COMMUNITY - Improving Main Page Functionality?

[Leopold]

This post asks if it might be possible to discuss potential improvements for our beautiful COMMUNITY Main Page. I love the fact that we have ANNOUNCEMENTS and NEW SOLUTIONS at the very top of the Main Page. I also appreciate the fact that we have LATEST POSTS and LATEST TOPICS right up there. However, is that enough? Might we be able to make our Main Page even more helpful, especially for newcomers?

I have only been a member of COMMUNITY of a couple of days. In that brief time, I have come to realize that there is something missing. Namely a quick link to a well-structured and informative KNOWLEDGE BASE. Here are three examples of how I have come to that conclusion.

Case in point #1: ACCOUNTS

What’s the deal with the confusing account labels? As a newcomer, I wasted many hours trying to understand the types of accounts at Public Mobile. During hours of private messaging, I learned that even Mods were providing contradictory and incorrect answers to a simple question. When it became clear to me that “MY ACCOUNT” and the “SELF SERVE” account are one and the same, I immediately posted my results here to assist other newcomers:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Self-Serve/COMMNITY-ACCOUNT-vs-MY-ACCOUNT-vs-SELF-SER...

 Alas, I fear that the clarification in question may soon be lost among the hundreds of questions and answers being generated daily at COMMUNITY. However, that would not be the case if a clear and simple KNOWLEDGE BASE was readily accessible to COMMUNITY members.

After posting the above information, I discovered that my RANK level had changed, and that I was suddenly being awarded BADGES that were magically appearing next to user name. That brings me to the next example.

Case in point #2: RANK LEVELS

What’s the deal with RANK levels? As a newcomer to COMMUNITY, I had no knowledge of the existence of a RANKING SYSTEM, nor did I understand how it worked. I wasted quite a bit of time searching for answers. Here is the answer that I eventually found:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Using-Your-Service/My-ranking-went-up/m-p/150976/high...

It seems to me that an explanation to a simple question that affects all COMMUNITY members should not be buried deep inside our forum under the heading such as “Using Your Service”. Rather, would it not be preferable to have a clear explanation for the RANKING SYSTEM that is readily accessible via a KNOWLEDGE BASE icon located in plain sight on our Main Page?

Case in point #3: BADGES

What’s the deal with BADGES? After my first post, I suddenly noticed BADGES magically appearing next to my user name. I have wasted quite a bit of time trying to find out more about BADGES: how many there are, what they mean, how members actually get them, who has the authority to hand them out,  etc… But alas, I have not yet succeeded in piercing the mystery underlying the magical world of BADGES. Wouldn’t be nice if that information was readily available via a KNOWLEDGE BASE link located on COMMUNITY’s Main Page?

All of this brings me to propose the following SUGGESTION for consideration:

Would it be possible to redesign the wonderful MAIN PAGE at COMMUNITY to feature a quick link to a KNOWLEDGE BASE next to ANNOUNCEMENTS and NEW SOLUTIONS? The KNOWLEDGE BASE would contain valuable answers to key questions that all newcomers need to know and understand – especially those same questions that seem to be recurring over and over again in our forum. For example: 1) clear directives on the most fundamental issues and steps that new subscribers must know and follow, 2) a note of clarification indicating that MY ACCOUNT and SELF SERVE account are one and the same, 3) an explanation of the RANKING SYSTEM used here, and 4) a bit of information about the BADGES that magically appear, as well as the benefits they may possibly provide (in any)?

I have presented only 4 examples, but I am confident there are a host of other much more important questions and issues that are being repeatedly raised on a daily basis in our wonderful forum. My regret lies in the fact that many of the most helpful answers, especially those that have been so generously offered by dedicated members, are simply being lost among the innumerable daily exchanges.

In closing, I must say that COMMUNITY is truly an AMAZING site. That is surely due to its dedicated, hard working and highly skillful members. That warrants a big THANK YOU! I am honored and feel privileged to count myself among of its newest members.

Leopold.

[Leopold]

@gpixel 

Thanks - much appreciated!

Leopold

[gpixel]

@Leopold 

for badges:

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/bc/get-help/articles/the-community-reward

[popping]

At the top of community front page, there is a link called "Here's how to get started" which points to this thread called "Beginner’s Guide to the Community".  

