Doc Team/2008-01-04

Arawn Spitteler: Checking on my tea
Jeremy Linden: Hello Ricken. Welcome to Documentation office hours! Feel free to have a seat while we wait for a few more people to show up.
Jeremy Linden: Welcome back, Arawn.
Ricken Flow: thank you Jeremy
WidgetHUD v1.1: Ricken Flow has pinged you.
Arawn Spitteler: A few more people not includeing Jon, this week?
Jeremy Linden: Heh. He'll be here. I just usually show up a few minutes earlier.
Arawn Spitteler: Office Hours are abit slow, for hte holidays'
Jeremy Linden: Well, we didn't have them last week, but we've been getting a good number of people the past few weeks.
Arawn Spitteler: Posting to he Blog likely helps
Arawn Spitteler: Hi, Jon
Jon Linden: good afternoon!
Ricken Flow: Hello Jon :-)
Jeremy Linden: We've been experimenting with Knowledge Base articles of the week- judging from the comments, it seems like some people like them, and some people rather violently disagree.
Jon Linden: (i seem to have arrived mid-conversation)
Arawn Spitteler: Many of the violently in dissagreement will violently disagree, if you handed them a fifty
Arawn Spitteler: Hi, Indya
Jon Linden: are we talking about the usefulness of the KB Article of the Week, or their tendency to collect spittle-flecked comments as a result of Second Life service outages?
Indya Etchegaray: hi arawn
Jeremy Linden: Hello Indya. Welcome to Documentation Office Hours.
Indya Etchegaray: thank you
Jon Linden: in my mind, those are two different things
Jon Linden: (hi indya!)
Jeremy Linden: A little of both, Jon, we were just shooting the breeze and the blog came up.
Jon Linden: heheheh
Ricken Flow: to some SL is a true addiction and when there is an outage doesnt matter if its a good reason or not they don't have their addiction and need to lash out
Jon Linden: this most certainly seems true!
Jeremy Linden: Heh. I never thought of it as that kind of addiction, but I suppose we could chalk it up to withdrawal symptoms.
Arawn Spitteler: The Spittle Flecked comments that first came to eye, were off topic
Jon Linden: they almost always are
Jeremy Linden: Anyway, shall we get started? As usual, I'd like to open up the floor to any questions or suggestions... if nobody has any, I think we can discuss some of the upcoming changes we're going to be making to the Knowledge Base.
Arawn Spitteler: I don't know if the other topic filled, or if they've just poor aim
Jeremy Linden: The topic before mine on the blog this week had comments turned off :-)
Jeremy Linden scans the audience for typists.
Jon Linden: shall we talk KB changes?
Arawn Spitteler: Logging in is a bore
Jeremy Linden: As a matter of fact, that's one of the things we'll be changing!
Arawn Spitteler: Worse, is that it doesn't llike the back burner
Jon Linden: that's basically the #1 thing we're going to be getting rid of
Jon Linden: the whatnow?
Ricken Flow: the logging into support?
Jeremy Linden: I think he means it doesn't like to be left alone... it keeps asking if you'd like to stay logged in.
Arawn Spitteler: If we're logged in, to the KB, it doesn't yea
Jon Linden: oh, true!
Jon Linden: well, since we're taking it out from behind the login, that should no longer be an issue
Jon Linden: what other changes should we tell them about
Jon Linden: i mean aside from my decision to convert the entire KB to Esperanto
Jon Linden: (wink)
Ricken Flow: i hope that is just a font
Ricken Flow: lol
Jon Linden: heheheh
Arawn Spitteler: Esperanto is recommended as the universal foreign language, since nobody understands it
Jeremy Linden: Oh, how about the new front page?
Jon Linden: which one, the Support front page or the KB splash page?
Jon Linden: we're bringing change to many areas
Jon Linden: delicious change
Jeremy Linden: Heh. Why don't we start with the KB splash page.
