Jan Dembowski 2:36 am on July 11, 2014

Support Team Update for July 10th

Items discussed at today’s #wordpress-sfd meetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area.:

WordPress 4.0 Beta1 has dropped this morning

Early today the release announcement for the next beta was posted. Please test and report any issues. You can install the WordPress Beta Tester plugin to do that easily.

Forum moderators: if you see a topic in the Alpha/BetaBeta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process. sub-forum and a ticket has been created in tracTrac Trac is the place where contributors create issues for bugs or feature requests much like GitHub.https://core.trac.wordpress.org/. then please mark that topic as “resolved” and post that link.

Contributing to the Troubleshooting Handbook

The troubleshooting handbook needs contributions and the topic was raised for how that can be accomplished. There’s not really a method to grant that access in a good way. If someone has some content they would like to contribute then perhaps posting it on their own site first may be how to get started.

It’s easy to grant access to someone who has been collaborating with the different teams for years but granting that access to new people is delicate. It’s an idea that needs working on.

Status of the Troubleshooting handbook

@jerrysarcastic has generously offered to post a separate status update on that topic. 😉

The transcript of today’s meetup can be read via this link.

Jan Dembowski 2:01 am on July 4, 2014

Support Team Update for July 3rd

Domain trademark violations

This comes up from time to time in the forums. Someone (well meaning I am sure) uses WordPress in their domain name and posts that link in the forums or in their forum profile. When that happens they usually get a reply such as “Hey, could you please stop using that domain name? Here’s some links explaining it better.”

Volunteer support is not trademark police and I’ve not seen a case where someone didn’t correct that when pointed out. Support volunteers are there to help people and not really get into topics like that. But if necessary this link can be used to report that to the WordPress foundation.

Contact

Again it’s not that support is to tell people right and wrong but if an instance needs to be escalated then that link should work.

Troubleshooting Handbook status

The new Troubleshooting Handbook is making progress and both @jerrysarcastic and @podz (Markr) have been working on it. It still needs contributors so please take some time to look it over and contribute where you can.

Troubleshooting Handbook

Section 3 can use some attention and would really benefit from some content.

For examples of good (and not so good) support it was discussed to possibly take topics from the forum and modify/anonymize the text so that the examples remain just examples. It’s important that the handbook doesn’t seem to call out people for their behaviour. It’s a handbook after all and everyone should benefit from the verbiage.

Expiring topics earlier than 1 year?

When a topic is a year old it gets expired meaning no one can reply to those topics anymore. Moderators can still edit the posts in the topic but not reply either. This morning on the wp-forums list the idea came up about the possibility of reducing that time.

Expiring topics around 3 months was well recieved in IRC and that became 6 months after some talking it out. I suggested sending an email to the list asking Otto about it. His reply on the list touched on something important: what is the best experience for the users?

Topics are expired because after a time they’re no longer useful. That time is currently 1 year but more or less could be a tough thing to nail down. It’s something that will continue to be discussed on the wp-forums list.

This really isn’t a critical item (it only really came up today) and I think the 1 year age out will stay. Moderators can still close topics that have gone off the rails and are no longer productive.

The transcript of today’s #wordpress-sfd meetup can be read at this link

Jan Dembowski 1:33 am on June 27, 2014

Support Team Update for June 26th

IRC escalation

@Clorith brought up the point that sometimes the #wordpress IRC channel gets beset by spambots. If someone is around who can deal with that then it’s not a problem. When the channel IRC mods are not available it can become distracting.

Except for pinging the wp-forums list or sending an email to IRC mods then there’s really not much to be done at this time. Forum moderators and IRC members with OP privileges are two separate groups. Using email is not ideal but a 4 hour later response time is better than no response at all.

Cleaning up the no replies link?

@jnhghy brought up the idea of making changes to the forum no replies view.

The problem with filtering that view is that those old replies from way, way, way back still have no replies to them. The conversation talked about the difference between a topic that is marked as [closed] and an unmarked topic that is more than a year old. Those topics are expired and cannot take anymore replies. They are closed too.

It may be possible to trim that view (pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party topics was recently removed from that view) but for now old topics will remain.

The Troubleshooting Handbook Status

@jerrysarcastic wasn’t able to attend today (and neither was I for that matter) but the new handbook was discussed.

The Support Handbook is for moderators and “crazy people like us”. But for regular users who wish to jump into support the Troubleshooting Handbook is meant to be the place to go. Eventually when people want to get started they will be directed to this new handbook.

There was some discussion regarding what kind of uploads are permitted (for example zips are not allowed) and what the current state is.

Content is still needed and anyone who wishes to contribute will be encouraged. 😉

The transcript of today’s meetup can be read at this link.

Jen 5:04 pm on June 19, 2014
Tags: team meetup ( 2 ), wcsf2014 ( 6 )

WCSF/Team Meetup

Howdy again, folks. We’re working on making sure we have enough room blocks to make sure all the contributors who are coming in October can get a decent rate (or have a room provided by us if needed). Some of you replied to my post from last week and filled in the survey so I’d know you were planning to come, but some haven’t. I just want to make sure we count everyone. For example, @jdembowski, @podz, @clorith, and @jerrysarcastic didn’t fill in the survey. Maybe you guys don’t plan to attend due to timing conflicts or other reasons, or maybe you do but didn’t fill in the survey. Help me help you! 🙂

Hit the survey if you are an active member of this team so we can count you and see if you’d be able to stay for the whole time etc while we are creating room blocks. If you are not going to attend at all, please leave a comment on this post saying that and I won’t bug you anymore. If you would come but are concerned about the cost, hit the survey to be counted, and then go fill in the application for travel assistance. We have a budget for this, so let’s not allow money to prevent active contributors from attending.

