Thread

Wow, can’t agree more with this thread. Please fix the response time asap!

This is a premium product and with that, we expect to have premium support. I’ve used open source options in the past that have better support. This is essential for me to continue to pursue a long term relationship with EE.

Just want to throw my vote in here as well.

I started to write a simple post, but it got REALLY long… so I made it a blog post.

http://www.hopstudios.com/blog/expression_engine_support_forums_is_there_a_better_solution/

In a nut shell, I’d like to understand better why EllisLab has pushed developers off the forums, and I offer suggestions (lame-brained, perhaps) for how EL can re-engage with the people I used to come to the forums to reach, and improve support at the same time.

TTFN
Travis

I started to write a simple post, but it got REALLY long… so I made it a blog post.

http://www.hopstudios.com/blog/expression_engine_support_forums_is_there_a_better_solution/

In a nut shell, I’d like to understand better why EllisLab has pushed developers off the forums, and I offer suggestions (lame-brained, perhaps) for how EL can re-engage with the people I used to come to the forums to reach, and improve support at the same time.

TTFN
Travis

Hi Travis,

I’ve added your post to my “wall” that I use to help guide what EllisLab needs to do this year. I’m not interested in defending why we did things in the past. It was all well intentioned, some of it worked, some of it didn’t. Talking about how the past has impacted the present and what people need from us to continue being successful with EE, well that interests me a great deal. That’s really the only way we’ll learn how to improve.

Your post helps that conversation a lot and I’ll make sure our entire team reads it. The one thing I 100% agree with is that last year we had a disconnect with our Community & it shows. I hope this year it also shows that my number one priority as the new CEO is correcting that, connecting EllisLab back with our Community and making sure we’re not only listening but also responding and being transparent.

As both Lisa & I have mentioned we are revamping how support works and that very much includes improved support included with purchase (I think that’s fairer than calling it free support). Its a bit early to give specifics but part of that will include enabling 3rd party devs to support & distribute add-ons here again, but in a much more organized fashion. We have our support tools behind the scenes and part of the plan is to release that tool set to 3rd party devs so they have the same tools our staff does to support their add-on users. I’m hoping to have that at least partially available by the 3rd quarter of this year. We also want to make some of those tools available to the community so that it makes it easier to help each other out here.

And yes, we will do things to reward the most active in the community in terms of helping out.

It sounds like people would be in heavy favor of just reserving policy & letting 3rd parties do that right now with the existing forums. Am I hearing that correctly?

And last, but not least, we’ve switched the Support opening we just posted to full time instead of part-time. We’ve been interviewing for it the past couple of weeks and we’re down to our finalists. We should have a new support staff on board real soon.

Just returned to this thread after checking in a few days ago and woweewowow… Keep the conversation going. We are listening. And as one of the people that is putting together the next step in support I find this conversation interesting.

But beyond all that I am a noob at EL and I think you would be hard pressed to find a company that is more dedicated to you all being successful. I think Les dreams about it at night…

And last, but not least, we’ve switched the Support opening we just posted to full time instead of part-time. We’ve been interviewing for it the past couple of weeks and we’re down to our finalists. We should have a new support staff on board real soon.

Wow, when caught up in a twitter storm, one misses quite a few things. I wasn’t even aware that Ellislab made changes to the forums.

Leslie, based on your comment, is it true you are no longer taking applications for the position?

And last, but not least, we’ve switched the Support opening we just posted to full time instead of part-time. We’ve been interviewing for it the past couple of weeks and we’re down to our finalists. We should have a new support staff on board real soon.

Wow, when caught up in a twitter storm, one misses quite a few things. I wasn’t even aware that Ellislab made changes to the forums.

Leslie, based on your comment, is it true you are no longer taking applications for the position?

Its really down to two at this point, but if someone applies last minute we’d certainly give them a fair shot.

Forgive me if this has been covered already, it’s s long thread and I’m just popping in.

Personally the reason I don’t post my 10c to folks with tech support questions is that if I post, the customer is going to be placed at the end of the queue to get official support from EllisLab. Even if i’m pretty sure I know how to fix a particular problem, I wouldn’t want to be responsible for a 24 or 48 hour delay in the user getting an official response.

EllisLab clearly need to reevaluate the support queue, which is what I guess Derek is working on now.

Its really down to two at this point, but if someone applies last minute we’d certainly give them a fair shot.

Done.

Forgive me if this has been covered already, it’s s long thread and I’m just popping in.

Personally the reason I don’t post my 10c to folks with tech support questions is that if I post, the customer is going to be placed at the end of the queue to get official support from EllisLab. Even if i’m pretty sure I know how to fix a particular problem, I wouldn’t want to be responsible for a 24 or 48 hour delay in the user getting an official response.

EllisLab clearly need to reevaluate the support queue, which is what I guess Derek is working on now.

Just to be clear, this was changed quite a while ago and we’ve already updated it again to stream line it since this thread started.

Hi, Leslie.

Thanks for the quick reply—love that!

I think there’s a sometimes-grey line between rehashing the dead past, and analyzing it for ways to improve, but I do believe you spend a lot more time thinking about it than I do, and I agree 100% that it’s the looking-forward part that needs the attention.

I also wanted to say that when you say, “It was all well intentioned”—I know that I, and probably every significant EE developer, understands that. I hope it doesn’t seem that I have selfish motives at heart, either.

TTFN
Travis

Hi, Leslie.

Thanks for the quick reply—love that!

I think there’s a sometimes-grey line between rehashing the dead past, and analyzing it for ways to improve, but I do believe you spend a lot more time thinking about it than I do, and I agree 100% that it’s the looking-forward part that needs the attention.

I also wanted to say that when you say, “It was all well intentioned”—I know that I, and probably every significant EE developer, understands that. I hope it doesn’t seem that I have selfish motives at heart, either.

TTFN
Travis

I’m all about the analyze ways to improve. And yes, I absolutely took your post as a positive thing.

Its a bit early to give specifics but part of that will include enabling 3rd party devs to support & distribute add-ons here again, but in a much more organized fashion. We have our support tools behind the scenes and part of the plan is to release that tool set to 3rd party devs so they have the same tools our staff does to support their add-on users. I’m hoping to have that at least partially available by the 3rd quarter of this year. We also want to make some of those tools available to the community so that it makes it easier to help each other out here.

As you might imagine, I’m enormously interested in what this paragraph means.

Its a bit early to give specifics but part of that will include enabling 3rd party devs to support & distribute add-ons here again, but in a much more organized fashion. We have our support tools behind the scenes and part of the plan is to release that tool set to 3rd party devs so they have the same tools our staff does to support their add-on users. I’m hoping to have that at least partially available by the 3rd quarter of this year. We also want to make some of those tools available to the community so that it makes it easier to help each other out here.

As you might imagine, I’m enormously interested in what this paragraph means.

I already emailed you about it Ryan. I’d love to talk to you directly about what we’ve got in mind and how to work with Devot:ee on it.

I feel sorry for Ryan, he came up with a solution to an Ellis lab issue, and now he has to read that he he might be made redundant in a forum post.

I’m glad that some of the bad desicions of the last year are being recognised, and I want to see the forum community spirit return, but please give respect to the third party devs that have been plugging the holes EL created.

I feel sorry for Ryan, he came up with a solution to an Ellis lab issue, and now he has to read that he he might be made redundant in a forum post.

You are assuming way too much. I love what Ryan, Jacob, and the people behind Devot:ee have done. EllisLab has fully supported their growth and will continue to do so. I’d never consider making what they do redundant. Whatever we do to help 3rd party devs better support their add-ons and help the Community get that support effectively will be coordinated with Devot:ee.