Experts Section

[Mick]

Let me start off basically with why this might be an idea for us.

We have allot of very technical members on here with vast knowledge on various subjects.

I really like the staff online sidebar that we have because it lets me know which ones are doing what lol (made me laugh sorry) It is useful for members that are not experts to get in touch and get support from someone that can help them.

I have had this thought in my head for ages - Like an experts online side bar, but with a twist.

My thoughts on the subject:

New MEMBER:
A member comes on and see's an expert online:

They click on the expert and a page comes up showing the expert/s, a description of his expertise and his subjects.

Some sort of form functionality will allow the member to go through the subjects until he finds the closest match (drop down).

IE

Satellite
Dreambox
DM500

He then writes out his issue to the Expert.

The Expert helps them.

ABSOLUTELY OPTIONAL - the member can give the expert a small donation (IE £2 £5 £their choice) through paypal, or they can just say thanks
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING COMES TO DW -

EXPERTS:
Experts apply to be an expert on a subject through some sort of form functionality.
The form will have:

1) Chosen Subjects/Custom Subject Should we not have an area.
2) Little Bit about you
3) Your Paypal email (if you want members to give you a donation - if nothing is entered on this form the option to donate something at the end of your support will not be available).
4) something else

Once approved they will then appear in an experts page with their subjects and some sort of description(2) and successful support issues total.

How will it all work:
I do not really know lol, I was thinking it would show up in a page attached to your profile like the visitors messages?

Maybe its own page completely?

When both parties tick complete it gets posted into the forum marked solved or something?

What does Digitalworldz Get out of it:

I thought you would want to know lol... well nothing, I say nothing as that is not quite true lol

Content - we get Content
More Members - We get more Members
More Experts - we get more technical members helping out and being a part of DW.
Money - No we do not get anything from this - I thought an optional paypal donation for the experts because of the time they might need to spend on helping someone.


Anything Else:
Nope this is as far as I have gotten with this idea, if you guys thought it was something worthwhile I would have someone start coding this for me.

I think it is a good idea lol... answers on a postcard

Would love to hear your thoughts on the subject - good or bad

Mick

 

[Ferret]

Personally would not want to make a penny from helping anyone Mick. Long long time ago lol i got good help from members of a satellite news group as there were no forums back then. People gave me their time for free and i do that now.

The other thing this could lead to is problems getting sorted via PM and not on the forum and that would be a blow to the forum.

Naturally i would put myself down as a Expert.

 

[Mick]

Personally would not want to make a penny from helping anyone Mick. Long long time ago lol i got good help from members of a satellite news group as there were no forums back then. People gave me their time for free and i do that now.

The other thing this could lead to is problems getting sorted via PM and not on the forum and that would be a blow to the forum.

Naturally i would put myself down as a Expert.

I agree, that is why the option is optional... I was not even going to put it in the post above, it was just something I thought might be nice for members that do not have a job and spend hours helping someone on here....

It was never about charging for support,

First it would be optional for the Expert to add there paypal email.

Second it would be optional if the end user (member) wanted to make a donation.

It would not be able to go to PM as the whole thing would be private in the first place, only at the end of the support issue would it be posted to either a forum or on a separate page.

There is no way that DW would not gain from the content, that is KEY to my whole idea...

DW does not get money it gets CONTENT

Thanks @Ferret appreciate the feedback

 

[Mick]

I just had a brainwave lol.

What about Invite an Expert.

Where the end member can invite an expert into a post they are making/starting

Simple too, using the notifications (usertagging).

On the bottom of a post near the submit post button have a AJAX button that says "Invite Expert"

It will open up a box with experts that are listed in the category they are posting in, at the top will be experts that are online! just below will be experts from that category but that are offline.

