Community Updates - May 2020

[Tiana_V]

Hi Community, 

Recently we launched a small change on the Community that some of you might have noticed. You may have seen a couple of members around with a new title of “Retired Oracle”. Oracles are regular Public Mobile customers who have been on the Community for years and are well-versed in all things Public. They have built reputations for high-quality support and dedicate significant time and effort to provide help to their fellow customers. Over time, some Oracles have stepped down from the position, but we don't think that they should lose recognition for all the great contributions that they’ve made. We’ve introduced the “Retired Oracle” title to show thanks to Oracles for their past contributions and recognize the roles they’ve held within the Community. Retired Oracles will also maintain some capabilities to help keep the Community organized and clean. 

In addition to this new title, there are a few more changes coming to the Community this week. Tomorrow you may notice that the Bravo Leaderboard is no longer available on the homepage. The goal of the Community has always been to provide high quality support to our customers. Bravos are an important piece of this puzzle but they don’t capture everything. The removal of the Leaderboard will hopefully help to illustrate that bravos should not be the main goal of participating on the Community. We also want to continue to foster a welcoming, harmonious environment for all Community users, new and tenured. We are currently planning some exciting new ways to recognize our amazing Community users and their contributions. If you have any suggestions, please let us know below!

A final change you’ll notice tomorrow is that users will no longer be able to create macros (which act as response templates). As I mentioned earlier, the main goal of the Community is to provide quality support to our users and customers. This includes sharing answers that are specific and tailored to each users’ unique situations and questions. While macros can be convenient, more often than not they are resulting in less than full solutions. 

We’ve been asking for your feedback on how we can improve the Community for the past few months and we are actively working on bringing some of your suggestions to life. One specific area we’re working on is cleaning up the homepage - more on this and other Community updates in the near future!

- The Public Mobile Community Team

[computergeek541]

Sd08,

I've had signatures turned off for the longest time so that I don't even see them. My preference is to have those automatically removed from the screen for me.

[Kovaelin]

@mpcdesign @Anonymous I don't see why the Community site would need to display all the confidential information, but there are plenty of sites that know which service desk account belongs to whichever user account, without having to manually verify every time you have a new issue/every 72 hours. Not to mention if you have to jump through hoops to update your e-mail.

You account e-mail address that you use to log in is separate from the e-mail address on file, which is different from the community one, so not only do you have two accounts to manage, but your e-mail address is disconnected in at least three different places (that I know of).

It's undeniable that there could be improvements with how accounts are managed.

[SD08]

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@AE_Collector wrote:

I’m old school I guess...sort of like signing a letter. I frequently find myself reading someone’s post then scroll back up to see who did the writing (I see it initially before reading but it never fully registers) so I feel as though the user name in the bottom also reminds someone who wrote what they just read Before they continue down to the next post. I know, just a little thing I guess...

okay...will try not signing and see if I can sleep tonight....

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The main reason I see to have a signature is to warn customers against sending personal info to us (in the mistaken belief that we're able to provide account assistance), which happened a lot to the most active members, especially back when private messaging was the preferred method of obtaining help, and probably still happens to some extent even now despite the advent of the SIMon bot for ticketing. That's why you'll still see some Oracles with a signature to that effect.  I avoided a signature even when I had the option because of the clutter it adds to posts, preferring instead to keep a warning note in my profile for that purpose.  Not so important for me now since I'm not as active.

[AE_Collector]

I’m old school I guess...sort of like signing a letter. I frequently find myself reading someone’s post then scroll back up to see who did the writing (I see it initially before reading but it never fully registers) so I feel as though the user name in the bottom also reminds someone who wrote what they just read Before they continue down to the next post. I know, just a little thing I guess...

okay...will try not signing and see if I can sleep tonight....

[Anonymous]

 @AE_Collector 

I can't help but think why bother with your "signature". It's your username up top. If you wanted to otherwise say something else then sure. But you just have your username.

