Really dislike how support locks support threads

I have to disagree with this, because if they prematurely close a topic they simply don’t know if it is unresolved. They know that they have answered it, but without an acknowledge from the OP there is no way of confirming it is resolved

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Before i posted this i looked over a selection of the locked threads in the Problems and Support section, they were all closed due to:

  1. a problem resolution (usually from Glowforge end)
  2. the problem disappearing (i.e. “my Glowforge don’t work, oh, found the power cord - all good” i.e user error or user inexperience)
  3. This is something we cannot fix for now, an announcement will be made when we can (for software updates, ideas or non-delivered functionality).

In cases where the thread is locked without resolution they explained what (mostly in case #3 above)

Now maybe i got lucky and randomly chose a bunch of ones that fit my understanding of how the section works… if you can post links to a number of threads that were closed without resolution or explanation then i might be more inclined to see your point of view

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I know for a fact I’ve been following a post that was a “part 2” where the person reposted specifically because support had prematurely closed her topic with a “try this…click” type answer

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Most, maybe not all, of the P&S posts folks thought were closed prematurely were because the OP just didn’t like the answer or others wanted to discuss further. Not because the problem was still there.

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A link would help

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I think this is the thread you’re referring to:

I guess I’m sort of middle-ground on this. It does seem like support closes these tickets a little too quickly sometimes, but I certainly appreciate the fact that the thread almost always stays on topic and doesn’t evolve into a thread about unicorns (although I can appreciate a good unicorn thread). For what it’s worth, this is the only time I can remember someone opening up a second thread about the same problem.

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Yeah, sorry. I’m new to linking threads and couldn’t figure out how (another reason I’m not too keen on “just link to the original” idea if you need to open another ticket). I do appreciate having the tickets closed, but I also think that they do close them as soon as they answer rather than after a reasonable amount of time. In my experience, if a solution is given and marked as “resolved” it should be tested. Clearly this “resolved” isn’t actually resolved, so having it closed just adds to confusion for me

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Are you a detective?

I have a case for you: how am I a member of this forum if I’m not an “owner”?

Also, in case you didn’t notice, my post was referencing the attitude that is portrayed when threads are closed prematurely. In other words, it was an attempt to bolster your proposition, not to oppose it.

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Yeah… still not appropriate. So whatever side you’re on, maybe try to say it more politely?

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Yes

It doesn’t say owner next to your name.

Exhibit 1

There is a huge difference between constructive criticism and your post. I have an issue, I posted a well thought out post explaining the problem, and an example of why I considered it wrong.

You posted…

While I appreciate the support, random bashing is not contributing to the dialog.

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I’ve cleaned up my post. Thank you for telling me that my post was not contributing to the dialog hours after it had been flagged.

Sorry, this is a bit off topic, but thought you might want to know (you may already know and being sarcastic, but just in case):

You can set which badge shows up next to your name. You can choose to show Owner or not. Some have decided to turn it off until their Glowforge is actually delivered.

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Or even Regular or not, depending on permissions.

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Is it possible to mark the threads as [resolved] and then leave them open for a specified time (say 14 days) before changing them to closed to allow for related follow up questions and clarifications? @Rita Is that a possible solution?

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I think there’s a bit more nuance there. Even the topic this is in response to: it was closed with a suggested workaround (drawing a box around everything and then ignoring it). Depending on your point of view, that may or may not be a satisfactory resolution.

That may not have actually solved the user’s issue. And there may actually be a bug or performance problem with the Glowforge app that led to the issue in the first place. It’s not clear from the way it was resolved whether it’s a known issue, whether they’re planning to do anything about it, or if the user was holding it wrong. There was also a side discussion spawned on why it processes more quickly if you load the file differently.

So you could interpret this as “a problem resolution”, but I suggest there is another valid point of view where a successful resolution would include an explanation of what went wrong and what is being done to fix it, or at least an acknowledgement by the user that they are no longer able to reproduce the issue.

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I don’t disagree with you at all but it is Glowforge we are talking to, explanations are not their strong point.
I can see why they set up the Problem & Support section like this, i initially could not and felt the same way others are posting in this thread, but this is (AFAIK) for their internal tracking of outstanding issues more than for the discussion aspect of that.

The referred to thread is the only thread (that i know of) with a re-opened topic due to a clearly insufficient answer - but 1 thread out of the many in the section does not a pattern make.

Likewise there are a number of obviously weak answers as you described above, but lets face it, this is Support Staff we are talking about, they are not the engineers… they are going to the engineers saying, “user X reported this”, the engineers are responding “no idea what the problem is” or “not implemented yet” and then that is being passed on.

I have found (for myself) the best way to approach Problems & Support is to ask myself: “Do i want a yes/ no/ maybe” answer? If not then i post in ‘Everything Else’

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I seem to recall a P&S post of mails not being received by the user in question. I felt that one was prematurely closed. It was closed with something to the effect of, “I sent your E-mails to you again you should have them now”

Personally I think the thread should have remained open until a positive acknowledgement that the E-mail was received and read or not since the forum seemed to be the only location of successful 2 way communication. So that’s my take on the close and lock trigger running a little free.

While I have seen posts that have been prematurely closed, I do like the new P&S setup. Perhaps a solution would be something like this:

“Please let us know if this solves your problem. If we don’t hear back from you, this thread will be closed in 24 hours; afterwards, if the problem persists or happens again, please start a new thread.”

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Thank you for the feedback. We’re listening and exploring to find what works best. I’ll leave this one open a while in case there’s more to say. :slight_smile:

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@jae thanks for leaving this open to more feedback.

I’d like to echo @Joe’s suggestion below. To me, it seems like a perfect happy medium - checking in with the OP to ensure that they feel that their issue has been resolved, while setting a clear timeframe for when the thread will be closed (so that it doesn’t ramble on to the land of unicorns and limit switches) .

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