Then it will just tag them into the post:

IE
-------------------------------
Hi I my dreambox dm500 is dead.

blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah

----
Experts Invited:
@Mick @Ferret @trevortron @little_pob @Him Her @bobby123 @Rat @MH @wiz569 @manic01 @AJT @buzzer @Napster @IANB @alimac @Purity @Spectre @nara

 

[alimac]

could be a good way for forum to gain more members

deffo against payments though goes against the hobby as it is

wouldnt like to see lots going through pm though

open forum best policy

my tuppence worth lol

 

[IANB]

I just had a brainwave lol.

What about Invite an Expert.

Where the end member can invite an expert into a post they are making/starting

Simple too, using the notifications (usertagging).

On the bottom of a post near the submit post button have a AJAX button that says "Invite Expert"

It will open up a box with experts that are listed in the category they are posting in, at the top will be experts that are online! just below will be experts from that category but that are offline.

Then it will just tag them into the post:

IE
-------------------------------
Hi I my dreambox dm500 is dead.

blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah

----
Experts Invited:
@Mick @Ferret @trevortron @little_pob @Him Her @bobby123 @Rat @MH @wiz569 @manic01 @AJT @buzzer @Napster @IANB @alimac @Purity @Spectre @nara

I think that would be the better option @Mick and probably easier to instigate. I think experts from all walks of life/industry could register their expertise if they wanted to participate. Like ferret I would not like to see it as a paid service. Good will is payment enough imv.

 

[little_pob]

Sounds good.

Couple of questions though... roud:
How will the experts list populate? Opt in by the member, or will it be a list managed by staff. (Perhaps a combo - where staff can add + remove members who've not posted in a while?)
Will any member be eligible or just a certain group (e.g. 200+, VIP etc)

 

[MH]

Like the concept, interesting to see how it will be implemented.

There should be no financial reward though.

 

[Mick]

Sounds good.

Couple of questions though... roud:
How will the experts list populate? Opt in by the member, or will it be a list managed by staff. (Perhaps a combo - where staff can add + remove members who've not posted in a while?)
Will any member be eligible or just a certain group (e.g. 200+, VIP etc)

I think the start would be to set up the forums that can have a expert, then from the actual forum page have link to apply

IE without writing the PHP it would be like this.

if user posts are greater than 200 => Show link to apply for expert =>

Every Category has an ID - So...

IF category is 3 => pass onto page category_id to specialise

Application page is generated for Moderator approval

Moderator approval => application granted => usergroup updated to include expert => category ID set in Expert table in User database

Moderator not approved => Pm generated saying reasons

 

[nara]

Not sure that being an expert in sweet FA would be much use to anyone, but I agree with previous posts that the financial aspect should be forgotten about.

 

[AJT]

A good concept.Go for it...

 

[Rat]

Sounds like a good idea look forward to seeing how it all turns out

Will make it a lot easier for members to get help

 

[turner brown]

or make it easier for the people wanting spoon feed the info instead of searching and posting

 

[Mick]

or make it easier for the people wanting spoon feed the info instead of searching and posting

Did not really understand that sentence sorry pal

looking forward to your suggestion?

 

[craigneuk]

Not sure that being an expert in sweet FA would be much use to anyone, but I agree with previous posts that the financial aspect should be forgotten about.

im same as you but why keep bringing the SFA into it. No seriously im not very good at much but i try and help were i can

 

[turner brown]

just ment ye its ok to help people but spoon feeding them info isn't really helpful sometimes

 

[Rat]

I always think back to when I first joined here
I wanted files for OnDigital because the card I bought off ebay, went down within a week and the seller said search for it lol

I found Digitalworldz but had no knowledge in much at all to offer, and admit I needed spoon feeding, but the help I got here I will never forget and it spurned me onto helping others with what little I knew

I know we have our hit and runners but not every member will do this

 

[Mick]

@turner brown, I understand exactly what you are saying. And agree that members sometimes need to learn for themselves.

This idea was not to spoon feed but more to make the forum user friendly, increase technical members responsibility, increase potential to find suitable staff for areas, and most important making sure posts are not missed

 

[turner brown]

the idea is good mate and understand it. was just posting the flip side of what this could mean

 

[Mick]

And I appreciate you posting mate, all opinions are valid