[Fedora-marketing-list] Wave of end-user questions

[Patrick W. Barnes]

On Monday 16 October 2006 09:34, Jeffrey Tadlock wrote:
> Patrick W. Barnes wrote:
> > Just preceding this message is the latest wave of end-user messages
> > delivered to info at fedoraproject.org.  These are usually simple end-user
> > questions that need simple answers.  RTFM-type messages are unacceptable,
> > but if you feel that you can answer some of these questions, please feel
> > free to give it a try.
>
> Most of those were queued in the moderation queue?  It looks like
> several of those were several days old.
>

Yes, these messages are all held for moderation until one of the (busy) list 
admins has a chance to go through the queue and pick out the real messages 
from among all the spam.

> > The info@ alias used to be pointed to the Fedora Ambassadors Steering
> > Committee, but that group decided that it could not handle these queries.
> >  I know that readers of this list may not like this solution, and I'm
> > open to other suggestions.  Here are some thoughts I've had for
> > alternatives:
>
> I would try to not make info@ handling too complicated.  To me the info@
> alias would be more similar to an Information Desk.  It's not so
> important the Information Desk know the exact answer your actual
> question, but that they know where to redirect your question with a
> reasonable degree of promptness where you can get an answer to your
> question.
>
> There are several places to get help with Fedora technical issues
> already - IRC, Fedora mailing list and http://fedoraforum.org/.  I would
> lean towards responses like Alex made to the Fedora Compatibility
> question.  She directed the person to a resource to help fill the
> immediate need and then offered better forums for technical questions.
>
> In the end the Fedora Users end up with better support in the long run
> and most likely quicker response to questions if they post their
> questions to the appropriate places.
>
> Info@ can very politely thank them for their interest in Fedora, answer
> the question if they can and help direct them to the resources available
> to them.  If the question cannot be answered, then I think an
> appropriate response is to ask them to submit their question to one of
> the technical lists or forums promptly where they can most likely
> receive help on their question.
>
> Those are my thoughts....
>

I agree that it should be simple for the end-user, and none of my ideas would 
complicate it at that end.  At our end, it is important to make sure that the 
messages are reaching people who can take care of them in a timely manner.  
Waiting in a mailing list queue for some unknown period of days is definitely 
not good, and this list already has a directive that doesn't include 
answering these kinds of questions.

-- 
Patrick "The N-Man" Barnes
nman64 at n-man.com

http://n-man.com/

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