I just updated the memories for this community up to this entry.

I just went through and removed membership from people who no longer hold privs in Support.

I realized about halfway through that charlotte wasn't being 100% accurate when querying her for people's privs (she told me leora had no privs. what huh?) so if you still hold Support privs and I removed your membership here by mistake, please let me know and I'll re-add you posthaste.

I also removed global I2 privs from people who used to have supporthelp and no longer do. If I missed your privs or took them by mistake, please let me know this as well.

I think I figured out the annoying LJLogin bug, where users' site schemes keep switching to Horizon. :D

Apparently there's a cookie that LJLogin doesn't update permanently when you log in/out, which the Web interface *does*. This cookie includes the site scheme information. What this means is that if you ever use the Web interface to log out of LiveJournal, your site scheme will be set to the default and LJLogin won't update it when you log in.

So, to fix it, log *in* with the Web interface. The site will send you a new permanent site scheme cookie and you'll then be able to use LJLogin without a problem.

The moral of the story: if you use LJLogin, make sure you use it for everything - logging in and out, and switching accounts. Don't use the Web interface, and if you do, use the Web interface again to fix it.

Note: I'm not a supporthelp or admin, so can't say whether this answer should be given to users or whether we should continue giving the standard NOP replies. I'd be interested in getting confirmation on that. :)

Poll #829895
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

What browser do you use most often with LJ?

What browsers do you use with LJ regularly?

[15:40] dreamnestia: Carrie, define "regularly"?
[15:41] Carrie|sick: regularly as in "I look at LJ in this interface and try to make it do something" once a week

If you're asking why I selected those as opposed to trying to be inclusive as possible, there's a reason for it. I just don't feel like going into it.

This post is intended to discuss the changes made to the "Priv Playing" phase of training, specifically, the privs supportviewstocks and supportchangesummary

For information on the actual practice of priv playing, please see this post, and the posts which Cadenza links from there.

In the past, advanced-level I2s were asked to enter a phase of training called "priv playing", in which they would leave ICs on a request detailing how they would handle the request, were they a supporthelp. This, of course, is still true. Recently however, admins began awarding two new privs to complement the practice of priv playing. These two privs are supportviewstocks and supportchangesummary. Because privs are now granted as part of priv playing, we now refer to this phase of training as "I3s".

I3s?!?!? That's crazy talk! How are they similar to other levels of privs? How are they different?

Well, you get privs! You'll also get a post in privchange (if your friendly neighborhood admin doesn't forget, heh).

However, unlike the Supporthelp, I1 and I2 privs, I3 and priv playing are considered an active phase of training. Therefore, it is expected that you'll maintain some amount of consistancy in your activity while you're priv playing. This doesn't mean that you can't take breaks, however! It simply means that, because we have found over time that priv playing works best when volunteers are actively engaged in the activity (rather than just "picking at it" from time to time), that you should reserve priv playing for a time when you'll be able to dedicate more time and energy to it. If you're at all concerned about priv playing, your activity, or taking an absence, please consult your friendly category admins.

Cool. So what are these privs anyway? How do I use them?

Supportchangesummary

People that have priv played in the past may be familiar with the phrase "I would also change the summary to..." Your days of this are no longer. In the text field above the answer/comment field you're familiar with, simply change the summary (if you're browsing with JS enabled, the ticky box will automatically ticky), and you're all set. We recommend that you change the summary when you see the opportunity, so that we can see this part of your priv playing in action.

Supportviewstocks

You may have used your own canned answers before to answer common requests on the board. You may also have used some of the shared stocks that are written to address sudden or recurring problems on the site. So you're probably familiar with stocks in the general sense. But before we give you the approval wand for real, we would like to give you the opportunity to become comfortable with our stock dropdown menu, now available for your convenience.

The number one rule of using the stocks? Tailor when needed.
The number two rule of using the stocks? Tailor when needed.

To use a stock, click on the dropdown menu, scroll down to the title of the the stock you'd like to use, and click. Voila! An answer now appears in the answer/comment field. Read the answer over, tailor as necessary, and you're ready to go. If you decide that wasn't the right stock to use, you can delete the text and select another stock from the menu.

If you'd like to use a stock on a request which already has the automatically inserted validation nag, the stock will be inserted after the vali-nag. You will need to manually edit the answer to appear in the correct order (see commentversation below).

Some stocks abolutely need tailoring (i.e., they're missing a piece of information that varies by request). You'll see an asterisk (*) in the title of these stocks.

Oh! And if you see something in a stock that needs to be updated/changed/modified/gutted entirely, please do email support@ and a category admin will update that. In fact, we'd greatly appreciate it :)

Please note, that the stocks will only automatically appear in you answer/comment field if you are using the support area with JavaScript enabled. If you do not use JS, or if you'd like to view the stocks without using a support request, you can view the stocks here.

Okay, but I'm too good for these stocks. Do I have to use them?