Ricken Flow: :-)
Jon Linden: most of the confusing textual elements of the KB splash page will be vanishing
Jon Linden: their tasks will be accomplished by design elements elsewhere (mostly the new Support front page)
Jon Linden: replacing them will be sets of lovely icons representing major categories of knowledge in the KB
Jon Linden: i'm working with some Resident volunteer testers to figure out what those categories should be
Jon Linden: essentially working on a new arrangement of articles in the KB to be more intuitive to the average Resident
Jon Linden: at least, that's the hope
Ricken Flow: so the knowledge base is going to be separate from the support center
Ricken Flow: smiles broadly
Jon Linden: functionally, more or less, yes
Jon Linden: if you want to submit a ticket or go into Live Chat, you'll have to log in as before
Jon Linden: but if you just want to read the KB, no login will be required
Jon Linden: the articles themselves will still look the same
Jeremy Linden: The backend will still be tied to the support center, which is in some ways a good thing- Our support Lindens have the ability to import knowledge base content into their responses with a single click.
Jeremy Linden: Likewise, they have a feature that allows them to suggest their incoming tickets to us as new KB articles.
Jon Linden: which is a big goal of mine for the new year
Ricken Flow: that sounds exciting
Miskat Qinan: Ricken! you too here!
Ricken Flow: Hello Miskat :-)
Miskat Qinan: hello all
JoseDiego Silverspar: Hello everyone.
Jon Linden: hello and welcome to Documentation Office Hours!
Jeremy Linden: Hello Miskat and JoseDiego! Welcome to Documentation Office Hours. Feel free to have a seat, and let the questions and suggestions flow :-)
Miskat Qinan: thank you
Jon Linden: does anybody have anything they want to share about the current Knowledge Base (aside from the login thing, which we've already gone over)
Jon Linden: i've also outlined some changes we're going to be making to the way the KB is organized and presented
JoseDiego Silverspar: I just need to know who to talk to about my problem, I can't seem to get anyone else to listen.
Jon Linden: sounds like a support request to me
Ricken Flow: there is a lot of training type videos that Torley has made will there be an intitiative to link those to corresponding KB articles
JoseDiego Silverspar: The support portal's brushed me off twice without even addressing what the problem was. If someone could point me in the right direction, I'd really appreciate it.
Jon Linden: JoseDiego, IM me and we'll talk there
JoseDiego Silverspar: Thank you.
Miskat Qinan: Ok, let me be howell, 1 question I have as well is concerning the Liaisons. They are supposed to provide help and should be reachable inworld 24/7 but they can't be reached at all.
JoseDiego Silverspar: And I do find the Knowledge base helpful by the way.
Miskat Qinan: *honest
Jon Linden: ricken, most of Torley's Tip of the Week videos have been put into the KB
Jon Linden: the rest of the videos that are in the KB are going to be indexed so they'll be easier to find using the search
Jeremy Linden: Right- we're definitely working toward making it easier to find and watch our tutorial videos.
Arawn Spitteler: Those Mentors are pretty good, and easier to reach than Support tickets
Ricken Flow: maybe they need to be revisted some of the videos that come up under certain subjects under related topics arent that related
Ricken Flow: i know for saving outfits you get making a gesture video :-)
Jon Linden: sometimes the search finds things that aren't really relevant, but we don't have a whole lot of control over Parature's search functionality
Jon Linden: better indexing is for sure one way to go, though!
Jon Linden: Miskat, you might want to stop by Char's office hours if you want to talk about LIaisons
JoseDiego Silverspar: I'd have to agree with the better indexing, sometimes it's a bit difficult to find things.
Miskat Qinan: ok, I will do that at an other moment, thank you Jon.
Jeremy Linden: We were actually just discussing the organization of the KB before you arrived, JoseDiego... Jon's working on a Master Plan to reorganize the KB in a more intuitive fashion.
Jon Linden: it's true!
JoseDiego Silverspar: Good good cause a lot of times unless it's on the start page... I have a bit of difficulty finding it.
Jon Linden: the search usually works pretty well, but there are definitely some things we could try from an organizational standpoint that might improve usability
Arawn Spitteler: I've found that on the Jira, the directory doesn't offer much direction
Jon Linden: jira's not really in our ballpark, Arawn
Jeremy Linden: Ironically, I bet you could submit a feature request in Jira for better Jira organization.
Arawn Spitteler: Which section?
Jeremy Linden: Hm. Good question. Sort of a paradox :-)
Jeremy Linden: You could probably file it under Web Site or Misc Issues
Jon Linden: i'm not sure either
Arawn Spitteler: So, it wouldn't be under service, then?
