http://www.golivewire.com/forums/peer-yayiipt-support-a.html#1

^ Small change, but if we're doing a major revamp here this definitely needs to be implemented.

I think after I'm POSITIVE I'm done suggesting things here I'll delete all of my previous replies and put all of my suggestions into one topic :P. I keep trying to make it organized but I then add things I forget about and it's really confusing... sorry Nikki.  

Post edited at 5:04 am on July 11, 2008 by xoxo1234

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• Make it easier for mods to check up on people's ehelp replies. Occasionally, I go through the list of SLs and message/demote those who aren't doing their job, but it takes a hell of a long time because you have to go through about 10 pages of replies to compensate for the fact that we can't check ehelps with any ease at all.
  
• Change the front page, as suggested.
  
• I have no problem with guest ehelps, but I do think guests should be reminded before they submit that they can post in the support forums if they create an account.
  
• I like the idea of dividing people into ehelp SLs/forum SLs. There could also be more points for SLs who replied in the support forum, to add more of an incentive (after all, we get it for ehelp). There may need to be some kind of validation for this - maybe having to have it marked as 'good' by another support leader or a moderator?
  
• I like ratings because they make me feel appreciated. People often don't want to bother giving written feedback but the ratings are just a button and I like them.
  
• I like the idea of categorising ehelps too.

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I may have a tough time articulating what I actually am trying to get out, but I'll try.  

Basically, I think that when people are filling out e-helps they should have to check a box for what the 'subject' of their e-help is going to be.  There should be different categories that goes as follows:
1) Family
2) Friends
3) Depression/Self harm
4) Relationships
5) Other

Each support leader should be forced to 'sign up' for the categories that they excel in the most.  Then, Whenever someone makes an e-help that goes into one of those categories I think that, that specific e-help should automatically be pmed to the ONLINE support leaders that take care of that subject.  

Naturally this would get annoying in the sense that you would be getting PMs at inopportune times, and you may not even feel like doing an e-help, but deal with it.  If you absolutely cannot do it, then don't, but that pm is a constant reminder that there is someone out there, at that moment, that is needing help in an area that you consider yourself to be educated on.  

With that being said, I think that any sl should still be able to answer an e-help in a category that they are not in if they so choose.  

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i think this is a fantastic idea.

my only other contribution is to say that i really dislike the idea of turning off the guest eHelp. it's one of the things that makes this site unique, i really like it and if there's an eHelp created by a guest that needn't be there then delete it. the replies are also sent to the guest's email address so they don't even have to return to livewire. encourage them to sign up, whatever. i don't think guests are a problem.

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i don't know how to love you more
how to love you more
how to love you more, my friend

I'm for deleting the guest ehelp option, honestly.  I've read the arguments on both sides and I understand why people think we should keep it...but realistically I think we need to look at time management here.  There are a ton of ehelps, and something has to give.  It isn't hard at all to get an account at the site if these people really need help.  But it seems a bit absurd to me that we are neglecting members who contribute to the site so that we can respond to people who stumble across here once, and likely will not even get our response.

I'm FOR the idea of having some sort of "speciality" field for Support Leaders (i.e. Family/Friends, Emotional Imbalance, Relationships, Drug/Substance Abuse, etc).  It would give better direction to members needing specific help.

As far as ratings/comments go, I'm fairly indifferent.  It helps to get feedback, personally to improve the quality of my ehelps in the future; though if I don't get any life goes on.  The main idea is that I helped someone (hopefully).

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The old Lie: Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.

A Tribute to Livewire Excellence.

i also wanted to discuss the many suggestions that were raised. One suggestion was to eliminate ratings in the system. i think i agree more with Just Waiting Heres point though that there should be an option for whether one desires a numerical rating or not, as the numerical rating motivates some people but not others. The written feedback, should not be optional to receive. If a person decides to give written feedback, i think we should be forced to receive that. Numerical ratings should be there for those who want themthough because many people do not write feedback and so the numbers is the only feedback that you can get in that case, if you want it.

Another suggestion was to allow the original poster to respond within an E-help. This currently is one of the advantages that the Serious Forum offers. i think this should be kept in the Serious Forum. This would otherwise complicate the E-help counter too and make it difficult for us to keep track of it if it became long. i think though that when written feedback is given, there should be an option that allows the person to send that feedback to all the Support Leaders that responded to their topic. Furthermore, as was suggested, there should be a way for Support Leaders to respond to feedback, without compromising the posters identity if they wished to be anonymous. Thsi would allow follow up to occur without confusing the E-help counter and making it more difficult to track E-helps.

It was also suggested that we have specialized Support Leaders. i do not think we can have these, simply for the reason that we are not supposed to be qualified professionals. We cannot claim specialization really unless we have qualifications. Also, some Support Leaders may not specialize in anything. However, what i do thing can be good is allowing Support Leaders to put down things they have experience in, which is similar to specialization, but it does not claim qualifications and it is not something all Support Leaders have to put. Then, When submitting an E-Help, there can be a set of side links for the topics one of the prvious posters suggested that says above it message someone experienced in this area, and then the online Support Leaders who are experienced in that area pop-up, and they can select one.

