Why doesn't TNT get voluntary customer support?
Fri Jul 02, 2004 10:51 pm
Of course there might be people who would take advantage of it, but what's stopping the current people of doing so? I know I would definitely volunteer...
Who else thinks it'd be a good idea?
Who else thinks it'd be a good idea?
Fri Jul 02, 2004 10:54 pm
I use to volunteer at a free homepage provider but they had to let all the volunteer people go not because anyone was taking advantage or anything but because there was a new California law that said you couldn't have someone working for free if you had someone on staff getting paid for the same thing, in that case it was customer service and they did have paid staff for that so all volunteers were let go. I'm going to guess it's probably the same reason.
Also, I heard a long time ago, actually probably same time I was volunteering at the home page provider that they did have some volunteers on Neopets (someone else can probably verify this) but this law came into effect about 2000 (I think), if someone else can verify that's the same time Neopets got rid of their volunteers then my guess is its the same reason.
Also, I heard a long time ago, actually probably same time I was volunteering at the home page provider that they did have some volunteers on Neopets (someone else can probably verify this) but this law came into effect about 2000 (I think), if someone else can verify that's the same time Neopets got rid of their volunteers then my guess is its the same reason.
Fri Jul 02, 2004 10:56 pm
Well, I like the idea and I for one would volunteer. Even if we just sent out personalized emails explaining why people were forzen it would help alot!
Fri Jul 02, 2004 11:00 pm
well, people might be evil and mislead.
Fri Jul 02, 2004 11:00 pm
Neopets I do believe used to allow volunteers, however, those who weren't in California near the Neo home base were cut off, because of legalities and corruption in the volunteers.
Easy to fix you say, but i'm sure there are a lot of people who would take advantage of the situation again.
Easy to fix you say, but i'm sure there are a lot of people who would take advantage of the situation again.
Fri Jul 02, 2004 11:15 pm
I brought up this issue around last Christmas. I wish I had my main post saved somewhere because it was long and very thought out. Figures I would have screenshots of a giant blob in Freaky Factory, but not an important post saved. 
lol
Basically, I think users should be voted in to help with support. It could be voted on like the beauty contest. People get nominated by the users. Then after the nomination period, the voting starts. The people with the most votes become volunteer support (also works with neoboards mods). These users wouldn't get any hefty abilities like freezing, but they could filter through the support email and answer regular new member questions and anything else they could. If something was over their authoritary duties, they would pass it on to the real support staff. For chat mods, they could issue warnings, delete threads, and pass on up the level of command anything that needed to be dealt with further.
Anyone who had contact with these people (through support or the boards) would get a chance to submit comments on how they thought the person reacted, either positive or negative. If someone got too many negative, they were bumped out of their position. Each position would be held for a certain period of time (revoted every quarter or so).
Although, it would be a popularity contest in the beginning, no one would be able to keep the job unless they performed well.
There was more to this, but I can't remember right now. Of course it'd need some fine tuning, but I think it'd definately be a step in the right direction.
lol
Basically, I think users should be voted in to help with support. It could be voted on like the beauty contest. People get nominated by the users. Then after the nomination period, the voting starts. The people with the most votes become volunteer support (also works with neoboards mods). These users wouldn't get any hefty abilities like freezing, but they could filter through the support email and answer regular new member questions and anything else they could. If something was over their authoritary duties, they would pass it on to the real support staff. For chat mods, they could issue warnings, delete threads, and pass on up the level of command anything that needed to be dealt with further.
Anyone who had contact with these people (through support or the boards) would get a chance to submit comments on how they thought the person reacted, either positive or negative. If someone got too many negative, they were bumped out of their position. Each position would be held for a certain period of time (revoted every quarter or so).
Although, it would be a popularity contest in the beginning, no one would be able to keep the job unless they performed well.
There was more to this, but I can't remember right now. Of course it'd need some fine tuning, but I think it'd definately be a step in the right direction.
Fri Jul 02, 2004 11:44 pm
Personally, I don't think democracy would work very well for choosing people. There are standards that would have to be followed for the selection process, and I think we all know what sort of standards a lot of the users (especially of those on the chats) have. If they aren't legally allowed to have unpaid volunteers, then they would need to make people employees-- I don't think I'd want the neopian community at large to decide who my newest staff member would be if I were running a company.
Sat Jul 03, 2004 5:17 am
I agree with you, Tonu and Jasujo. I think Neopets needs volunteers--not people who could freeze accounts or even give warnings but certain people who could write the staff about something really urgent and have their message get noticed right away.
Last weekend, I sat helplessly watching pornographic images and pornographic messages invade the site for over an hour before any Neopets employee took any type of action. My daughter pointed out two help chat topics that I needed to look at. On one, the girl was writing pornographic sentences but doing so in a combination of symbols and letters so they bypassed the filters. People posted left and right about how they had reported her--but it took an hour before anyone froze her account.
