CONTEST CLOSED: Help us redesign our boards for a chance to win!

[Alan_K]

Hey Community, 

As we mentioned at the end of 2019, one of Public Mobile’s focuses for 2020 is to improve our systems and portals to give you, our customers, a better experience. This includes everything from our back-end systems, to our self-serve portals, to the Community. As we look to make improvements to the Community, I want to make sure we leave no stone unturned and make every part of the Community experience great. 

That being said, one area we’d love your help with is the Community boards. The boards we have now (including Announcements, Getting Started, and The Lounge) help us organize the Community, but as the Community grows, we want to make sure they reflect the content that our members want to see. So, let us know what you think the boards in the Community should be and you’ll be entered to win one of three $50 Amazon e-gift cards. 

Comment below what boards you think we should have by Monday March 23 2020 at 12:00PM ET to be entered. Get as creative as you’d like! Want a board dedicated to money saving and deals? Tell us! Think we should have fewer? Let us know! We will take these submissions into consideration as we work towards improving the Community experience for everyone, and three winners will be randomly selected to receive a $50 Amazon e-gift card. 

Please note that all winners will be contacted via private messenger within a few days of the contest closing. 

-The Public Mobile Community Team

CONTEST RULES

Spoiler

Redesign Our Boards Contest
CONTEST RULES

1.       HOW TO ENTER & ELIGIBILITY 
   No Purchase Necessary.  To enter entrants must share, in the Public Mobile Community post, how they would redesign the list of forum boards in the Community. Only one entry per person accepted.  No other form of participation is accepted.  In the event of a dispute on the entrant identity, the person who is the holder of the email address specified on the online form will be deemed to be the entrant. 

If your entry contains a person, other than the entrant, by entering the contest, you state that you have obtained consent from everyone in the photo. If your photo contains a minor (under the age of 18) parental or legal guardian consent is required.

Contest runs from March 16 to March 23, 2020 at 12:00pm ET. 

An Entry will be considered void and removed from the Community post if it contains subject matter that, in the opinion of the contest administrators, may violate community standards or is otherwise of questionable taste.

To be eligible, an entrant must be an existing Public Mobile customer and entry must be received on or before end of contest closing date and time. Entrants must be a Canadian resident who are 13 years of age or older and must be a member of the Public Mobile online Community. Contest not open to employees of TELUS Corporation, its affiliated companies or subsidiaries, its sales agents, its advertising and promotional agencies, and members with whom they are domiciled.  By accepting these Contest Rules, entrants agree that any and all liability related to this contest by TELUS is limited to the value of the Prize(s) as defined hereinafter.

2. 
   2. THE PRIZE
   There will be three (3) prizes awarded.  Each winner will receive the following prize: 

One (1) Amazon e-gift card valued at $50 

Prize(s) must be accepted as awarded and with no substitutions, is/are not transferable unless set out in the Contest Rules and cannot be exchanged with Public Mobile for cash. Public Mobile reserves the right to substitute the Prize with a Prize of equivalent value if such prize becomes unavailable for any reason.  The chances of winning are dependent upon the total number of eligible entries received.

3. 
   3. THE DRAW
   A random draw for all Prizes will take place at the Public Mobile office located at 25 York Street, Toronto, Ontario on or about March 23 at approx.12:00PM ET by a TELUS representative. Selected entrants will be notified on the Public Mobile Community. If the selected entrant cannot be reached within two (2) business days, or if the selected entrant does not meet any of the contest requirements, another entrant will be selected from the remaining eligible entries.
   In order to win, the selected entrant must correctly answer unaided a mathematical skill-testing question and will be required to sign a standard release form.  If the selected entrant is under the age of majority in his/her province of residence, his/her parent or legal guardian must read and accept these Contest Rules.  Failure to answer the skill-testing question correctly, comply with the Contest Rules or sign and return the release form within two (2) days of receipt will result in disqualification and another entry will be selected until the Prize is awarded. Prize will be delivered to a Canadian address of the winner’s choice within (7) business days after prize has been awarded. 
4. 
   4. PRIVACY
   By entering the contest, entrants consent to the use of their names, city of residence, photograph, voice and/or image for publicity purposes in all media used by Public Mobile, without payment or compensation.  Entrants agree to TELUS’ use of the entrants’ personal information that may include contacting you regarding limited time offers, promotional offers and/or surveys. Full details are as described in Public Mobiles’ privacy policy located at publicmobile.ca/termsofservice.