If you didn’t read the post before, the plan is:
Sat/Sun — WCSF conference
Monday — community summit
Tues/Wed — team meetups (i.e. the support team being together in a place to talk issues, make plans, work together, etc)

#team-meetup, #wcsf2014

Jan Dembowski 10:18 am on June 17, 2014

Team chat agenda for week #25

For any items that you may want discussed in this week’s #wordpress-sfd meetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. please reply in the comments below.

PingPing The act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.” @jerrysarcastic about You Know What™ 😉 (specifically about importing content from @Ipstenu‘s Break/Fix site)

I’ll be most likely unable to attend this weeks meetup (What did Mika say? Oh yeah, end of school year “life thing”) but I will post the summary of the meetup online.

Jan Dembowski 10:12 am on June 13, 2014

Support Team Update for June 12th

Items discussed at the #wordpress-sfd meetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area.:

The Troubleshooting Handbook

The discussion was about organizing the ToC and getting the content from @Ipstenu‘s Break/Fix site into that new handbook.

Markr (@podz) had put together a spreadsheet and shared it online that divides the new handbook into section. We agreed that those sections made sense. It’s not set in stone but it’s a good start.

Once there is content in the new handbook I will add a link to that handbook in the make/support sidebarSidebar A sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme..

Contributors wanted!

Too bad there’s not a “Uncle WordPress wants YOU” graphic lying around. I think grumpy cat is more the support team’s mascot. 😉

The Troubleshooting Handbook will need content. The posts that @ipstenu has in her break/fix site will be migrated/copied to the new site by @jerrysarcastic and I’m itching to write a post for the “Giving Support” section.

But there are many examples in the support forums and in IRC that can and should be used in the new handbook. If you’ve seen or contributed a post for pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party or theme support that struck you as a particularly good answer (and I’m looking at @josh401, @jnhghy and @emg as a blatant and not so subtle attempt on my part to get content) then that can be used.

If you’ve wanted to contribute or have a post for consideration please share it in the comments. Even a link to a support topic or IRC conversations can get the

The transcript of the meetup can be read at this link.

Jan Dembowski 7:41 pm on June 5, 2014

Support Team Update for June 5th

Item discussed in today’s #wordpress-sfd support meetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. was the Troubleshooting Handbook.

A few days ago @jerrysarcastic posted a Troubleshooting Handbook ToC in make/support and this was well received. The handbook was declared “a thing now” in the IRC meetup. 😉

There was some discussion about the names of the support handbooks. The current handbook should be renamed to “Support Moderator Handbook” and the new one should be “Troubleshooting Handbook”. New names would help avoid confusion.

Please give Jerry’s post a read and contribute if you can. There are several areas in the ToC that can be a place to really contribute and help others providing support. I myself really like “03 Giving Support – How to communicate with and help others effectively” and may post something for review in that area.

The transcript of today’s meetup can be found at this link.

Jan Dembowski 2:35 am on May 30, 2014

Support Team Update for May 29th

It was a fun conversation and mostly it revolved around what his idea is and where to put it for now.

The What Part

The current support handbook’s audience really is people who want guidance for being a forum moderator. As @Ipstenu said the support handbook is “How to make more Jans and Mikas.”

Jerry’s idea is for producing a handbook that can be used for people who want to help others outside of a moderator role. Some of those forum members may be web developers not familiar with WordPress coding standardsWordPress Coding Standards The Accessibility, PHP, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, etc. coding standards as published in the WordPress Coding Standards Handbook. May also refer to The collection of PHP_CodeSniffer rules (sniffs) used to format and validate PHP code developed for WordPress according to the PHP coding standards.. Or non-coders who want to help and look for guidance as to how to best do that.

The Where Part

The where part was quickly settled at least temporarily. The stub is located at https://make.wordpress.org/support/trouble/ and the first step will be to create a TOC. Once that’s filled out then posts and examples can begin to be populated.

You do want to contribute, right?

Have you ever read a forum reply and thought “That was really a good answer!” (that’s happened to me) or even “That reply is missing a step”? This handbook can be a place to document and share those answers and solutions.

Visit Mika’s Break/Fix WordPress site and poke around. There are some great posts there and that’s really along the lines of what this idea is about.

Read again Jerry’s post and reply back there. What do you think should go into the table of contents, how should it be organized? Got any ideas for a topic or post? I myself want to write something about how plugins can be modified without editing just by using actions and filters in another small pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party.

There can be a lot of ideas for that handbook; please chime in make suggestions. Any offers to contribute will be appreciated.

The transcript of today’s meetup can be found at this link.

Jan Dembowski 5:50 pm on May 22, 2014

Support Team Update for May 22nd

Handbook updates for people starting with support

@jerrysarcastic elaborated on his idea from last week. Elaborated as in really provided a detailed description of what he meant and the goal is. 😉 This topic would be great for a make/support post and Jerry has said that he’ll create one there.

The discussion focused on the goal for updating the handbook for users to begin providing support and those users are not moderators or experienced users/developers. This is to include working examples along the lines of http://breakfix.elftest.net/

I think it’s a great idea and begins to head into knowledge base territory. That’s a big task but a section like that would really help people get started and be a great resource for any WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Contributor DayContributor Day Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/contributor-day/ https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/..

I’m really looking forward to Jerry’s post as well as feedback from the support community.

The transcript of today’s meetup can be found at this link

Jan Dembowski 10:41 am on May 20, 2014

Team chat agenda for week #21

So far the only item I have is a follow up is to pingPing The act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.” @jerrysarcastic and see if he has an update for the support handbook re that site of @ipstenu‘s. 😉

Want to get involved?

Weekly Meetings

Archives