Rockbox General > Rockbox General Discussion

The worst thing about rockbox

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JdGordon:
I want to add that none of the things in the OP are specific to rockbox and are ingrained in the general FOSS community mentality.


start a thread with the theme errors, those sort of things wont get you yelled at (if its in the right section)

AlexP:

--- Quote from: JdGordon on March 04, 2010, 03:09:43 PM ---start a thread with the theme errors, those sort of things wont get you yelled at (if its in the right section)

--- End quote ---

Being in the wrong section won't get you yelled at either, it'll just get your post moved :)

TexasRockbox:
I think this is the problem from the OP that is the actual problem (buried in the venting) of this thread:


--- Quote from: evanthepanther on March 04, 2010, 01:13:48 AM ---I have 4 themes I would like to submit, but I'm not sure if I want to because I got some weird error when I tried to submit them, and I don't dare ask about it on the forums.

--- End quote ---

From the description there is a weird error when uploading themes.  Perhaps the question belongs in the Theming sub-forum.

@even
Good customer service involves both speaking and listening (lots of good listening) -- between the two parties.  From subject of the post there is no way to tell what exactly is the problem.  Whatever it is, it's the "worst".  Going by the first paragraph we see concern and venting -- is that the problem?  Perhaps.  Keep reading.  Now we have a problem description: uploading themes with a "weird error"  (was the error searched? what is the error?).  Nothing for anyone else to research or figure out yet.  Then the final two paragraphs are more venting.

I feel your pain and understand your frustration.  Sometimes a customer just needs to vent.  At my work, we let the customer vent (until it becomes verbally abusive).  Again using my work as an example, personality reasons and pressing (hard) deadlines for code or fixes are why some coders aren't really allowed to speak to customers.  If it is truly necessary for the customer to contact these coders the communication is handled in conjunction with a support rep skilled in customer service and adapting to the customer's personality needs.  Good, personal customer service is truly hard to find.

Due to the high turnover rate of visitors (customers) to the Rockbox site (because they got their quick answer and ran) the number of active Rockbox experts are comparatively few.

Here's a hint on problem submission and communication: CEPAN  (pronounced: cee-pan).  What is it?

C: (Customer name)
E: (Environment -- give all details: Rockbox version, computer make, OS, processor, memory, HD, etc.)
P: (Problem description.  Describe accurately and completely.  Include all information as to how to recreate the problem.)
A: (Action -- what has been done thus far to resolve the problem: read manuals? tried another method? apply a fix?)
N: (Next -- what is the next step expected -- plan? and how urgent is the next step)

Don't assume that something is irrelevant.

One of the biggest support frustrations (not said to the customer, of course) is a problem submission with no details.

That is: "I have a problem that needs fixing".  That's it.  Now, there is absolutely nothing for the support person to do but attempt to contact the customer and inquire: what is your problem, what is your environment, etc.  That means the customer waits longer and the support rep will not have any opportunity to research the problem before contacting the customer.  If the customer supplied the information at first, the first contact may have had a solution, instead the support rep has to try to do something on the fly (awkward and risky) or break off with the customer and then do the research and then contact the customer again.  More time wasted and customer gets a resolution much later than it would have been if CEPAN had already been done.

Help us help you.

funman:

--- Quote from: evanthepanther on March 04, 2010, 01:13:48 AM ---honestly the worst thing I've found about rockbox is the lack of help
--- End quote ---

To me it sounds like you had a bad first impression (I have read your other thread about the ipod), and I hope you'll change your mind if you stay here a little !

Personally I think rockbox has a lot of informations for beginners (detailed manual, although not always up to date with some content) and active forums / wiki, and this is not true for other open source projects.

For example VLC has ridiculous user support with perhaps 4 persons contributing daily to the forums with lots of people asking questions every day.

When there are less contributors (read, experts) than users (asking questions), then it's understandable that they link to the part of the doc where the question is answered rather than explaining it in details (and is more friendly IMO than just copy pasting the part of the manual).


About not listening to the post they are answering to, I think it's excusable.
A lot of topics are popular and tend to be asked forever, so when you contribute and see "this post again" then perhaps you'll just skip the details and post the same answer (or link) than before.

Didn't this happen to you in your call of duty community already?

Like someone ask you something and you give a prepared answer, then he tells you "but you didn't read carefully, my problem is a bit different".

matt0001:
How perfect. I first tried rockbox about 18 months ago. While I was moderately impressed with the software, I was thoroughly turned off by the attitude on this forum. After a few months, I uninstalled rockbox and never looked back. Until today. I wanted to see how the software has improved over this time, and see if it might be worth a second try. And I see this thread. Obviously, nothing has changed. The participants in this forum are still entirely rude and unhelpful, still clinging to their holy manual.

As I said in my one other post in this forum, I am a reference librarian. Basically, answering stupid questions is my job. I understand the frustration some of you may feel. But your reliance on your holy manual is totally not the way to go. Everyone learns and solves problems differently. Some (very few) can actually get through your holy manual and have all their questions answered. Some learn better from tutorial videos, some need some extra attention and patience to have their questions answered in a way that is helpful to them. You guys really need to learn and understand this.

If there is any reason why rockbox has not been adopted by more people, it is the lack of support and rude attitudes on this forum. By being this way you keep your user-size very small. I suppose that is your choice.

I'll check back in again in another 18 months.

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