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

[Mike Turner]

Ok so I see that part that says that you shouldn't 'take the conversation to a private location' but I would suggest that there is a difference between taking the conversation to a private location and asking someone to just email you some account information relating to your website in order to continue the investigation.  There is no differentiation between an author plugin or a contributor in terms of this rule so in theory by your logic NO-ONE can gain access to a persons wp-admin site or ftp in order to investigate a complex issue.
The point of the above mention seemed to really be about not taking the whole conversation away from the forum so that future readers couldn't see the resolution.  In this case, I'm sure that the investigation would have continued on the forum but who knows...does that mean that you should just jump straight in?


The 2nd site link, as I said completely contradicts what is in the welcome guide. You have 1 page that says : "THIS IS NOT A SUPPORT MAILING LIST.
It is for Support Volunteers Only." but then the welcome page saying; Hey, if you want to discuss a problem on the forum itself then join this list.  

The content of the discussions may have been in the remit according to one of the pages, but perhaps not the other (or not clearly enough) so this is where a disconnect exists.


> Date: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 16:11:44 +0000
> From: esmi at quirm.net
> To: wp-forums at lists.automattic.com
> Subject: Re: [wp-forums] FW: Using the forums for contacting people outside of the forums
> 
> on 27/01/2014 15:57 Mike Turner said the following:
> > I'm not saying that there isn't a set of rules.  I'm saying that
> > there is no rule in the 'Rules' that says that you cannot post your
> > contact details in it.  If there is no rule which states that (unless
> > you are offering to pay for support) then how can you moderate
> > against such a "rule"?
> 
> <quote>
> Similarly, we ask that you not demand payment, solicit work, or take the 
> conversation to a private location. The point of helping out on the 
> WordPress.org forums is to help out on the forums.</quote>
> <http://codex.wordpress.org/Forum_Welcome#Helping_Out>
> 
> > You have contradicted yourself by saying that this email list clearly
> > says its for moderators.  How can it be if a) I'm here and b) you
> > welcome 'users' to join the mailing list to discuss issues on the
> > forum: "Forum Mailing ListIf you would like to discuss an aspect of
> > the forum, or report a problem with the forum itself, there is a
> > mailing list you can join
> > athttp://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-forums Note that
> > the mailing list is for discussing issues with the support forum
> > itself, rather than for posting your problems in."
> 
> Perhaps a better description might have been "this list is for forum 
> *regulars*"? But then many of the people subscribed are also forum 
> moderators or ex-moderators, so it's a fairly minor difference.
> 
> The mailing list description also states that:
> 
> <quote>
> Discussions pertaining to providing support to users and WordPress Forum 
> issues and activities</quote>
> <http://codex.wordpress.org/Mailing_Lists#Support_Forum_Volunteers>
> 
> So the earlier discussion was also well inside the list's remit.
> 
> esmi / Mel
> -- 
> http://quirm.net
> http://blackwidows.co.uk
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