[wp-forums] FW: Using the forums for contacting people outside of the forums

[Ipstenu the Half-Elf]

I have never forgotten the OP. I FIGHT FOR THE USERS. This is actually 
why I have a Flynn Lives poster - to remind me 24/7 that's what I do. It 
is, literally, my job :)

OPs post was closed because it went off the rails, and the ONLY THING 
Drew did wrong was to not mention "Hey, OP, sorry this went into a 
shit-storm, can you repost?" He'll learn. We all make mistakes. That's 
why I found OPs followup post and -APOLOGIZED- about exactly that before 
you emailed, so don't think you were the impetus.

http://codex.wordpress.org/Forum_Welcome is linked too from the front 
page. Don't tell me they're not published. Tell me they're not READ and 
I'm in agreement, but we posted them on the front page of the forums. We 
can't force people to read 'em, which is why we link to them when they 
come up.

This email list clearly says it's for moderators by the way: 
http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-forums

Go to http://codex.wordpress.org/Mailing_Lists and it says "The 
WordPressSupport Forum Volunteers 
<http://codex.wordpress.org/Support_Forum_Volunteers>work hard to help 
users answer questions about WordPress. Discussions pertaining to 
providing support to users and WordPress Forum issues and activities are 
found in the WordPress Support Forum Mailing list."

So I'm sorry, but while I understand your point of view, I disagree with 
it. This forum is for the mods to discuss forum issues as they come up. 
Always has been. The forums themselves are for people who need help with 
WordPress, and yes, that is absolutely first in all of our minds :) 
That's why this mailing list is not on the forums, but stepped away.

> Mike Turner <mailto:miketurnermk at hotmail.com>
> 27 January, 2014 at 7:29:02AM
> Mika,
>
> Firstly, thanks for the reply.
>
> So, you say that you chose to draw the line there for YEARS but how 
> does anyone else know that there is any line there at all? - As I 
> mentioned, there is NOTHING in the welcome post that you consistently 
> redirect users to in order to tell them what the rules of the forum 
> are. If you don't publish these rules then how do you expect people to 
> abide by them, and if you do have a situation like you had then you 
> have nothing to simply redirect the user to in order to say "actually 
> check here, here's the rules". I may have only joined the site last 
> week, how do I know the history and how does the fact that you have 
> been doing this for years without that rule in side your head being 
> documented somewhere.
>
> I get that there are genuine cases of users being crazy ;) - But there 
> are also many genuine cases where an innocent user and either another 
> community member trying to help, or a plugin author who is hindered 
> from doing simply trying to fix an issue. I can understand why there 
> could be a rule in place which hinders people from posting in their 
> email address details etc; but on the flip side I can also understand 
> someone trying to genuinely help someone and simply wanting to have 
> some access to that persons environment without sharing it on a public 
> forum (but to fully continue communication and resolution of that 
> issue back on the forum). If there were some kind of private message 
> functionality on the forum, then great, that would solve it right? - 
> But without having any way to talk to someone to get sensitive 
> information to continue an investigation, I can see why an occurrence 
> like you are discussing occurred.
>
> I have to tell you that I don't agree with what you've said about 
> being totally open with your comments over this DL. The welcome rules 
> clearly outline that if you want to discuss an item of the forum or 
> raise a complaint about it, then this is the place to do it. In my 
> view, if Moderators should have a totally seperate line of 
> communication if you want to start talking about specific users and 
> dealing with specific issues that you're having in how to moderate. I 
> totally wasn't expecting to see the types of emails that I get after 
> reading the description of what this DL is documented as its purpose; 
> which should really be for 'users' to air their views of the forum and 
> feedback on issues that occurred on their posts that they want to 
> reach out and get some further support / escalation from.
>
> Plus you're also forgetting the comment about the poor OP who just 
> wanted his issue solved and after the moderators action has resulted 
> in simply closing his whole support ticket down entirely. What did he 
> do wrong? - Why should he now be expected to re-post his issue. If you 
> really had a problem with a contributor then you should only be taking 
> action against that user, whether some kind of warning, a ban, 
> timeout, or removing replies from the conversation to put it back to a 
> pre-argument state to 'reset' the course of support.
>
>
>
> Date: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 07:06:29 -0800> From: ipstenu at halfelf.org
>
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> Jan Dembowski <mailto:jan at dembowski.net>
> 26 January, 2014 at 6:05:00PM
> Good evening,
>
> Sanity check time and I'd appreciate some input.
>
> http://wordpress.org/support/topic/woocommerce-product-variations?replies=11
>
> A user posted an email address for contacting that user off of the forums.
> The email was redacted and a note was posted.
>
> The other user questioned it and I replied. This user.
>
> http://wordpress.org/support/profile/splashingpixelscom
>
> I posted why it's discouraged and copied Otto's explanation from a 
> previous
> thread. The user then claimed to work for WooThemes. Which maybe true but
> I don't know him from Adam and said so.
>
> It pretty much went downhill from there with
>
> If you're not here to help then leave the thread as you're not doing a 
> good
>
>
> I guess I'm on report. All that sidekick experience down the drain.
>
> *Jan resists the urge to monologue more.*
>
> Rather than continue to get into it I'm punting here. If anyone wants to
> chime in I'm not really in the shape to explain it anymore.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jan Dembowski
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-- 
Mika A Epstein (aka Ipstenu)
http://ipstenu.org | http://halfelf.org