[AE_Collector]

Interesting stuff. I don’t know how I miss so many new topics here. I just finished creating a topic asking if it were only me than no longer sees the Bravo Leaderboard and was directed to this topic.

I recall someone suggesting the Retired Oracles title recently... Great move!

I have been somewhat expecting the disappearance of the Leader Board for awhile now. Will see what this change looks like going forward.

My only disappointment in losing the Macro is that I finally figured out how to use it to add my “AE_Collector” signature! Couldn’t it be limited to 20 characters and maybe only 1 macro? Or provide the option of a signature line. I think it is an Oracle perk but maybe they could bestow it on us as well? 

AE_Collector (entered manually 😞 )

[srlawren]

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@brettster99 wrote:

@Naepalm  I stopped for 2 days and public mobile announces these changes. 

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@brettster99 pretty sure the two are unrelated in any sort of causality.

[srlawren]

Well, this is completely irrelevant info now, but for anyone that didn't know what the macro feature was, I did a guide on a while back that may be at least mildly interesting.

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Discussions/HOWTO-Create-and-use-Macros-for-repetitiv...

[carlaspapa]

Wow I've learned what a macro is not that I quite understand it but I guess it doesn't matter cuz it's not here anymore but I kind of like the Bravos leaderboard it's like watching golf.. That  gblackma is like Tiger Woods up there all the time when's he going to get a back injury? But I guess that doesn't matter either cuz I can't follow the leader board anymore. That's okay from what I read most people support it and that's cool too.

[Naepalm]

@Anonymous I actually started entering edit in my post because I had observed you doing it 😀 Learning for the vets here 🙂

[Dolphin1]

Thank you @Tiana_V  and everyone at PM for acknowledging certain aspects of the community were "broken".  By removing the bravo board and macro responses this will alleviate some of the craziness of late.

[RedSands]

Great improvements to the community thank you.

[dabr]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@computergeek541 wrote:

Naepalm, this has more to do with generic messages being posted that don't answer the question or them being used to be the first person to reply at all costs, sometimes with edits being done later (after someone else has provided that answer further on in the thread).

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I agree. I think doing that is a bit cheatee. Which is why I would say "Edit:" and then go on to say my change. Mostly. 🙂 (in case someone finds proof otherwise as I know I have done some inline edits beyond just typos)

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I would agree because I'm sure I've read just a one line response before I post a response and by the time I've hit post on mine, there's a whole page of suggestions instead of the one or even two lines I saw prior.   I think changing for grammar or typos doesn't require that you add edit, but if adding additional information, then yes edit should be indicated.

[Anonymous]

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@computergeek541 wrote:

Naepalm, this has more to do with generic messages being posted that don't answer the question or them being used to be the first person to reply at all costs, sometimes with edits being done later (after someone else has provided that answer further on in the thread).

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I agree. I think doing that is a bit cheatee. Which is why I would say "Edit:" and then go on to say my change. Mostly. 🙂 (in case someone finds proof otherwise as I know I have done some inline edits beyond just typos)

[brettster99]

@Naepalm  I stopped for 2 days and public mobile announces these changes. Overall I feel that this is a good step forward for everyone and I can't wait to start more regularly again

[geopublic]

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@computergeek541 wrote:

Naepalm, this has more to do with generic messages being posted that don't answer the question or them being used to be the first person to reply at all costs, sometimes with edits being done later (after someone else has provided that answer further on in the thread).

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And how does this change stop that? Copy and paste are still available. Nothing wrong with replying to a thread describing the solution and also use a "generic" macro to direct the OP to the next steps that need to be taken.

I guess work harder not smarter is the new approach!

[dabr]

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@computergeek541 wrote:

@dabr There are some behind-the-scenes differences, but most members would likely see the abilities among Oracles and Retired Oracles as largely the same.

