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

[telemonster]

Good to know, thanks

[Blessed1]

This is great. I love that you’re looking for ways that everyone can help each other and reward those that do and encourage everyone to join in.

[rhbcc]

exactly - i think this is what PM is set apart from other carriers. See it is cheap because of how it is now; add more "services" and youre going to jack up plan prices. Obviously there are boundaries to this, some benefits can be added without shelling out too much $$$$

[MoreYummy]

Its time for the month of May update now. 

Lets see who is there.  😀

[Korth]

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@srlawren wrote:

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@byronrayne wrote:

That is a great feature.  I wish that there was an app for Public Mobile as I find the website interface is a little slow processing.  I have tried the site at both my home network and my work network.  

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@byronrayne bear in mind that a hypothetical mobile app would still leverage the same back-end services that power the self-serve website, meaning that they may not be much quicker if any.  This of course assumes they would not also upgrade the back-end systems when releasing the hypothetical app; a back-end overhaul/update would make both the website and a hypothetical/future mobile app quicker and is probably the wiser initial investment.  In theory, once that was done, I could see PM deciding they don't need a mobile app as the website would then be reasonably snappy.

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Other advantages a PM app could offer us:

- could potentially be programmed to autoconfigure all PM settings on every device

- could potentially be programmed to allow a direct channel with PM support (even when Self-Serve account status denies normal service)

- stronger security than browser https if each installed copy is issued unique embedded ID tokens

- snazzy icon on desktop, if you're into that sort of thing

Other advantages a PM app could offer PM (and Telus):

- more streamlined support channel

- more advanced active and passive telemetry = more data points to sell to data brokers

- more ability to spam subscribers, potentially unignorable and unblockable

Disadvantages a PM app would bring:

- cost $$$$$-$$$$$$$ to design and deploy and maintain (depending how many bugs and problems happen)

- ongoing cost $$$$$$ to continue supporting new devices and operating systems

- will simply never be possible to support every device, all hardware, all software which millions of bring-your-own-device Canadians will dig up

- transition period will confuse many customers, possible loss of subscribers

- introduces endless vulnerability to manipulation from people running hacked/modded clients

[AE_Collector]

Yes that may have been at the same time so it could have been hoped that this would free up resources to let the web site respond faster. Still waiting on that however! “Part of the experience here” as I have said with regards to other things that seem like they should be an easy fix but don't ever get fixed...

[srlawren]

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@AE_Collector wrote:

@srlawren 

Wasnt there an announcement maybe 6 months ago that the web site had undergone some changes that would solve the slow response rate? I don't think I ever noticed any change to it.

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@AE_Collector I think PM used it as justification to get rid of the build-your-own plan and 90 day plan options.  Whether or not that was the true motivation for the plan simplifications is anyone's guess.

[AE_Collector]

@srlawren 

Wasnt there an announcement maybe 6 months ago that the web site had undergone some changes that would solve the slow response rate? I don't think I ever noticed any change to it.

[srlawren]

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@byronrayne wrote:

That is a great feature.  I wish that there was an app for Public Mobile as I find the website interface is a little slow processing.  I have tried the site at both my home network and my work network.  

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@byronrayne bear in mind that a hypothetical mobile app would still leverage the same back-end services that power the self-serve website, meaning that they may not be much quicker if any.  This of course assumes they would not also upgrade the back-end systems when releasing the hypothetical app; a back-end overhaul/update would make both the website and a hypothetical/future mobile app quicker and is probably the wiser initial investment.  In theory, once that was done, I could see PM deciding they don't need a mobile app as the website would then be reasonably snappy. 

[byronrayne]

That is a great feature.  I wish that there was an app for Public Mobile as I find the website interface is a little slow processing.  I have tried the site at both my home network and my work network.  

[nguifombeoh]

This is really a brilliant idea. At least no one is left out at the moment and everyone's contribution counts no matter how small it may be

[darlicious]

@hyT 

Lol...it ain't broke the username pop up box is in need of a tweek!