Nobody is going to force you to use stocks. Some people just don't like stocks, or end up tailoring them to the point where it would have been easier to start from scratch. We suggest that you play with the feature though, so that you can get used to it, and see what's available. Most supporthelps do find the stocks useful, even if they don't rely on them heavily.

But I have more questions!

Ask them below!

Hi. I'm Jen. I'm a Web SH, among other things.

However, up until a few months ago, I had the same idea that "Web is a scary place" that seems to be so common among folks. So, how did I go from looking at requests and running away to being happy to open the board and whack away at it? It all boils down to a few things, and it's those things I'd like to talk about in hopes that it'll encourage others to get around a fear of Web, too.

1.) web_training. It was and is a really, really good resource for getting to know the cat, and more than that, figuring out Why Things Work. After giving it a few good read-throughs, I felt like I had some of the knowledge I needed to start taking stabs at things, and 10-15 requests later, I was ready for step #2.

2.) Reviews. I know, everyone says this. But it's true that reviewing is a great tool, for a few reasons. The first is that it's really good to have fresh eyes looking at your answers, because other folks can and do pick up on things that our own brains pass over.

The second reason reviews are good is that they're a chance to ask questions. Stuff like "What can I do to shiny up my wording here?" or "Is there anything I could've done better here to keep that from regreening?", but also "I've read about X issue in Y comm and I still don't get it, can you point me in the right direction?" are all questions that a review is a great time for asking.

3.) Taking a gander at requests I wasn't sure how to answer later, after something was approved. That is a really good way to get a feel for diagnostics, and it's also a way to figure out "Hmm, THAT was the deal after all?" for stuff that looked like it would be impossible to answer at the time. As an addendum to this, if you're not sure about something, taking a break from the board and coming back to it later can be a good thing, as sometimes the answer will pop at you when you aren't expecting it.

And really, the more I took advantage of those three things, the more comfortable I felt in Web. I hope that casts a little more light on what can be a dark subject for many folks, and if anyone has stuff they'd like me to add or elaborate on, poke away!

Hi,

Can someone give me a heads-up of preferred protocol for filing livejournal bugs, that although unrelated to "security", might concievably relate to areas the LJ.com abuse team deal with?

Should they be filed publically, in private-category 'security', or handled another way?

Thanks.

This is a quick reminder that any requests in which the user requests transferance/refund of their paid account should be moved to Account Payments. Yes the TOS says that there is none of either. However, employees may exercise discretion over certain sitiation. To ensure that these requests are handled in the best way possible, please move them to Accounts. Arie might move them back, but at least they'll have had the benefit of an employee review.

Love,
Me

Um, yesterday I posted a response to a request which was about a day old GUNK asking for more information. Well, I just went back to check up on it...and it doesn't show up in my recent filter or in my admin touches.

So how do I find it? I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't have been moved to a private cat.

Just kidding. It apparently was moved to a private cat (556693). Can someone tell me why it was moved?

Was this an appropriate use of an IC: 554816#e2177527?

I need help gathering data for a new long-term project I'm developing that's due to start in March.

I need to find out what exactly our frequently asked questions are. I can get a data dump of all the FAQs that were referenced in the drop-down box, but that information is not reliable for my purposes because it doesn't tell me what the question was. For example, "how do I screen my comments" is a different question than "why aren't any of my comments showing?", but they'd both get the same FAQ reference. It also doesn't take into account FAQs referenced in-line, such as in stock answers or answers to secondary questions.

What I need are volunteers who are willing to go through the green, yellow, and red for the next three days to make a list of the actual questions that were asked by a user at the timestamp when the request was opened. (Regreens can be ignored unless they fall within your time period.) This is a huge project, so many hands should make the work lighter. I don't want to hear of anyone taking on this project by themselves, so we'll split it up.

I'm opening this up first to I2s up through admins, and then I1s if there is still space available. (Because I1s should be working on putting screened answers on things, because the green is still rather high and that's a first priority right now.) While I'd prefer it if you'd sign up for the category where you hold your privs, I'm okay with you signing up for other categories as well.

Please comment if you want to claim a category (and time, in the case of the bigger categories).

MONDAY
Comms: snarkbite
Clients: legomymalfoy
General, Midnight to Noon GMT: anotherdream
General, Noon to 11:59PM GMT: legomymalfoy
Mobile: pauamma
ScrapBook: gameboyguy13
Styles, Midnight to Noon GMT: coffeechica - done
Styles, Noon to 11:59PM GMT: coffeechica ...Not as many requests as I thought! phew.
Syn: draconid
Web, Midnight to Noon GMT: legomymalfoy
Web, Noon to 11:59PM GMT: bridgetester
Userpics: legomymalfoy

TUESDAY
Comms: right
Clients: gameboyguy13
General, Midnight to Noon GMT: snarkbite
General, Noon to 11:59PM GMT: exor674
Mobile: gameboyguy13
ScrapBook: gameboyguy13
Styles: pauamma
Syn: gameboyguy13
Web, Midnight to Noon GMT: coffeechica
Web, Noon to 11:59PM GMT: coffeechica
Userpics: jennifer

WEDNESDAY
Comms: amanda
Clients: gameboyguy13
General, Midnight to Noon GMT: ursamajor
General, Noon to 11:59PM GMT: constantia
Mobile: tophee
ScrapBook: exor674
Styles: prissi
Syn: draconid
Web, Midnight to Noon GMT: pauamma
Web, Noon to 11:59PM GMT: right
Userpics: jennifer

Ignore requests in Issues, but don't forget to filter to Closed. :-) Crossing them out as I receive the reports.