5. QUEBEC RESIDENTS

Any litigation respecting the conduct or organization of a publicity contest may be submitted to the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux for a ruling. Any litigation respecting the awarding of a Prize may be submitted to the Régie only for the purpose of helping the parties reach a settlement. 

6. OTHER
All entries become the property of Public Mobile. Public Mobile assumes no responsibility for lost, damaged or misdirected entries during the contest period, for any problems or technical malfunction of any online systems, servers, access providers, computer equipment, software and failure of any e-mail or entry to be received by Public Mobile on account of technical problems, traffic congestion on the Internet or at any web site or failure of handset or mobile web browser. Public Mobile reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to change, cancel or suspend this contest without prior notice. Entries are subject to verification and will be declared invalid if they are mechanically reproduced, forged, falsified, altered, tampered with, not in accordance with Community standards or unlawful in any way. Entries submitted by unauthorized means will be disqualified. In the event that it has been determined that an entry has been made in an manner not sanctioned by these rules and/or an entrant has submitted more than the number of entries permitted by these rules, the entrant and all of his/her entries will be disqualified.  Entrants agree to abide by the contest rules and the decisions of the contest judges, which are final. This contest is subject to all applicable laws and regulations.

[ShawnC13]

---

@TheGx wrote:

I suggest not limiting loyalty rewards at all for example by excluding loyalty consideration/points for those participating in the lounge, I think all of our activity on this forum should be considered towards loyalty - this will encourage people to spend more time on this forum which is the ultimate goal of any forum including Public to have people use the forum more and become involved more. Maybe more loyalty points or consideration should be given to posts that actually help people with their phone service, but giving nothing or no consideration at all for lounge participation or other kinds of involvement discourages people from participating in those areas and ultimately discourages people from spending time on this forum board.

---

@TheGx , why should Pm financially reward people for conversations in the Lounge for items that have nothing to do with helping their customers with the Public Mobile Service.  If people are only here for the rewards then they are here for the wrong reason.  It is to help people.  Ask the top earners how much time they put in and it will be a return of pennies on the hour.  They're here because they like to help.  So if Pm was to count posts and bravos in The Lounge for rewards how would that benefit them.  This is a customer service forum not a deals forum, or a social forum.  I can see having a social section but it should not be included in the calculation of rewards

[Tiprix]

Have a page say: Before You Start, where it is should be identified as a different coloured tab with a short video / automated tutorial (or page description) explaining what the community page does. It will ensure people don't leave personal information on the board and explain to people they can leave questions for the general community as they can assist in their inquiry, as well as how to contact public mobile by email should it be necessary.

[computergeek541]

---

@TheGx wrote:

Maybe more loyalty points or consideration should be given to posts that actually help people with their phone service, but giving nothing or no consideration at all for lounge participation or other kinds of involvement discourages people from participating in those areas and ultimately discourages people from spending time on this forum board.

---

Lounge participation doesn't count for Community rewards because quite honestly, most of the stuff there doesn't help anyone with the Public Mobile service.  The Lounge provides a place discuss off-topic matters freely (within reason). Unfortunately, this message board has a large problem with post-count padding as there are some who aren't posting to help, but only to increase post count.  Someone shouldn't earn rewards/discounts off a cell phone plan for posting jokes-of-the-day, talking about last night's hockey game, or for simply posting messages such as "hi, how are you".

[TheGx]

I suggest not limiting loyalty rewards at all for example by excluding loyalty consideration/points for those participating in the lounge, I think all of our activity on this forum should be considered towards loyalty - this will encourage people to spend more time on this forum which is the ultimate goal of any forum including Public to have people use the forum more and become involved more. Maybe more loyalty points or consideration should be given to posts that actually help people with their phone service, but giving nothing or no consideration at all for lounge participation or other kinds of involvement discourages people from participating in those areas and ultimately discourages people from spending time on this forum board.

