Question about the volunteer tech support system

[refno619012]

Hi again,

I have a question (well, more like questionS) about how the volunteer tech support system is run. I decided to try to answer a few of the problems posted on the tech support board in exchange for points for extra icon spaces. 

For anyone who's never tried to answer the problems, this is the message posted at the bottom of each report ticket:

"Dreamwidth Support is an open-source project run by a community of volunteers. If you think you know the answer to this question, you're welcome to submit an answer in the box below. Your answer will be screened and evaluated by senior support volunteers for content. If your answer is first and correct, it will be sent to the person who submitted the question."

I was the first to post an answer to one issue.  I was polite in my answer and gave the person a specific suggestion that would help us better diagnose her problem.

I checked the board last night to find that someone else had also answered the question and gave the person the same suggestion that I did.  And upon logging out of DW, I noticed my answer did not appear (and thus had not been approved) even though I had posted it first and had given the same suggestion as this other person whose answer did appear and was approved) did.

So my question is, why was this?  I did nothing NOT to merit having my answer posted...my answer/suggestion was apparently correct, as indicated by the other person's answer/suggestion...I was polite...so what gives?

Comments

[liv]

It's cool that you've started helping out on the Support board. I think the best idea is to ask this kind of question in dw_support_training, because it's more likely to catch the eyes of the people who run the Support system.

Do you want to link to some of the Support requests you've been answering? I had a look through the recent requests and could find two comments from you. One is about changing the URL of a feed. Although your information is right in general, the accepted way of getting the URL changed is in fact to make a request on the Support board, and eventually someone who does have the privileges to make the change will come along and fix things. That means that "ordinary" volunteers can't really answer the "please change the feed URL" requests.

For the second I found, you gave a correct answer about clearing the cache, but in fact the answer that was approved was posted before yours according to the timestamps. As a new volunteer, I think you can't see the other suggested answers posted, so it might look like yours was first when in fact it was second? If you let people know you're interested in volunteering, you'll probably be given the privilege to see other answers even before they are approved, so it'll be clearer to you whether you have the first answer or not.

If it's not either of those requests, it might be some other issue. The Support people here try not to be too finicky about exact details of style in the answers, but there are sometimes details which are important enough they can mean an answer doesn't get approved when it's otherwise correct. I'm fairly experienced as a Support volunteer, so if you link me to the request you're unsure about, I might be able to suggest something, but I'm not official, so posting to the community will get you a better answer.

[kareila]

Seconding what liv said, but I also feel compelled to point out that support points aren't the same thing as shop points, so you can't answer requests "in exchange for points for extra icon spaces". If that's your motivation for volunteering, you'll be disappointed!