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"Official Response" seems duplicative
Hey,
I just went through and clicked "Official Response" on all of my posts. Since I already have a "company representative" icon, that feels duplicative. I can understand why you'd want to provide the option -- some of my posts might just be conversational. But, having to click that checkbox on all my "official" posts feels like too much work.
How about reversing the sense of the checkbox? Assume that posts from a company representative in the company forum are official, unless I check a "personal message, not official" checkbox? It's far more likely that my response *will* be official (in the Wesabe forum) than that it won't.
Thanks!
Marc Hedlund, Wesabe
I just went through and clicked "Official Response" on all of my posts. Since I already have a "company representative" icon, that feels duplicative. I can understand why you'd want to provide the option -- some of my posts might just be conversational. But, having to click that checkbox on all my "official" posts feels like too much work.
How about reversing the sense of the checkbox? Assume that posts from a company representative in the company forum are official, unless I check a "personal message, not official" checkbox? It's far more likely that my response *will* be official (in the Wesabe forum) than that it won't.
Thanks!
Marc Hedlund, Wesabe
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The best point from everyone
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Mark,
The idea behind the official response is that it gives the company a means to bump their most important responses into the shortened version of the conversation (similar to how user stars can bump any responses up into this area).
Not all responses from company representatives should be "Official responses", because that would destroy the usefulness of the abbreviated conversation if it was filled with 5 "Thanks for the additional details, we'll keep looking into it" replies by the before you get to the desired "alright, here's how you fix it..." reply.
The assertion here is that two of the topic types (question, problem) will in most cases have a desired outcome or resolution, and 90% of people coming to one of these topics aren't looking for a conversation; they're looking for the answer. By being judicious with your official response powers, you will serve that 90% better.
I’m hoping I explained that well enough.
The company and 4 other people think
this is one of the best points
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Inappropriate?Mark,
The idea behind the official response is that it gives the company a means to bump their most important responses into the shortened version of the conversation (similar to how user stars can bump any responses up into this area).
Not all responses from company representatives should be "Official responses", because that would destroy the usefulness of the abbreviated conversation if it was filled with 5 "Thanks for the additional details, we'll keep looking into it" replies by the before you get to the desired "alright, here's how you fix it..." reply.
The assertion here is that two of the topic types (question, problem) will in most cases have a desired outcome or resolution, and 90% of people coming to one of these topics aren't looking for a conversation; they're looking for the answer. By being judicious with your official response powers, you will serve that 90% better.
I’m hoping I explained that well enough.
The company and 4 other people think
this is one of the best points
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Inappropriate?Still, Mark's comment begs the question about whether the wording and/or process is clear enough. The other issue he mentions is that the Rep badge and the Official Response designation don't seem distinct enough from each other. Good feedback to consider.
I’m thankful
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Inappropriate?I agree with both Thor & Scott. Yes, it begs the question that the wording and process may not be clear enough and can be tightened up. However, as Scott pointed out, "Official Response" serves a very different purpose than the "Rep" badge. I think this distinction and this value will become even more apparent when there are topics that have pages of replies. Having that one particular reply with the answer from the Official Rep pinned to the top as an Official Response will be hugely valuable to users who don't want to take the time to read the entire conversation.
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Inappropriate?One big change coming up in the next deploy: we're going to make the checkbox that turns a response official appear when you're entering a reply, not just after the reply has been added.
Curious, though -- should the "Official Response" box that appears during reply creation default to checked or unchecked? I've been thinking unchecked, because I wouldn't want "I agree" to end up as an official response unintentionally, but perhaps I'm wrong...?
I’m undecided
1 person thinks
this is one of the best points
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Inappropriate?I can see where you're going with this. After reading the responses, I think I'd advocate for leaving the operation of the "official response" checkbox as it is now, but maybe changing the wording of the label. I could make lots of "official responses" in a thread, but if the idea is to have a clear and concise answer for people who don't want to read the whole thread, maybe something like "Push this to the top" or "Yes, Regis, that's my final answer" or something would be better. Something that says, this one answer is the one I want people to see the most.
Hope this helps.
I’m liking this whole get satisfaction thing
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Inappropriate?Interesting suggestions, Marc. Thanks!
Lane, I think unchecked as default is better. I think it needs to be a conscious decision. Otherwise we could end up with a lot of "noise" pushed to the top. Loses it's value that way.
I’m grateful for insightful feedback.
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Inappropriate?I have a "This reply is an official response" checkbox on all company threads -- not just the one where I'm an employee. Is that expected?
Screenshot: http://myskitch.com/rodbegbie/_offici...
Checking it didn't have any effect on this post.
I’m official
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Inappropriate?Yeah, I noticed this on friday and checked in a fix. We haven't done a deploy yet (I haven't yet finished some of what I need to get done to deploy again), but it will be in place before the end of the weekend.
Like Rod said, although the checkbox shows up for everyone, it only actually signifies the official response if the user is allowed to in a normal situation.
CHAMP
EMPLOYEE
EMPLOYEE
EMPLOYEE