[CannonFodder]

---

@darlicious wrote:

      Giving the member seeking help the opportunity to deal wth only one other member to assist while still publicly viewed...and invite certain other members join in by invitation may be more helpful.

While that's a nice.... shall we say.... sentiment.... I really don't see how that would be possible in this kind of setting. While I'm sure most of us have been caught up in threads where there are lots of replies, it would be nice if people would simply delete their posts if they're nothing more than repeats of what someone else has already said. While I have left several such posts in place, it's usually if I've added just a wee bit more info, or clarified something that's already been said, but I have also deleted stuff that's been just a repeat, having been "ninja'd" by someone(or several someones), due to typing at the same time. There have been LOTS of instances where other people should do the same.....

I know I have helped many members privately sort out their issues because they are overwhelmed by the public response.

---

Yes, there ARE plenty of threads that the OP can become overwhelmed, due to the sheer number of replies, but quite often those replies are questions, in an attempt to get the OP to divulge more pertinent info that they've left out when starting the thread. That, and as has often happened, a reply 6 or 7 posts further down the thread can end up being the key post, that digs out the correct solution to the problem.

It's cool if you can help people privately, but I really don't know how they could implement your suggestion in a forum setting..... 🤔 

[darlicious]

       I agree with many of the suggestions offered however I do believe that all participation except in the lounge should count towards community rewards. Limiting participation to help threads only to count towards those rewards will only lead to a flurry of repetitive, unhelpful or misinformed replies by well meaning (or not) members hoping to recieve a community reward and further confusing the member seeking help.

      Giving the member seeking help the opportunity to deal wth only one other member to assist while still publicly viewed...and invite certain other members join in by invitation may be more helpful. I know I have helped many members privately sort out their issues because they are overwhelmed by the public response. These obviously don't count towards community rewards....but for me the reward is solving the issue for the member. Participation in all aspects in all categories that relate to public mobile and the mobility industry should count because this is what enriches and allows the community to be a place of learning and teaching.

[smiley3]

I'd make it a bit easier to find how to post a question.  Took me a while to figure out where you had to go to be able to post when I wanted to ask a question.

[dac13]

While Deals, Maintenance Alerts and General Announcements are in the Announcements section, I think it's just easier to have it broken down so you can go directly to the area of interest instead of searching through all the Announcements.  Just easier to find information when it's broken down, including having the How To's section.

I didn't know about this so thanks for the link How to get notified of ANY New Promos, Announcements, System Outages, etc. 

[pm-smayer97]

---

@JenL wrote:

@mimmo  I think I know where you're coming from. There are so many places that sell PM plans and SIM cards. Sometimes, plans come with extras. It could be helpful to know when PM has a promotion. Rather than signing up and finding out the next day you could have gotten a huge deal. That could potentially be information people want to see when it comes to sales and deals. 

---

As has been pointed out, since all promos, notices, deals, contests, etc are posted in the Announcement section of this site,  the easiest to be notified of ALL these postings is to follow the instructions here:
How to get notified of ANY New Promos, Announcements, System Outages, etc

And never miss another one.

[mchuahua]

I think a board dedicated to money saving and deals would be interesting to have. Maybe also something like a weekly contest / game / draw to have that would result in a dollar off or some other prize? Doesn't even have to be monetary.

[JenL]

@mimmo no offence taken. Yes, the contests and prizes are in the announcement board. I was thinking contests and prizes could be posted in the sales and deals board. And yeah, I was assuming it would create more foot traffic, creating new PM members. It would be so awesome to have bigger giveaways and more frequently!! 

[mimmo]

true enough,  but when there are promo on they are usually announced in the announcements thread.  ppl can sign up for the email alert or the rss feed subscription method.    and usually anytime there is a promotion or deal 99.9% of the time it can be found on rdf within minutes.

btw, @JenL my quote button was missing I wanted to quote rather than tag.  sorry if it might have felt  I was singling you specifically, or if the post came across in an aggressive tone (this is a cheap brainstorming session for PM).   

From my perspective  this community is to help people when they have phone issues, as there is no live chat no number etc.  only SIMon :catsad:   So helping should be the main focus, and to be successful that needs to be the primary  focus,  not a department store with many areas that does none well (we have seen what happens to those).   

