Some stats

Right now there have been 4356 tickets closed this month (Support + ToS reports), so it’s looking to be close to 7200 in total which is about the monthly average so far this year. It could be less – we had a couple of really busy days so blips throw the projections out obviously. The 7200 is equal to around 240 tickets a day and if all I worked was an 8 hour day that’s 30 an hour or one every 2 minutes (this is calculated on me working 7 days a week so those numbers change quite a bit if you use 22-24 days a month)(which is wrong because I do answer Support 7 days a week) . That’s not the actual story though.

Someone signs up, the email goes to them and the anti-spam they have sends some sort of message. That ticket is closed, it counts as 1.
A question is sent, I reply, nothing happens, it counts as 1.
A question is sent, I reply, they reply with “Thanks!”, it counts as 1.
And they send a question, I reply, they reply, I reply, they reply again but this time with a new question etc etc etc – it also counts as 1.
So although the first bounces are counted – and many are filtered – the multiples are not.
On balance the number at the top – 4356 – is lower than the actual number. It’s hard to say by how much but it is. The helpdesk software we use doesn’t seem to count overall activity.

I have no idea how many tickets we should be getting based on the performance of other companies but what I do know is that of our 1.8 million blog owners only 0.04% send me work. That’s a ratio I can live with.

Does the void need filling?

Is there something you expect or would like to see here about Support?
It’s not like all of a sudden I’m going to start blogging more about the company but I was thinking that if people get this feed or read this for reasons other than me leaving a comment on their blog then what is expected – so I thought I’d ask.

Editing forum posts

Forum posts are not able to be edited from when the moment they are posted.

There have been a number of feedbacks about the function and while there is an argument that typos can be corrected, the same goes for comments and we do not allow editing of those (which is another discussion entirely). We also do not advertise the fact that posts can be edited which means new users are / were at a disadvantage.

[Oops - it said 'unable' at the top. It is corrected to 'able']

Trackback test to TestTrack

I have a hangover.

Ping TO here worked. Now try the Trackback FROM here.

Trackback FROM here worked. Now try the Trackback TO here.

123

Marsedit2 Test

Ignore of course.

support@

In checking the forum while I was away and since I got back, I see advice being given to email support directly. I assume this is because people feel this will get attention faster or because support is closed..

This does not work.

The point of closing support is that the workload is high and it cannot be sustained for 7 days a week. Yes an email will get through but no it will not be answered any quicker.
Support may or may not be open for 7 days in the future but even so, people should be asked to use the form, not email. In fact the best way to contact support is using the Support tab inside the blog – the one that used to be Feedback. It’s already improved and I’m working on more improvements there.

The more people see to use email the less likely they will go to the form/support tab. If they do not go there then they will not see any latest notices or pointers to other information. I know it irritates forum helpers that people do not read the sticky or use the search – telling people to use email bypasses all possible help that could otherwise be there too.

So not advising direct email would be the most helpful.

(And emailing the team personally is never advised. We get huge amounts of email already)

Please try Firefox

Occasionally I get told by people that I shouldn’t tell them to use Firefox, that they don’t like Firefox, that they love Internet Explorer and can I please fix their problem without having to use Firefox. And rather than write the answer out repeatedly I’ll write it here.

It has nothing to do with Browse Happy. It has nothing to do with Microsoft. It has nothing to do with Open Source and it’s nothing to do with Windows. Really.

When I get a support request which I believe is a browser issue I will ask the person to try another browser. I ask Firefox users to try IE, Opera users to try IE/Firefox, Firefox users to try Safari, Camino users to try Safari, Safari users to try Firefox/Camino (I know there Camino/Firefox similarity but I’m getting to a point). I will ask anyone to change their browser because it helps me help you.

Person has browser A. There is a problem X. Trying to troubleshoot X will be difficult until I can start to change the situation to see what happens to the problem.

So I ask the person to try browser B.
(i) If X is still a problem then the issue is not the browser.
(ii) If X is not a problem then the issue is related to browser A.

If it is (i) it could be the computer, a firewall setting, anything with the name ‘Norton’ (which is a bad bad thing) but what it is not is the fault of wordpress.com. Two browsers, same problem, same machine and no other support issues means the cause is local. This makes it very hard for me to help but I will try.

If it is (ii) browser A it could be an extension/addon, security setting in the browser, but it may well come down to me not being able to help. I cannot troubleshoot a browser issue either beyond a certain point. Again it shows that it is not the fault of wordpress.com (which is not about apportioning blame elsewhere but about keeping perspective).

Now…. in the ‘not the browser’ situation the solution will be findable – a forum search being one way. In the ‘it is the browser’ situation there is a choice – use the initial browser and have problems or use the suggested browser and have none. Of course this does not stop the user looking for solutions themself. I don’t make that choice, I cannot force someone to make it.

It’s my job to find solutions and I will as far as I can but being asked to change browser is sometimes essential for me to help you.

How to report an image problem

There are a few issues about today and understandably people get worried when their pictures go. But worrying can be reduced by getting the correct information.
So here’s what I need:

• What does the image look like? (This helps me to look for it. And without knowing what it looks like I can’t help.)
• What was the image called? (This helps the coders look for it in the system)
• What post was the image in? (Helps me look for it and it times the problem too)

So if you lose that picture of a dog on a windmill called ‘dscn0054.jpg’ in the post called “Ha ha ha” which you made yesterday then that’s perfect. You will get a much quicker result.

I do understand why “My pictures have GONE!” supports come in but you help me and I’ll help you better.