Jeremy Linden: Service is reserved more for Second Life server-side issues.
Arawn Spitteler: Okay, but I wouldn't know that. I guess I'll have to enter a recursive Jira
Jeremy Linden: Actually, I wrote an article on this subject. One moment while I go get it!
Jeremy Linden: https://secondlife.com/community/support.php?questionID=4693
Miskat Qinan: ok all, I have to go! good luck and keep up the good work :)
Jeremy Linden: Thanks Miskat. Thanks for stopping in!
Miskat Qinan: sure
Jeremy Linden: Oh yeah, there we go. Arawn, your request would go under WEB, for sure.
Jeremy Linden: under the jira.secondlife.com component, even
Jeremy Linden: But anyway, does anyone have more they'd like to chat about?
Jeremy Linden: Do you feel our articles are specific enough? Are they too technical? Are they helpful? Do you think there's anything missing?
Ricken Flow: they are definetly helpful sometimes they can be technical especially if you do not know some of the jargon and are new looking for help
Jeremy Linden: Can you think of any examples, off the top of your head?
Ricken Flow: the biggest problem i had when i first started was finding out what a HUD was
Jeremy Linden: Ooh, that sounds like an article itself. *me makes a note*
Jeremy Linden: It looks like all we've got right now is Torley's video tutorial on how to use HUDs. Good catch!
Arawn Spitteler's still trying to figure, how to add a jira: What's a road map, anyways?
Jeremy Linden: I'm not sure in your exact context, but usually a roadmap is a plan for future actions.
Arawn Spitteler: WEB-194 looks like a good category. The context is the Jira, POpen Issues, Popular, Roadmap...
Jeremy Linden: Sounds good to me, Arawn... I'm not a public Jira guru, though.
Jeremy Linden: Hm... So, aside from HUDs, what's the last thing anyone searched for in the KB that they didn't find?
Ricken Flow: that is the only thing I havent found.
Jeremy Linden: I just submitted an internal Jira to myself for it :-)
Ricken Flow: I looked at the Jira front page and it looks rather crowded
Arawn Spitteler thinks: Apublic jira would get more votes
Jeremy Linden: Hm. Unfortunately, public Jira doesn't fall under my or Jon's control, except maybe if we wanted to get a KB component added there for KB suggestions.
Arawn Spitteler: We tend to forget what we're no longer worried about, and can't believe that others don't know, what we've found out
Jon Linden: actually, while we're talking about KB suggestions, does anyone have a problem with how they're currently implemented?
JoseDiego Silverspar: Thank you all. I hope you have a productive meeting. I do enjoy the knowledge base.
Jon Linden: (i.e. as a Support ticket type that anyone can submit)
Jon Linden: take it easy!
Jeremy Linden: Arawn, that's true for a lot of features in Second Life- once you learn them, they become second nature... but to someone who has never tried, it's impossible.
Arawn Spitteler: I've been running the Building Class, at Mystic Academy, for those who haven't braved ITLP yet
Jon Linden: basically i'm just not really enthusiastic about adding a KB-Suggestion-like component to the public Jira, if only because it will mean two things for me to track
Jon Linden: but if the current system is proving to be inadequate i'd love to (a) know that, and (b) hear suggestions
Jeremy Linden: Hm. True enough. I think a lot of people don't even know they can submit KB suggestions via ticket.
Arawn Spitteler: KB suggestions? What's the current channel?
Jon Linden: the support ticket type i mentioned before
Jeremy Linden: Currently, you can submit a KB suggestion as a support ticket, yes.
Arawn Spitteler was beaten to the punch
Ricken Flow: yes but from my understanding of support tickets you have to be a paid member to submit tickets other than special questions
Arawn Spitteler wouldn't think of filing a support ticket, as a no payment user: I'd tend to think of the Mentors, before anything like a Support Ticket
Time Minder: You have been online for 2 hours.
Jeremy Linden: Hm. Maybe we should ask the Mentors to file KB suggestions when they find something missing.
Jon Linden: that'd be an idea i'd be interested to see the outcome of
Arawn Spitteler thinks that should be the standard channel
Ricken Flow: I think that would be helpful to the Mentors.