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Community/Beginner-s-Guide-to-the-Community/m-p/60997... 

I believe that @Catherine_T was trying to improve the community front page.

Edit:

There are 3 threads which are pinned at the top of the "Community" sub-forum so that these threads are not buried in the "Community" sub-forum.

[ShawnC13]

Need more BADGES?!?!?!

The badges as stated don't do anything except making people feel good for the work they do around here

[Leopold]

@darlicious 

Thank you for your excellent and most helpful reply - that's much appreciated!

Leopold

[darlicious]

@hTideGnow 

Lol....its not forever!

[hTideGnow]

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@darlicious wrote:

Go to your community profile and click on one of your badges to see what happens?!!😎

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I always wonder why there is such "functionality" as well.. Scary.. all my "hard works" could be gone in couple click click click...  😥

[darlicious]

@Leopold 

You are a great addition to the community.

Here's a little history on some of the topics you have brought up....

You have obviously used the search bar. A very under utilized tool of the community by members. It's by best friend when researching a subject of my own interest, a quick way of finding an answer or a solution for an OP that I don't even have a clue what the answer is or even what they are talking about. ( PUK? What the heck is a PUK? I know Wayne Gretzky can stick handle a puck but a PUK?😃) You can even use it to search for the old knowledge base that was replaced with the current HELP ARTICLES. However it is no longer updated so not all of the knowledge contained there now applies or is correct. But the majority of it is still applicable and very helpful.

Personally though the knowledge base contains more in depth coverage on certain subjects than the HELP ARTICLES which tend to be simplified answers for basic questions. This is where the active community comes in to play. The more senior members of the community like mayors etc...that include the oracles given their position for their all around knowledge of most subjects and their long history of community membership and being customers of course.

You will also find for the most part the community will often know more about public mobile than moderators and can give customers/members information that the moderators cannot sometimes give because they will offer answers that come from the official pm policy "book", terms of services, rules and regulations or common practices. Its also important to note that moderatirs can sometimes be new, poorly trained, unaware of new policy or just plain wrong. Seeking counsel from the community and asking for a second opinion ( great advice I was given in my first month here)  by opening a second support ticket/request after arming oneself with the info from the community that contradicts the moderator will almost end with a positive result for the customer.

This does not mean that they always follow policy in practice, that pm implements these practices or that certain systems, plans, add ons etc... act or perform in the manner they are laid out. That is not to say you won't get what you pay for. If you don't then pm or the moderators will remedy it. What it does mean is you often get more than you "pay' for.....the community will inform you of these extra "benefits" and keep it mostly on the down low in the hopes that pm won't correct it to fall in line with official policy. 

Sometimes they do....like last spring when the fixed the "ghost referrals" and the friend referral rewards that continued to reward customers with monetary rewards for customers who had long left pm, had suspended their accounts or the mystery "ghost" referrals that would appear in your account as a $1 reward (or more) but with no associated phone number for reference indicating that it was an actual activated customers. Many customers have complained about losing many of their referrals (some $30+) in the past year but few have been able to definitively prove their referrals were still active customers unless they were actually friends and family.

Other "benefits" are mutually beneficial to both pm and the customer. An example of this is the 250mb autopay data bonus for the $15 plan. All of the other $25+ plans come with an additional 500mb of bonus plan data that requires you to be registered for autopay. This requirement does not need to be met for the $15 plan only to recieve the $2 reward. Instead the 250mb bonus data is coded to the plan. For many customers with this plan that can't or won't register for autopaythis is an added benefit. For public mobile its a benefit because according to their terms and conditions any plan that does not come with a data plan must be given full speed (unthrottled) 4G LTE data when purchasing data add ons.

Other "benefits" remain unchanged or not implemented despite directly contradicting certain rules and regulations like earning rewards. The rules say rewards will not be awarded if they exceed the amount of the community members rate plan in their account. This rule is not enforced. Members who earn more rewards that their rate plan have the rewards added to their account and upon renewal any unused rewards that exceed the plan cost are deposited as a credit on their account balance to be used for future purchases or when they wish to upgrade to a higher data plan. This most commonly happens with accounts that have the $10 50/50 plan (now grandfathered) or the $15 plan.