It was also suggested that we get rid of guest submissions. i understand that guest submissions certainly add to the system, but i think we need to keep them. Part of what makes Livewire great as iwashere85 said, is that guests can also come here and get help. The site says it is, "For teens, by teens." This means that all teens should be able to get help here, with or without an account. That being said, i agree with greatescape11 that members who contribute here should have a higher priority. Maybe, we can have a red dot next to ehelps from members and a green one next to ehelps from guests, just like high priority messages get a red dot, while normal ones get a green dot. This would tell Support Leaders to prioritize the members first. i still think it should be held at discretion of the Support Leader, but it would be a helpful guide. Also, to ensure guests are more likely to return, when they submit their E-ehlp, a link of where it is should be provided to them and it can say, please keep this carefully to receive your responses. Also, to avoid the titles problem the front page should just have a link saying click here to submit a post, but should not allow them to start typing till they have the full submission form. i also think that prompting the guests to start an account is a good idea. It should not be mandatory, but it should be recommended.

Another suggestion was to allow a maximum of 2 submissions to the ehelp system in 48 hours. While this would reduce our load, i dont think this is a good idea, because we never know how many emergencies and what kind of situation a person may be in. They could quite possibly need mroe than 2 in 48 hours, so such a limit i think would be against the purpose and intent of the system. It was further recommended that we implement a minimum word requirement, i also feel that this is also wrong because it says that emergencies must be at least a certain size, and again, we cannot make sure a determination.

It was also suggested that we bump up the minimum replies to 3. i think that many ehelps merit at least 3 replies, and the same time, some of the ones that ask about sexual things, like "can fingering cause me to bleed" can be answered with just one well written reply as the current ehelp of this is. i think that the default should be three, but that just as we have Moderators for each forum, we should have some for the ehelp system who can change the minimum replies needed based on the topic and the responses received. Otherwise, the replying can become excessive in some topics, and time that could have been put elsewhere will be diverted to a topic that already has been adequately answered.

A Report E-help button was also suggested. i think this button can be helpful as long as it is manged by the moderators, but really it should only be for when someone submits a questions like, "how do i put a photo in my image basket," in which case, the question can be moved to an appropriate forum or answered by the moderator and removed from the ehelp system.

Implementing a Reply Quota was also suggested. i dont not think this is a good idea, because it will either force people to reply and possibly lead to less Suppport Leaders and lower quality responses or it will lead to needing a quality measuring standard, which again is very subjective. Furthermore, sometimes people end up in situations where they are gone for a long time and cannot reply, like last summer i was sent off for 3 months and had no computer access. i do think though that a point scale based on time should be implemented so that the more days you wait the less points a response gets. Its affect will be minimal, but that is better than nothing.

i also like the idea of having E-help Support Leaders and Forum Support Leaders. This can be helpful in dividing the work that Support Leaders must cover. Also, this would allow us to create a counter for the Serious Forum too that would only be on the Forum Support Leaders accounts. i think though that either should be able to respond to things in the domain of the other, but that they will just be expected to stay mostly with one or the other.

i also think that if we do put moderators for the ehelp system, then another thing can be done to the ehelp and Serious Forum. i have heard people complaining that the ratio is just too high aganst us, but there are supportive people who are not Support Leaders. i think that the ehelp and Serious Forum should be able to have posts from anyone; however, when a non Support Leader responds, their response remains hidden, until it is approved by a moderator or voted approved by 2 Support Leaders. This would help keep only good quality replies in and would allow Supportive members that are not Support Leaders more ability to help others. This would also help us even out the odds a bit. i know this last idea would e quite controversial, so i would like to hear your guys thoughts on it.  

Anyways, that is just my feedback on the whole thing.

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Let us be as water, an irresistable flowing force of no constant shape, able to adapt to anything, bringing life and destroying mountains.

My ideas:

There should be a requirement for support leaders. They must meet this quota or they will be initiated an official warning of possible demotion from their support leader status. After a support leader has submitted, say, three replies in 30 days, the computer will automatically recognize that they have met the quota and tick them off.  If support leaders would rather use supportive replies on the forums to meet the quotas, they can use a form to submit their replies to moderators who will review and approve them.

I'm against the suggested idea of disabling guests to submit eHelps. Instead, we can put several reminders to them to create an account --  after submitting an eHelp, a big huge button, and after reading a reply, a "like what you see? Sign up for a FREE LiveWire account today!".

We also limit the amount of guest eHelps per week. Over two per week and they must create an account.

Many people misunderstand the forms for submitting eHelps off the main page. They understand incorrectly that they must write their entire problem within the small text box containing the message, "What's your problem or issue?". As a result, they often don't submit complete eHelps and this makes it harder for us to supply them with adequate help.

This can be fixed by adding an extra, bigger textbox on the main page, letting them straight-elaborate in detail on their problem from there. The current textbook will remain, but it will instead be an obvious "title" field.

People can then click "get help" and encounter the options for being anonymous, submitting the eHelp on the forum archives etc.

Currently, support leaders are able to vote to delete eHelps if they do not deem them to be suitable for emergency help. Instead, we should allow support leaders to move topics that do not violate LiveWire guidelines to the forums... or at least instigate this feature for moderators and let us report them.

We would still be able to vote to delete eHelps that violate LiveWire's guidelines.  

We increase the rewards for support leaders who meet the installed quotas. More points for answering eHelps, private browsing, bigger avatars and designer themes.

That's all.

-xoxo1234

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Depression support on Myspace
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