in any way | |||
!! Solution ideas: | |||
* | * Look at Get Satisfaction or Stack overflow -- those are systems designed to answer user questions with a community. | ||
* | * We want to motivate users to "me too" if their question matches -- we can do that by allowing people to up-vote. Up-voted threads get more attention so if they want a thread started by someone else to get an answer, they should upvote | ||
* We want to motivate users to start a new thread when their question doesn't match -- we do this by downplaying comments on the original post. We gear the UI towards followup questions (top section) and possible solutions (bottom section) with no obvious space for adding your question to the mix. | |||
* We want to make it easier to find a matching thread if the current one isn't good -- using tags and a "see these related threads" feature. | |||
* We want to provide an obvious space to ask followup questions from contributors and keep that distinct from possible solutions | |||
* We want to let everyone grade solutions (vote up). What may work for one user (even the OP) may not work for someone else, but feedback from every user with the problem is useful in deciding which solutions are best. | |||
* When a solution exists, make sure the user can see right away without having to scroll. | |||
* Comments on solutions will allows people to refine steps etc. | |||
* We want to track who the OP is with cookies as well as by using keyed links in emails. | |||
** Generally make emails better with things like rich text. | |||
* We want to let people Tweet or Facebook status solutions they liked with links as a way of giving the helper more recognition and re-enforcing that this is a community effort. | |||
* We should add a way to flag threads for other "expert" contributors -- but find a way to make sure that's not abused. | |||
* We can improve contributor workflow by letting they see custom "dashboard" views: Top issues, top unanswered issues, threads that they're active in, threads other people have flagged for them, new issues -- as well as custom views like certain tags or OSes or Firefox versions. | |||
* We need to keep metadata accessible and easy to query so we can do things like "top issue by OS" or "top tag by version" | |||
!! Usecases | |||
!!! A user with a common issue | |||
# Searches for threads | |||
# Finds one that matches his problem | |||
# Sees that there are 3 solutions | |||
# Tries the best one. It doesn't help | |||
# Tries the next one. It helps but with a small caveat. | |||
# Upvotes that solution so that the next user knows and adds a comment about the caveat. | |||
# Tweets this solution so his friends knows how helpful JoeContributor is. | |||
!!! A user with an unsolved common issue | |||
# Searches and finds a thread | |||
# Sees no solution | |||
# Clicks "I have this problem too" and adds his email address so that it'll be more likely that someone notices this problem and so he'll be notified when there's a solution posted | |||
!!! A user with an uncommon issue | |||
# Searches and finds a similar thread | |||
# Wants to post to it saying "I have this BUT it's not quite the same" -- but there's no place to do this. | |||
# Checks the related threads with no success (there's a strong incentive to do this because of the above) | |||
# Starts a new thread | |||
!!! Contributors who want to help others | |||
# Starts the day, checks the to see if any threads are flagged for him. | |||
# Then checks the "threads with me" view to see if any "thankyous" were posted or if any comments were left on his solutions or replies were made to his followup questions -- flags a few threads for one of his fellow contributors because he's stuck. | |||
# Looks for threads tagged "Facebook" because that's what he's good at answering. | |||
# Looks at the top issues by vote to make the biggest impact and earn the most karma | |||
!!! Contributors who want to do something lighter | |||
# Has a dashboard of untagged threads | |||
# It shows suggested tags but he reads the question and selects better tags and removes bad ones | |||
!!! Metrics gathering | |||
# We can track top tags as well as look at the top 20-30 issues by vote to get a really good picture of what the top questions are. Votes provide numeric data. | |||
# It's really easy to segment the data -- by version, by OS, etc. | |||