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Staff PMs

Staff PMs are an important part of support, as they are the site’s way of offering our users support as a team.

When a user requests support, it will go to a shared inbox. Staff PMs sent to FLS are visible to everyone on the staff team, and can be answered in any way, shape, or form, by anybody on the staff team.

This can also lead to confusion as to who takes care of what, and the assigning of PMs to different staff members/teams.

General Guidelines

  • When a Staff PM comes in and you would like to view it, you may click on it to read its contents without having to do anything with it.
  • If you would like to respond to it, please immediately assign it to yourself. That way, no one else will reply to it. If you do not plan on responding to it, you may close it without having to do anything to it.
  • If you do assign it to yourself, please check #BTN-LowerStaff first to make sure that no one else has also assigned it (it will be announced there), then immediately respond either with the fix or questions for the user that help work towards a resolution.
  • If you feel that the Staff PM involves another person/team, please assign it appropriately.
  • If a user sends a PM about seeding issues and has 10+ H&Rs or the potential for 10+ H&Rs, the PM should be assigned to Moderator+.
  • If a user sends a PM about redownloading snatched torrents/data, clarify exactly how much data they intend to redownload. If in excess of 250GB, the PM should be assigned to Moderator+.
  • If a user mentions a warning anywhere in the PM it should be assigned to the Moderator+.
  • Requests for permission to use a VPN should be assigned to the Moderator+. Before doing so however, you can already ask them to include proof that the VPN is private (e.g. by including a billing statement), and proof showing the IP (e.g. the control panel). Have the black out identifying info.
  • PMs regarding deleted torrents, permission to upload a particular torrent, and other uploading related issues should be assigned to the TV Technicians.
  • PMs regarding issues with a previously made donation should be assigned to the user class Team Leader.

Remember that Staff PMs are answered pretty quickly, so be sure to refresh the page before and after you do anything to cut down on the double posting. We also want to make sure that users know we are helping them at all times, as no one likes to wait for a reply. If the user knows we are working on their issue, they will hopefully be more patient than they would be if they were just waiting without any reply.

Common Answers Feature

The Common Answers are a great way for the staff to give consistent answers on common issues to the users. The issues addressed by them range from general tracker/site/IRC issues to more specific things like stuck Bonus Points or someone asking for their friend to be re-enabled. They are also updated and added as needed as site issues occur.

If you have any ideas for a new Common Answer, please feel free to suggest them to a moderator, or your Team Leader.

  1. Assign the PM: First, assign the PM to yourself and make sure in #BTN-LowerStaff that no one else also assigned the PM to themselves. Refreshing is also a good idea to make sure no one has mistakenly replied without assigning the PM first (so you avoid sending out a duplicate PM).

  2. Common Answers button: Click this button next, which will cause the Common Answers toolbar to appear.

  3. Common Answers toolbar: This shows all of the options related to the Common Answers. You will usually only use the dropdown and the “Set message” button (unless you’ve been asked to create or edit a Common Answer).

  4. Dropdown menu: Use this to select the Common Answer that fits the user’s issue. For this example we’re going with the generic “Temporary Site Issues” answer. This one is useful for any general site issues that should be cleared up relatively quickly. When you select an answer a preview will show.

  5. Set message: Click this to have the preview message automatically set in the message field. Please note that any BBCode (links, underline, italics, etc…) will be copied to the message field when you push “Set message,” so there is no need for you to do this formatting.

  6. Edit the message as needed: Copy the user’s username into the space before the comma, and after “Cheers,” be sure to add your nick. You are welcome to change the opening and closing greetings as you prefer, but please do include them to be polite.

  7. Send the message: Lastly, either click “Send message” if you are expecting a reply, or “Send and resolve” if you are not expecting a reply (most Common Answers will not require answers, so “Send and resolve” is often used).