Not all subjects or answers could be put in a knowledge base that you seek nor does pm seem to want to have an expansive base that covers every possible question or subject. Nor does the community or there would no longer be a purpose for us....like answering every inquiring members's question with "contact the moderators" and here's how to do that.....could achieve the solution almost everytime but negates the community's purpose. We are here to help teach others how to manage  or troubleshoot their accounts and services and avoid using the moderators except for account issues in order to keep costs low and our plans affordable (or free like me!😃)

As pm slowly fixes it website and account issues it's bugs and quirks and glitches the community has less customers to help. We really like to help others that's why we are here....and to socialize a little....and yes we appreciate the community rewards we earn. But it's all those other unseen "benefits" we enjoy that bring us back day after day ( at least for the "regulars")....you know like endorphins, thank you's and the like..... The community is public mobile's best asset and other than rewards its defining feature of it's online only business model. We don't want to lose it.😁

Edit: BTW....another added benefit....a stress reliever. Go to your community profile and click on one of your badges to see what happens?!!😎

[softech]

haha, even better, the management should know who to assign the work to.. LoL.

[dabr]

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@softech wrote:

It's good to see PM mods participating and replying as well.  I think mod should keep it this way, monitor the posts often and jump into assisting (by private message) if they see urgent issues.  

Thanks @J_PM  

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@softech   Hmm...I believe Jade_S is part of PM's management team and not a moderator... 😊   But yeah agree, it's nice to see the feedback on the forums.

[softech]

It's good to see PM mods participating and replying as well.  I think mod should keep it this way, monitor the posts often and jump into assisting (by private message) if they see urgent issues.  

Thanks @J_PM  

[J_PM]

Hello @Leopold 

Thank you so much for your suggestions. We will take these points under advice, especially at a time when Public Mobile is working on ways to optimize the customer's experience in our Community. I will share them back with the team. 

We are always grateful for new ideas and feedback from our users on this subject. 😊

Thanks!

Jade 

[softech]

@Leopold no worry about the badges and the ranking.  As mentioned above, they are just fancy thing that make it a bit more "interesting"  (in fact, it comes from the software package the Community runs on, so, it might not even be something PM really wants)

Keep coming back to the Community and share your knowledge and eventually, good things will happen (Community Reward)

Welcome to PM and Welcome to the Community!!

[dabr]

@Leopold    The only badges that matter are the ones with a date underneath them as they are the ones that are tied to community rewards earned which are paid out towards the end of first week each month.  Of course, all these rewards/badges are based upon participation and will vary each month because of participation/numbers of users participating. 

[Anonymous]

 @Leopold : You seem to be doing a fine job searching. Kudos. If you hover over a bolded Oracle username or a Mayor username then click on the grey-ish +25 or whatever, you'll see all the badges (other than some annual badges which seem spotty).

[Leopold]

Thank you z10user

Can you point me to an area of the forum that sheds further light on Badges?

Leopold

[hTideGnow]

@Leopold 

Badges.   Again, these are just just  "🎼 🎵I feel Good🎶"  items as well.

For new users, there are different kinds of badges like  x Bravo Earned,  x Bravo Given, x Accepted Solutions, etc.  I think there are 15 different ones. 

Once you got all those, it will but just those Top 1%, Top 5%, Top 10% , Top 25%, Top 50% badges for each month.  Those Top x % tied with the monthly reward you will get ($15, $10, $5, $2, $1)

General idea,  stay on the community, participate , help others by answering questions, Give Bravos (VERY IMPORTANT!!!) to help others.  The more you participate , the better chance you will be the Top % and earn more monthly reward

[Anonymous]

 @Leopold : The only badges that matter are the reward level badges. The others everyone just gets as they go along. As for one part of your essay:

[Leopold]

Thank you very much for the helpful link and explanation - that's much appreciated.

Might you have a similar link for Badges?

Leopold

[hTideGnow]

@Leopold , The Ranking, or title , honest has no much use other than make me feel good.  It is part of the design of Khoros, which is the software used behind this Community

Here is more info how to get to each different ranks:

Solved: Re: Ranking - Community (publicmobile.ca)