Arawn Spitteler: It's kind of like a book on learning how to read
Jeremy Linden: Everybody needs to learn from somewhere, though. We're always looking for better ways to teach people those first steps.
Jeremy Linden: Hello Brigit. Welcome to Documentation Office Hours!
Jon Linden: good afternoon!
Arawn Spitteler: /hug bri
Jeremy Linden: Or evening, if you're east of San Francisco :-)
Brigit Carver: OK sorry, Arawan just TPed me out of something aggravating so please excuse my sudden appearence
Arawn gives Brigit a big hug.
Arawn Spitteler: What's a god for, if not to hug the great?
Brigit Carver giggles as she smiles
Jon Linden: the hour's almost up, anyway
Arawn Spitteler: Have you any experience, with the Documentation, of SL?
Jeremy Linden: I do... :-)
Jon Linden: does anyone have any other thoughts on the utility of the KB Suggestions ticket as a way of submitting suggestions for KB articles or fixes?
Arawn Spitteler wouldn't know how to submit a ticket
Jeremy Linden: Hm. Maybe this could be one of those major categories on the splash page- Didn't find what you're looking for? Send us a Knowledge Base suggestion!
Jon Linden: that is an outstanding idea
Arawn Spitteler: Prepare for a deluge
Ricken Flow: what would be the difference of sending a suggestion and opening a Kb support ticket
Jeremy Linden: We already get a deluge... but if I recall correctly, we had the same sort of thing on the portal of our old KB.
Brigit Carver: Or you could just make a group or groups, depending on where people live.....regional based help groups, and then post helpful notices in there
Jon Linden: that's a possibility; we get complaints from people who think group IMs are already kind of broken, though
Jon Linden: is, uh, is anybody else seeing people's avatars flicker in and out of existence?
Ricken Flow: not me
Arawn Spitteler: Sounds like Windlight
Brigit Carver: a linden having problems....I can die happy now
Jeremy Linden: I'm not seeing avatars flicker, but the Region to the North seems to keep crashing.
Jeremy Linden: Or uh... there's no Region there.
Jon Linden: individual items of clothing/body parts are strobing black for just a fraction of a second, intermittently
Jeremy Linden: Are you on a secondary monitor?
Jon Linden: i'm not on WindLight and I have only one monitor
Brigit Carver: I've got the old non-Windlight client running and I"m not seeing anything going wonky
Jon Linden: weird!
Jeremy Linden: Last thing I'd try is to reset your ATI catalyst drivers... we've got a KB article on what to do if your avatar turns black :-)
Brigit Carver: join the Harlem Globtrotters?
Jon Linden: i do remember that! ^_^
Arawn Spitteler escorted a very black Sooden, to the Mentors, for that problem: maybe the mentors could help with your problem?
Jon Linden: it'll probably disappear once I relog
Ricken Flow: that reminds me i forgot to put in a ticket recently when i have been TP ing somewhere i become invisible
Jeremy Linden made a cardboard cutout of a blackened Linden once.
Jon Linden: in any case, i think that's all the time we've got for today
Arawn Spitteler: Flush Cache on your way?
Brigit Carver: has anyone else noticed that the tags above some avatars suddenly disappear randomly?
Jon Linden: i have never witnessed that
Ricken Flow: haha
Arawn Spitteler: Yeah, that too
Brigit Carver: I've had it happen to me about 10 or 12 times over the past few months
Brigit Carver: thought it was something I could purposely do but found no option for it
Jeremy Linden: Brigit, do you have nametags set to "temporarily"?
Arawn Spitteler has just gotten used to it, and usually clicks on profile, to see who's arrived
Jeremy Linden: It's on the General tab of Preferences... you can show nametags Never, Temporarily, or Always
Brigit Carver: nope
Ricken Flow: nice meeting everyone, I am sure i will make this office hours one of my regular ones
Ricken Flow: :-)
Brigit Carver: it's been set to Always
Jon Linden: that's good to hear!
Jeremy Linden: Thanks for coming, Ricken!
Ricken Flow: Off to RL to cook dinner
Jon Linden: i've got to head out myself; thank you all for coming, and have an excellent weekend!
Jeremy Linden: I'm on board with the dinner thing. See you all next week! :-)