Unless the idea is to try to get more non PM people visiting with the hopes  that they will then decide to join,  if that's the case maybe they should have contests last 2-5 days and with bigger prizes  and have a new one once a week rather than monthly.  

[JenL]

@mimmo  I think I know where you're coming from. There are so many places that sell PM plans and SIM cards. Sometimes, plans come with extras. It could be helpful to know when PM has a promotion. Rather than signing up and finding out the next day you could have gotten a huge deal. That could potentially be information people want to see when it comes to sales and deals. 

[mimmo]

@JenL  Wouldn't a deals section be better suited in a site for deals  like red flag deals?      most people coming here are looking for phone support not where to buy the cheapest widget.

[JenL]

@Alan_K  I love the idea of having a tab for savings and deals. The announcement board could display top contributors whilst the savings and deals board could display contests etc. Thanks!

[cory_c]

---

Contest: Help us redesign our boards for a chance to win!

#1. I’d like to see headlines such as - Announcements, New Solutions, Latest Post – Standout, possibly similar to “Bravo Leaderboard”.

#2. Improve subjects: ‘Latest Post’ and ‘Latest Topics’. As I read these subjects, I can only guess that they may be similar. Suggestion: Combine or rename.

That’s my two cents.

cory_c

[Recovery]

As others mentioned, an easy to find FAQ section right on the community homepage would be great for the newcomers, to reduce the number of the same questions asked. The ability to customize the colors of the board would be a nice touch as well, such as a dark mode.

[CannonFodder]

---

@Mark_C wrote:

My suggestion is that there should be a way to filter for posts that have not been answered, or are unsolved. Also if this doesn't already happen, after a specific amount of time the OP should be forced to pick a best answer, and if a best answer isn't chosen a moderator should confirm the best answer. 

---

Well, first of all, how do you FORCE someone to pick a best answer, especially if that person never logs back in to the forums? There have been several threads, in which we never hear from the OP again, and therefore never know if the issue was resolved and/or what the correct advice was.

As for a Mod confirming the best answer, we already have at least one of the Oracles (@Luddite) that combs through week old(or older) threads, and often awards a "solution" to the post in any thread that turned out to be the correct advice, that the OP never actually marked as the solution.

[RM4]

I'm not a very techie person.  I can definitely see the benefit now from the reasons explained by yourself and CannonFodder.  Thanks. 

[zblackma]

Put a spot in the lounge dedicated to saving and deals. Also colour code the announcements. Green for contests, Blue for general announcements and Red for warnings, maintenance etc. 

[makkahn28]

I think that the Board needs to be given a Simplified form

as well as Coloured coded, what's correct, and what is incorrect

Have everything in regards to Porting over a Line to PM Under How to transfer a line from a different carrier to PM:

Name of Owner of A/C

Pin

Address

Reminder for people who maybe deciding to join PM to check IF their Devices are compatible, from LTE Data compatible to Min Band 5/Band 2( 850/1900 MHz)

Reminding people to purchase a Sim prior to porting process

Everything in regards to Self-Serve Portal it's own

Listing what the Self-Serve Portal is and each function

Plans and Add-Ons, it's own, and that should be self-explanatory

Phones and Listing what the BANDS PM/Telus uses, so that people know what to look for

Telus Mobility LTE Frequencies and Bands:

700 MHz Band 12, 13, 17, 29

850 MHz	Band 5
1700/2100 MHz	Band 4
1900 MHz	Band 2
2600 MHz	Band 7

Also, perhaps specifying HOW to Set up APN Settings, sometimes people may have issues and that this requires STEP-BY-STEP Specified instructions, INCLUDING Tethering, explaining what tethering is and all that

Rewards and Loyalty, the current way it's set up, that's easy to follow

Troubleshooting

Listing the MOST common issues and solutions, that could help keep the community efficiency effective for the more complex issues where quick fixes might not be available

Feedback

There needs to be more of a feedback toggle, so that this could be key to seeing what people like, what works, what is not, and what can be improved

Suggestions/Lab

I honestly think that this should be brought back, to see what people are looking for

Perhaps even PM having a Monthly or Bi-Annual Poll on what people wish to see

This way, at least PM/Telus can see and absorb greater info, better way to make PM better Brand in some way

