Grant HostGator Customers Full Support Forum Access On Registration!

[gtgeorge]

Originally Posted by ldearing

if access is granted immediately upon sign up...doesn't that open us up more for spammers?

I meant upon signup for a HG service like hosting etc. If you are a customer you should have immediate access and that could be encoded into the signup system.

[Sam]

Originally Posted by gtgeorge

I meant upon signup for a HG service like hosting etc. If you are a customer you should have immediate access and that could be encoded into the signup system.

Yeh.. ModernBill has an intergration script to link vBulletin and Kayako eSupport & SupportSuite together so they use the same login details.

[-S-]

Originally Posted by jaenosjelantru

Apparently Chad is in charge of the forums now, as "Jay" left the company...

Originally Posted by Chat

Thank you for useing HostGator Live Chat! We are available 24 / 7 via Chat, Phone, and E-mail support. HostGator.com

General Info
Chat start time Jul 17, 2007 3:41:57 PM EST
Chat end time Jul 17, 2007 3:52:44 PM EST
Duration (actual chatting time) 00:10:46
Operator XXX

Chat Transcript
info: Please wait for a HostGator operator to respond.
info: Welcome to HostGator Live Chat! You are now chatting with 'xxx'
xxx: Welcome to HostGator, how may I assist you?
S: Hi xxx. Registered for Support Forums on Sunday. Still no Full Access. Emailed Jay too, today.
xxx: ok
xxx : He is the one that controls access to that
xxx: I am sure he will get you rolling
...
xxx: I don't see He is in right now
xxx: I believe when He is back in the office he will be checking emails and taking care of this
-S-: Do you know when that will be? I need to research....
xxx: I believe around 5 or 6pm
xxx: Not exactly sure though
xxx: Is there anything else I can help you with?
-S-: Houston time? Would you leave him a note to please "let me in", I promise to even shower by then!
...
xxx: If He is here
-S-: Can't anyone else just do this simple thing?
...
xxx: No. He takes care of the blog and forums.
-S-: That is usually automated?
xxx: No
xxx: He approves these things

[munged to protect National Security....]
That was this past Tuesday, July 17, 2007.
Phone Support this week also said it was "Jay". Perhaps it is no longer "Jay". It doesn't, or it shouldn't really matter though, who it is. It's not the person that is the problem, as much as it is the current SOP of Registration, and then this additional "Validation" by only one human.

[-S-]

Originally Posted by ldearing

if access is granted immediately upon sign up...doesn't that open us up more for spammers?

Hi Idearing. Good question. If protection from Fori spam is a reason for the "Validation", then that can be 100% solved, by granting "Read Only" permission at first.

But, if a valid credit card has been used to sign up for service, and a now HG customer Registers for Peer Support (which the backend code only grants permission for current customers), it becomes a Mod issue, I would think.

Or, maybe this is all some part of the Validation process, and Groucho was right after all (Doug Adams, were are you...?)

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by ldearing

if access is granted immediately upon sign up...doesn't that open us up more for spammers?

Larry, there have been a few of those anyway.

IMO a good solution would be making all of the forum categories public viewable, and if there's some lag time while people's membership is activated, they can spend the time before they're allowed to post searching and reading to see if their problem has been covered before.

[smp]

Originally Posted by gwyneth

Larry, there have been a few of those anyway.

IMO a good solution would be making all of the forum categories public viewable, and if there's some lag time while people's membership is activated, they can spend the time before they're allowed to post searching and reading to see if their problem has been covered before.

I agree with both of you - I recon it would be best if those unregistered could only view public forums - those waiting activation could view all but only post in the public forums - and obviously full members have full rights.

Though I take it the second part isn't currently possible - but gwyneth's solution should be used for the time being.

Regards, Steve Xx

[jaenosjelantru]

emailing again worked.

I guess Jay is on vacation and Chad took care fo it after the second email.

Thanks!

[-S-]

Hi jaenosjelantru! Two and a half years? Did you say 2.5 years? Haa! Whew, that really must be some Forum! Chad? Did he say Chad? Oh, no, from down here in Florida, Chad, please (queue Vanilla Fudge's cover...) please Don't Keep Me Hangin' On.....

[edit: thanks jaenosjelantru for the tip on Inner Sanctum Supreme Guardian Chad. Jay's email has been resent Chad's way. Thanks again! ]

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by -S-

(queue Vanilla Fudge's cover...) please Don't Keep Me Hangin' On.....

Annotation for whippersnappers: this reference is humorous not so much for the title of the song but because in its full, uncut form, this version stretched the song out for more than 30 slow, tortured minutes.

[Serra]

I talked to Brent about this yesterday... I was basically wondering the same thing. I said, "If you could change one thing, it would be..." and he said, "Communication!".

I asked about this whole thing with the forum and it boils down to the fact that Hostgator has outgrown Modernbill. (in my personal opinion) Integrating everything, Kayko, modernbill and the forum is possible, but it is very difficult and would be a totally waste. The current solution isn't working so fixing it will not help.

So, we are stuck with a manual system until HG finds a better way to bill. As you can guess, off the shelf products don't really work for a company the size of HG.

[galleryb]

Aye, ironically somewhat I suppose, I received notification that "Account Validated at Peer HostGator Peer Support Forums!" this week. It had taken so long I guess I'd kind of forgotten I applied for it as a course of habit when I first signed up. I had to go back and figure out what I was finally being validated for some weeks later.

So, yeah, it does seem like it shouldn't take anywhere near weeks long to gain access, even to read without posting as it does. Considering how many times early on I dropped into live chat to get answers to quick questions, wouldn't it be more cost efficient for HostGator if I'd had instantaneous access to the peer support forums to find those mostly simple answers I needed?

Seems like it would cut down on the manpower required for live chat since I tend to try to find answers to questions pretty exhaustively on my own before I turn to live tech support, if you will.

Regards, D

[GatorWesley]

Hey guys, just wanted to give you all an update on the forum accounts.

I have taken over administration of the forums and have all new registrations coming directly into my email box, so all new accounts should be approved within hours, not days.

Also if any of you need help with your account feel free to PM me or email me at wesley@hostgator.com

[galleryb]

Originally Posted by GatorWesley

Hey guys, just wanted to give you all an update on the forum accounts.

I have taken over administration of the forums and have all new registrations coming directly into my email box, so all new accounts should be approved within hours, not days.

Also if any of you need help with your account feel free to PM me or email me at wesley@hostgator.com

I think that will greatly benefit new neophyte "signees", if you will. While it may sound strange, I know perfectly well how to create a web site from scratch in Dreamweaver, but I've never uploaded and managed one online ... so that means when I first signed up and started pointing and adding additional domains, etc., to my new HostGator site, I had a number of questions I couldn't find answers to ... all of which except for two were relatively quickly and easily answered by HG's live chat support. The other two were both resolved within 6 hours with an email tech/ticket.

I had/have no complaints whatsoever since my questions were speedily dealt with and the wait time for a live chat support person was very minimal each time, so it wasn't a problem for me to get help that way for simple issues. It just didn't seem like the most efficient means for HostGator to deal with those kinds of neophyte issues.

As I noted previously, the majority of those simple little questions appear to be answered in the peer support forums for the most part, or else I could have asked and easily and quickly gotten the simple answers I needed on the forum.

Nice to see something that appears to be a real sticking point - effective communication - begin to be addressed by the powers that be at HostGator, especially where the critically important communication is concerned. Reaffirms my decision to go with HG and that's always a nice thing since I spent no small amount of time doing my best to find honest, objective reviews and to carefully evaluate which web host could and would best meet our small business needs, both now and into the future.

Regards, D