Comments on: The Anatomy of an Awesome WordPress Support Request

By: Ryan Sullivan

Ryan Sullivan — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 16:19:29 +0000

In reply to CJ Andrew. All great points, CJ, and thanks for stopping by! Don't be a stranger around here ;)

By: CJ Andrew

CJ Andrew — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 16:09:15 +0000

Well said, that man!

Great post. You’ve just outlined the key elements of a support request. Shouldn’t this be required reading for anyone who has a WordPress problem, and needs help? I think it should be.

WordPress.org support forums is probably where a lot more of the friction happens, because in a few cases, the requester feels under-served, and the volunteer feels under-appreciated.

This has improved, obviously, thanks to the Support Handbook (don’t want to be dropping links in my first comment here).

Even free support should leave everyone feeling satisfied and fulfilled. This post helps the customer feel that way.

It also helps the support tech gain empathy for the customer, because sometimes, panic gets the better of even the best folk.

I volunteer occasionally on the WordPress.org support forums, and this post will be recommended and sent to anyone who posts a support thread titled: “wordpress theme help”.

Thanks (and here’s a badge!)

By: Ryan Sullivan

Ryan Sullivan — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 15:51:57 +0000

In reply to eberhard.grossgasteiger. Thanks Eberhard. Definitely lots more troubleshooting that could take place :) Cheers!

By: eberhard.grossgasteiger

eberhard.grossgasteiger — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 13:04:43 +0000

Hi,
in the list to consider you should definitively add a queston about a Caching Plugin.
I personally would add this two to complete the list.
Have you installed a Caching Plugin, when yes, deactivate it, restart your Browser or better restart your Pc to clear up the DNS-Cache as well. There are of course other possibilities to achieve this goal, but restart the Pc is the easiest and simpliest way to flush DNS.
Have you cleared the Cache in your Browser and have you restarted it?
I often made the experience that Caching is the source of a “not-understanding” a problem!

By the way! A great post about an approach to fix an issue, hope i could contribute to round out the topic!
Cheers from italy..

By: Ryan Sullivan

Ryan Sullivan — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 00:15:20 +0000

In reply to Christian Nelson. Ha! It's definitely a shift for the way things have been done for a long time, but hopefully showing folks how much a few minutes up front will save them in the long run will start to shift the way people do things. Fingers crossed ;)

By: Christian Nelson

Christian Nelson — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 00:05:42 +0000

This is a great post, and it would be great if more people would read it and follow your excellent advice. In the area of my business that consists of technical support for people having Macintosh problems, and problems related to print publishing, I would love it if *just once* one of these customers would send me an e-mail with a subject line other than “HELP” and then a message of only one or two sentences that don’t even make sense.

By: Ryan Sullivan

Ryan Sullivan — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 15:53:08 +0000

In reply to Annemarie. I <3 that analogy Annemarie. It's incredible how much of a difference small little details can make. We're definitely not saving lives over here, but some days we're saving websites ;)

By: Annemarie

Annemarie — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 15:47:29 +0000

Great post! I really appreciate hearing from the tech support side. My neighbor is a paramedic, and he told me once that if you ever get into a car accident, the most important thing to tell them when you call 911 is your exact location (including landmarks). This is the tech support version of that advice. 🙂