Lounge

This is great to keep, perfect 

How to purchase an Add-On

This is by far a Necessity, people may get confused on the procedures, I had that happen myself a few times, so this would be great to have

Having an Important Bulletin when Important info

Oracles Thread

This explaining what an Oracle is and responsibilities

Moderators

Explaining this too vital 

How to change plans and what difference between plan renewing at automatic Renewal cycle vs Proactive plan renewal

Suspension of plan, explaining in detail when a plan is in suspension and clarifying that when account goes into suspension, people have 90 days from the day plan FIRST went into suspension to top up their account and renew plan, OR, after the 90 day period, on the 91st day the A/C is Permanently closed and is therefore deleted fro the system and the Sim is no longer useful as it's now invalid and a new Sim required

F&Q also important

[Mark_C]

@Alan_K 

My suggestion is that there should be a way to filter for posts that have not been answered, or are unsolved. Also if this doesn't already happen, after a specific amount of time the OP should be forced to pick a best answer, and if a best answer isn't chosen a moderator should confirm the best answer. 

[pm-smayer97]

---

@dac13 wrote:

FAQs

Deals

How To's

Maintenance Alerts

General Announcements

---

Well, FAQs seem to have been moved to the Help Articles on the main publicmobile.ca site,

Deals, Maintenance Alerts and General Announcements are already in the Announcements section so not sure we need separate sections for that (BTW, you can easily subscribe to get notified of all of them by following this:

How to get notified of ANY New Promos, Announcements, System Outages, etc

As for How To's, I see some value but it depends what you want to achieve...how are they different than FAQs or the Phone & Hardware sections?

[pm-smayer97]

Well, FAQs seem to have been moved to the Help Articles on the main publicmobile.ca site,

Deals, Maintenance Alerts and General Announcements are already in the Announcements section so not sure we need separate sections for that (BTW, you can easily subscribe to get notified of all of them by following this:

How to get notified of ANY New Promos, Announcements, System Outages, etc

As for How To's, I see some value but it depends what you want to achieve...how are they different than FAQs or the Phone & Hardware sections?

[ShawnC13]

---

@RM4 wrote:

 I don’t really understand why we need a separate account sign in for community?  I think that is a barrier for folks who aren’t really tech savvy and they may miss out or get frustrated with things. 

---

Besides it being a third-party platform for the community, many people have created community accounts without being a customer of PM to research about the product.  This way they don't need a self serve to participate in the community

[pm-smayer97]

---

@XionBunny wrote:

... there should be sections for each phone platform currently available, even a enthusiasts section for those of us in the know who can give tips on how to improve the user experience on each device....

---

can't the Phone & hardware section be used for that?

[CannonFodder]

---

@XionBunny wrote:

Honestly I like how vbuletin boards are designed, they have great features and allow for more rebust categorization, that said there should be sections for each phone platform currently available, even a enthusiasts section for those of us in the know who can give tips on how to improve the user experience on each device. I doubt you guys would ever change the forum software though but that's just my two cents on it all.

---

Yeah, I kinda doubt they'd change software, BUT it is actually doable. I previously mentioned being an admin, for a short while, on a forum running Invision Community, and I don't recall FOR SURE, but I THINK it may have been vbulletin that the site owner was originally running, but he wanted something better, so he got Invision, and migrated the old forum(s) over to the new software, and with a few exceptions, it actually went fairly smoothly. The end result was a MUCH nicer experience for all users, along with TONS of configurability for the owner of the forum. 👍 

[XionBunny]

Honestly I like how vbuletin boards are designed, they have great features and allow for more rebust categorization, that said there should be sections for each phone platform currently available, even a enthusiasts section for those of us in the know who can give tips on how to improve the user experience on each device. I doubt you guys would ever change the forum software though but that's just my two cents on it all.

[dac13]

FAQs

Deals

How To's

Maintenance Alerts

General Announcements

[Mountainmaxman]

I think the catagories are fine, the lounge is for all extra things anyhow. I think all the recent posts should be in one row not 2, you scroll down to read them all then go back up to read the ones in the second column. You need to speed things up, this site and the one for activation can be overloaded and very slow.