[hyT]

@darlicious, Sorry to have caused you trouble trying to tag me. When I chose that user name, I had no idea it would complicate things. But since I have been using it for a couple of months now, I think I should just stick with it. If it ain't broke, I'd better not try to fix it. 😉

[darlicious]

@AE_Collector 

I agree I just tried it with  @hyT  and it took three tries with the correct letters but until the correct letter was capitalized it would not come up. Unlike your name its unique all on your own.....

BTW..,.my thread Braavo anomalies is screaming out for an inappropriate phone pic now that it's been sent to the abyss. Now I really need a "friends list" to tag anyone else I happen to know and would like to hear their take on things !

[AE_Collector]

@SD08 

I find using the “@“ symbol to find users extremely flakey on my iPad. Works sometime and not others. I kind of like the idea of trying by creating a friends list. Might give that a try.

[AE_Collector]

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@mpcdesign wrote:

@imm1304, yep, your title does say retread!

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Now THATS not very nice... retread.... sheesh. 🙂

[darlicious]

@SD08 

Thank you....an excellent idea. I had asked about that feature awhile back and was given an answer that it didn't really have a useful function....now it does.

@mpcdesign 

I have tried that but it doesn't quite fulfill the my needs in this situation....but thx!

[mpcdesign]

@imm1304, yep, your title does say retread! Oops, retired as of Sunday

[mpcdesign]

@darlicious, as soon as you type in the @ symbol followed by a few characters of their name, you can select the user name. That's what I normally do. 

Another thing, is open two browsers windows, one for your reply response and the other window to go to your own profile settings,  scroll down the page, and you should see the bravoes given and received, and you will also see their names too? Copy and past their names in the reply response message. 

[SD08]

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@darlicious wrote:

@Tiana_V 

The only thing I miss about the bravo leaderboard is the ability to use it as a directory to find usernames to private message, tag them, correct spelling of the name etc....is their any way to get an alphabetical  directory of usernames so they could be easily looked up? Otherwise I have to search for posts/threads that I remember them posting in......

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@darlicious 

As an alternative, you could create your own list of friends and it would appear on your profile page, sorted alphabetically.  When you find a person to add, simply click on the Friend button under their Contact Me section. If you've received a private message from someone previously, there is also an option to friend them from within that message. Friending does not require approval from nor affect the other person in any way and is purely for your reference.

Yes, it takes some work to collect many names the first time, but then it will be constantly available in your profile and you wouldn't have to worry about a directory or leaderboard being decommissioned eventually.  I realize this won't help when you're trying to find a person and really don't know the spelling of a name, but it's something you can compile as you go, and eventually it will be a useful personal directory limited to those you are likely to contact, without thousands of other names to sift through.  Back when private messaging was the preferred method of contacting support, some members used this feature to create friends lists consisting of Moderators & PM Team staff so we could see who was online.

[darlicious]

@Tiana_V 

The only thing I miss about the bravo leaderboard is the ability to use it as a directory to find usernames to private message, tag them, correct spelling of the name etc....is their any way to get an alphabetical  directory of usernames so they could be easily looked up? Otherwise I have to search for posts/threads that I remember them posting in......

[yanzhiqiang]

Getting better and better.

[imm1304]

Hey @computergeek541 , Yes I had the email notification that I have received a private message in the community for a while. So I finally visited the community and replied to the message from Tiana.  Thanks. 

[computergeek541]

@imm1304 I'm asssuming that you have been talking to Tiana? If so, my bets would be on Monday.

[Anonymous]

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@imm1304 wrote:

Thanks @kb_mv   

I am sure it will change soon. 

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 @imm1304 

You don't really need to post. It will change any of your posts. I found a 2015 or so post from srlawren that was the new title.

[mpcdesign]

@imm1304, maybe you are way off the radar. Or they don't like you very much!? Kidding. 

It could be that you been super quiet in the community forum that you don't care if your title change? I wished they can say retired Deputy Mayor for me. 

[imm1304]

Thanks @kb_mv   

I am sure it will change soon. 

[kb_mv]

@imm1304 Unfortunately you're still only a Mayor lol.

[imm1304]

Testing to see if I am showing as a retired Oracle now 

EDIT:  Nope, still a Mayor 🤠

[SD08]

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@computergeek541 wrote:

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.

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@computergeek541 

Yes, but the default setting on new community accounts leaves signatures visible, which means most members will see the signature if there is one.