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

Mon Jan 27 17:59:02 UTC 2014

"*WordPress* support and *forum* support are two different things, and
cannot be conflated. Only in conflating them do you find a contradiction
where none otherwise exists - and it comes across as an attempt to split
hairs in order to be argumentative, which doesn't help resolve anything."
Chip, I'm not splitting hairs over anything to be argumentative. You have 2 completely separate webpages with a completely separate definition of what this mailing list is used for.  I agree, that IF you put the 2 statements together then perhaps you get the intended definition but the fact is that today these are in totally separate places.  
As a user, I only found the first one, read it and took my interpretation for what this mailing list was based on said description.  If you want to be defensive about it and start simply accusing me of being argumentative for the sake of it, perhaps you should listen to what is being said instead.  Which is that 'as a user' I had an impression of what this mailing list was for, and until you dug up a completely seperate definition of what this was, I had no idea that other definition existed so trying to wave it in my face and calling me argumentative, I'm afraid will get you no where.> Date: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 12:41:55 -0500
> From: chip at chipbennett.net
> To: wp-forums at lists.automattic.com
> Subject: Re: [wp-forums] FW: FW: Using the forums for contacting people outside of the forums
> 
> As a matter of fact, Plugin authors *are* labeled as Plugin authors in
> Plugin-specific support threads. For example:
> http://wordpress.org/support/topic/updated-3?replies=12
> 
> The same is true for Theme authors:
> http://wordpress.org/support/topic/remove-viewhide-from-sidebar?replies=14
> 
> 
> On Mon, Jan 27, 2014 at 12:38 PM, Christy Eller
> <iamchristyeller at gmail.com>wrote:
> 
> > As another list lurker who intends to get involved... I really appreciate
> > this conversation, and think it is good for the health of the forum and
> > WordPress in general.
> >
> > I would assume that it is the job of plugin authors/staff to participate in
> > the support posts that refer to their plugins, so it would be
> > *really*helpful if they were labelled as such. And there are many
> > times that it
> > would be necessary and helpful for such a support person to log into a
> > user's site in order to solve a problem or get information that may end up
> > benefiting the whole community in the end. It seems like this happens all
> > the time, as I often see threads wherein a user thanks a support person for
> > some help that is not described exactly, but it is inferred that the
> > subject was solved off-list. What is the accepted procedure?
> >
> > Thank you to all of you who have responded and for all your contributions
> > in the forum. I have personally received help from all of you. Thank You.
> >
> > Christy Eller
> > IamChristyEller.com
> > 970-314-1840
> >
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Jan 27, 2014 at 10:15 AM, esmi at quirm dot net <esmi at quirm.net
> > >wrote:
> >
> > > on 27/01/2014 16:30 Mike Turner said the following:
> > >
> > >  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.
> > >>
> > >
> > > I'm sure that this has already been covered but I'll give it another
> > go...
> > >
> > > There are two reasons for this "rule".
> > >
> > > (1) The forums are community based - which means that the forum
> > discussion
> > > that ensues when troubleshooting or fixing an issue benefits *everyone*.
> > > Take that discussion off the forums and the whole community loses that
> > > benefit.
> > >
> > > (2) Sadly not everyone who browses the support forums is exactly...um..
> > > ethical. There have been cases of people asking for contact or site login
> > > details in order to try a "bait & switch". We'd like to try and protect
> > WP
> > > forum users from this.
> > >
> > >
> > >  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.
> > >>
> > >
> > > Actually, there is but it's on a case-by-case basis. Theme & plugin
> > > developers who are assisting users with their own themes/plugin get an
> > > automatic free pass. The Jetpack forum is the the best place to see this
> > in
> > > action. The Jetpack support team often ask for details via email and no
> > one
> > > bats an eyelid.
> > >
> > >
> > >  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 topic that caused you to raise this discussion contained posts from
> > > someone who was *not* identifiable as the plugin's developer/support
> > > person. Which is why a forum mod intervened. We simply had no idea who
> > this
> > > person was. As soon as we did know, he was advised to amend his support
> > > profile to make his status with respect to the plugin transparently clear
> > > in order to stop such an intervention happening again.
> > >
> > >
> > >  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 forums are for support posts about WordPress. This list is for
> > support
> > > about the support forums. There is a difference. :-)
> > >
> > >
> > > Mel
> > > --
> > > http://quirm.net
> > > http://blackwidows.co.uk
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