Then, some idiot posted about how she had gotten an email from this guy asking her to check out his guild. She did and wrote about how obscene and gross the pictures on the guild page were. Great, huh? So, every Tom, smurf and Harry had to check out the guild page and then comment on the thing which kept the topic alive and well on the chats. My daughter, God bless her, had enough sense to not look at the pictures but to tell me about it instead. But, I did look at them and I must say that they were some of the most explicit pictures of sexual positions involving both male and female anatomy that I had ever seen. I reported it--countless others said that they also reported it. It, too, sat for an hour before the user was frozen and his guild disabled. I can only imagine the number of people who saw it and the number of parents who have now refused to let their kids play Neopets because of it.
If that had been shown on TV, the TV manager would have been arrested. So, Neopets needs to get its act together before someone files charges against them for displaying porn on their kiddie website. Hence, the need for more mods--and if not paid positions, then certain long time players who get priority treatment when they send in a report about abuse on the site.
Last weekend, I sat helplessly watching pornographic images and pornographic messages invade the site for over an hour before any Neopets employee took any type of action. My daughter pointed out two help chat topics that I needed to look at. On one, the girl was writing pornographic sentences but doing so in a combination of symbols and letters so they bypassed the filters. People posted left and right about how they had reported her--but it took an hour before anyone froze her account.
Then, some idiot posted about how she had gotten an email from this guy asking her to check out his guild. She did and wrote about how obscene and gross the pictures on the guild page were. Great, huh? So, every Tom, smurf and Harry had to check out the guild page and then comment on the thing which kept the topic alive and well on the chats. My daughter, God bless her, had enough sense to not look at the pictures but to tell me about it instead. But, I did look at them and I must say that they were some of the most explicit pictures of sexual positions involving both male and female anatomy that I had ever seen. I reported it--countless others said that they also reported it. It, too, sat for an hour before the user was frozen and his guild disabled. I can only imagine the number of people who saw it and the number of parents who have now refused to let their kids play Neopets because of it.
If that had been shown on TV, the TV manager would have been arrested. So, Neopets needs to get its act together before someone files charges against them for displaying porn on their kiddie website. Hence, the need for more mods--and if not paid positions, then certain long time players who get priority treatment when they send in a report about abuse on the site.
Last edited by Morningstar on Mon Jul 05, 2004 7:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Sat Jul 03, 2004 5:25 am
nahh I don't think that would work very well, especially if all contact between neo and the volunteers was only through internet, how could they be sure the person was trustworthy and mature enough to make appropriate decisions? They'd also have to know pretty much everything to avoid giving inaccurate info would would cause all sorts of problems.
I think they should just hire some actual workers; why they haven't already is beyond me.
I think they should just hire some actual workers; why they haven't already is beyond me.
Sat Jul 03, 2004 7:06 am
i love the idea of volunteering and i myself would love to be a part of it BUT looking at the "neoboard"ful of report-happy, one-dimensional rule-readers..it may hinder the support staff further instead of helping. the neopian public needs to be educated the rules shouldn't be carried out to the word.
Sat Jul 03, 2004 7:51 am
I say let only 18 months or over handle it, if they're gonna do it. Look at GameFAQs.com! Their system of moderation and feedback is EXCELLENT, and they base nearly all of the moderating decisions off of user's choices! So why can't Neo do this? That's a good question, and one I'd like to see Adam answer.
Sat Jul 03, 2004 8:00 am
What if they picked a couple moderators from the mods of each of the top fan sites? These people are established players and moderators already. Some have years of experience. They would just need to be brushed up on what the Neopets rules actually are, so they know what to look for (besides the obvious) and how to react to it (Neopets policy-wise). I think this an excellent idea. If the moderators acted inappropriately, they would be shaming their fan site, so I'm sure they'd do what they could to help make Neopia better. They've already dealt with (and handled a lot better, I might add) a lot of the problems that are plaguing the neoboards and such today.
Sat Jul 03, 2004 8:06 am
I say let only 18 months or over handle it, if they're gonna do it.
Nah, it would have to be longer than that, I think. At least 2 years, or something like that. I'd definitely volunteer.
Technically, we wouldn't be doing the same job as the rest of the employees, we wouldn't even have one fourth of the power they have.
Sat Jul 03, 2004 8:45 am
I think this is a great idea, it would certainly make neopets that little bit better 
I do think they need more moderators though. The neoboards are really getting out of hand.
I do think they need more moderators though. The neoboards are really getting out of hand.
Sat Jul 03, 2004 9:28 am
I should have specified more, not just the same job title but any jobs that were close to the same, at the free home page provider the volunteers had no admin at all, just answered questions from people that didn't use the forms but it was considered customer service and since they had people paid for customer service it was the same type of position so still not allowed. So basically if you pay someone for customer service you can't not pay someone else for anything labelled customer service.
Although honestly what company wouldn't already have volunteers if the law allowed them? No one, any company this large would already have volunteers if they could legally do that. Think of the money it would save them, all companies (not just neopets) would jump at that.
Although honestly what company wouldn't already have volunteers if the law allowed them? No one, any company this large would already have volunteers if they could legally do that. Think of the money it would save them, all companies (not just neopets) would jump at that.