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@computergeek541   Thanks for clarifying and I was also wondering if retired oracles would have the ability to remove private info from a customer's post but TianaV has clarified in her response to gblackma that will be one of the functions you will have.  I think that's a good idea on the whole so that we can tag any of the oracles to remove those kinds of details that sometimes get posted.

[pm-smayer97]

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@Tiana_V wrote:

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@gblackma wrote:

@Tiana_V 

1. By removing the Bravos board, you meant deleting it permanently from the forum and not hiding it from sight. Right?
2. Its great that Retired oracles are recognized for their previous  efforts. But why the almost Oracle controls?
3. And what constitutes a macro? Thanks. If I post an answer and keep linking to it. Is this a macro?

Thanks. Stay safe

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1. Once removed, the leaderboard will not be available at all. 

2. Retired Oracles are trusted to perform critical actions such as helping to remove private info or inappropriate content from posts so that the Community can be safe and enjoyable for all users.

3. Macros are a specific capability within the Community that allow users to save templates to use and reuse. Linking to other posts is still possible. 

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#2 is a nice addition, giving recognition to significant contributors.

Anyone previously using #3 will simply use another way to have canned replies, so what is the point of removing it from the forum?...And removing #1...oh well...I won't bother with this one.

So really, these changes do not amount to anything meaningful (except #2)...nothing to see here folks.

Is this just change for the sake of change, just to make it look like something useful is being done?

What about actually focusing on what truly matters and has real impact, like changing the private messaging system and its links to the customer ticketing system? Now that would be more meaningful.

[computergeek541]

Naepalm, this has more to do with generic messages being posted that don't answer the question or them being used to be the first person to reply at all costs, sometimes with edits being done later (after someone else has provided that answer further on in the thread).

[Naepalm]

@computergeek541  its actually smart in saving a.minute amount of server space as well. 

[gpixel]

@computergeek541 what! no pension plan for retirees? 

that's okay, cause "you have the powerrrrr!" 

[computergeek541]

@gblackma What won't be allowed is saving these macros on the Public Mobile site for quick use.

[computergeek541]

@gpixel There is no Community reward associated with being a Retired Oracle.

[gpixel]

@computergeek541 do you still get the Oracle reward? or a downsized version of it?

[Anonymous]

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@gblackma wrote:

Thanks @Anonymous no, never knew it existed. I thought that they meant the ones that you prepared on your own. 

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I think it's unfortunate that they removed it. For those repetitive questions that we always see...reply, macros, select, post. Oh well.

Some people have their own collections of things that they would copy/paste from. That seems longer and more keystrokes/mouse clicks/touching.

I always reach for the easy button. Sigh.

[gblackma]

Thanks @Anonymous no, never knew it existed. I thought that they meant the ones that you prepared on your own. 

[Naepalm]

@gblackma no thats not, if you have an html file like the one you have shown you can use that still. Look like you have worked hard to put some of those together. I am not there yet lol. 

[Anonymous]

 @gblackma 

I guess you never used the Macros function. It's one of the options in the settings. You can add up to 9 macros which are really just quick-access bits of text (or whatever). Then in the little icon bar above this textbox you'll see Macros and a little down arrow to indicate drop down. You pick one of your bits of text and it goes in the textbox.

From what I understand, that's all that's being removed. You can do all you want with whatever your source of text is. Just not Macros. But it sounds like you didn't use them. So you're good.

Edit: and with that discussed...the Macro button is gone 🙂

[gblackma]

Thanks @Tiana_V  . So, is this a macro? Its from one source. Or can I use it to illustrate how to do the lost stolen trick? From your self service account enable the lost/ stolen feature log out, wait 5  minutes, log in and take it off. Log out and restart your phone. 

•  

• This one illustrates how to reactivate a suspended self service account . And is cut from 3 different sources. I would think that  the second is a macro and the first isn't. Please confirm if a one piece demonstration piece with no writing is considered a macro, or not. Thanks.

[Naepalm]

@Tiana_V those functions are super important! And with oracles in all different times zones it should ensure coverage basically 24/7