[wp-forums] Abusive use of resolved status

[Mika A. Epstein]

As Andrea and Esmi said.

No matter how we look at this, it's a lose-lose, and generates a double 
false-positive!

1) The post is left open, making people think the plugin dev sucks and 
never resolves/helps out.
2) The post is resolved without a solution.

Can't win for trying here.

I feel that as long as the dev says they're resolving this due to no 
response, that's fine. The OP can come back, or not, and it won't show 
up as a dev-did-nothing on the plugin support count.

On 2012-08-16 09:22, Andrea Rennick wrote:
> "As there has not been an update to this topic for a while, I can 
> only
> assume that the issue has now been resolved and I am now marking it 
> as
> such. If this is incorrect, please feel free to change the topic's 
> status
> and/or post a followup."
>
> Plugin authors resolved old threads that have not had responses in a 
> month
> or so should definitely use this sort of phrasing.
>
> That way, there;s at least an explanation.
>
>
> a.
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 16, 2012 at 11:16 AM, esmi at quirm dot net
> <esmi at quirm.net>wrote:
>
>> on 16/08/2012 14:37 Francisco de Azevedo said the following:
>>
>>  @Esmi, I see your point, but I would have to agree with Chris that 
>> this
>>> plugin dev's use of the "resolved" status seems inappropriate, 
>>> especially
>>> in the thread I posted a link to where no actual effort to solve 
>>> the OP's
>>> problem was ever undertaken.
>>>
>>
>> Ah but is that because the OP never responded to the request for a 
>> page
>> link? :-)
>>
>>
>>  Also, I fear that letting these things slide could open the door to 
>> plugin
>>> devs not actually posting real solutions and then waiting long 
>>> enough to
>>> mark the threads as resolved.
>>>
>>
>> I agree that these have to be judged on a case by case basis but 
>> when I
>> sampled a few of these "resolved" topics for that plugin, in every 
>> case,
>> the OP had never responded to a question or a posted solution. Did I 
>> miss
>> something?
>>
>>
>>  Lastly, these practices seem to also render plugin stats 
>> purposeless, as
>>> the resolved to unresolved data inside plugin pages will not be 
>>> accurate
>>> at
>>> all. And as Agent Smith and his clones (Matrix Reloaded) would put 
>>> it, "It
>>> is purpose that created us, purpose that connects us (...) that 
>>> guides
>>> us...", etc, hahaha.
>>>
>>
>> There's the other side of the coin to consider here too. People 
>> (including
>> plugin authors) often post solutions or ask further questions in 
>> these
>> situations only for the OP to apparently ignore them. Currently, if 
>> plugin
>> topics are left unresolved, this reflects badly on the plugin's 
>> support
>> stats and I can understand only too well why this causes concern 
>> amongst
>> plugin devs who do monitor the forums regularly.
>>
>> FWIW, I've started do the same thing on eShop topics. If Rich or I 
>> respond
>> and there's no reply from the OP, then after a while, I'll go back 
>> and post
>> something along the lines of:
>>
>> "As there has not been an update to this topic for a while, I can 
>> only
>> assume that the issue has now been resolved and I am now marking it 
>> as
>> such. If this is incorrect, please feel free to change the topic's 
>> status
>> and/or post a followup."
>>
>> If I didn't do this, then we end up with a resolution status of less 
>> than
>> 50% which, IMO, hardly reflects the support work we actually do 
>> (most
>> topics are answered within 24 hours). So we're caught between a rock 
>> & a
>> hard place.
>>
>>
>>  So, could you please reconsider? Pretty please, with sugar on top? 
>> ;-P
>>>
>>
>> I'm more than happy to open this up for further discussion. Given 
>> that
>> plugin devs can resolve and close(?) their plugin's topics, how 
>> should this
>> be policed fairly?
>>
>>
>> Mel
>> --
>> http://quirm.net
>> http://blackwidows.co.uk
>> ______________________________**_________________
>> wp-forums mailing list
>> wp-forums at lists.automattic.com
>> 
>> http://lists.automattic.com/**mailman/listinfo/wp-forums<http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-forums>
>>
>
>
>
> --

-- 
Mika A Epstein (aka Ipstenu)
http://ipstenu.org