Please send your lists of questions (and total counts, if the question appeared multiple times) to me @lj, copying the category admins. If we need it, I'll post again Wednesday to ask for volunteers for more days. I'm working under a deadline, so the faster you can get these to me the better, but I'd like them no later than Friday.

Thank you for your help!

Any of you reading this who have Safari, please listen up.

I need to find out what's going with "The Boxer" and replying to comments from EntryPage pages (http://www.livejournal.com/support/see_request.bml?id=550340 and http://www.livejournal.com/support/see_request.bml?id=544704) and whether it's something we can fix. I don't have access to Safari (or even a Mac, for that matter), so I need some help from you guys.

Could you please load this public entry (it has the s2id of my "The Boxer" style) and see if you can reply to my entry. Let me know whether or not you can, and also let me know which version of Safari you're using. We'll go from there once I find out who can and can't.

Edit: Sorry, I should have been more specific. The problem, as shown in the two support requests I linked, is that some people using Safari can't click on the reply button when replying to the top level post on the EntryPage. Therefore, I only need to know whether you can click that link successfully. You don't need to actually leave a comment. :)

Additionally, if anyone has any ideas about what the problem might be, please also let me know about those. :)

Thank you!

Edit 2: The issue has been resolved. Thanks very much to norinel and bridgetester! <3

I'm in the middle of creating an S2 roadmap, which I hope will help people learn S2 in a more regimented way. The way I envision it, it would be very much like the 13 ways to feed a ponie document, where each step would be a new type of S2 question, getting more difficult as the document progresses.

But any good training document will first have input from the people who will use it - so if you could take a minute to answer a few questions, I would appreciate it:

1 - If you already feel comfortable answering S2 styles questions, how did you get to that point?
2 - If you don't feel comfortable with S2, why? What do you find scariest about answering in S2?
3 - Would a weekly progression-type document help you learn S2 and track your progress?
4 - Would you want us to also keep a reportcard type document to keep track of your progress? (Note: No decision has been made to create a new reportcard for S2, it just popped into my head.)

Also, please comment with what you think will be helpful. Or just comment to say hello and give President Nixon some scritches ;)

This is a small thing that I've seen alot lately. However, I don't think that it is actually happening more than usual- I think that it's just because we've had more priv players than lately.

And this is no particular priv player- In fact, I think that this is something that I witnessed from a lot of priv players, maybe most priv players, and it kinda makes me go o.O.

Scenerio:

User asks question. Priv player submits answer which is basically approvable. Priv player writes his/her priv play stating listing all of the things that are needed to make the answer approvable (all are present in said priv players screened answer). So far, so good, right? Right. Priv player goes on to list "extras" or "shinies" that would make the answer better. Still good- except that not all of the shiny elements are included in the priv players screened answer.

Hmm..

Please remember that priv players are like super i2s. They're expected to answer with all of their i2ly ability (within reason- obviously all of us have some days where our answers are better than others), plus they're being asked to participate in this new level of training. And if you priv play on a request saying that you know that XYZ element would make the answer better, then it should probably be in your answer. Otherwise, it will reflect poorly on your answer writing (which of course, is still being assessed as you priv play).

Disclaimer: This is a statement of Chrissy's opinion as someone that is responsible for looking over priv players, not a statement of policy or anything from The Powers That Be

I know I saw how to do this, somewhere, relatively recently... but I can't track it down.

Is there any way to quickly and easily determine if a user's latest entry is backdated? (Alternatively, is there any way to determine it, even if the method is not quick/easy?)

Okay, so, as a new I1 (hi everybody), I was going through all the memories and stuff, and realized I had a question. If I'm looking at a request with screened answers that I think are missing some stuff, am I allowed to write my own response that includes some of the ideas from the previous responses, as well as what I think is missing? I did come across Leora's comment on something somewhat similar to this, but it was not exactly the same, and also a few years old (and I'm not sure how policies have changed etc.) Maybe what I'm looking for is more along the lines of "how is it acceptable to use screened responses in your own answer, if it is." I hope it's evident that I don't mean I'm planning on copying/plagiarizing. I'm just not sure I understand where the boundary between "us[ing] the resources at your disposal to learn and to improve your answers" and copying is.

(sorry if this is rambly; it's 5am)

Edit. Oh. An example might be helpful. Here, I thought the person was wanting info on just a regular image in the userinfo. Some of the screeneds mentioned another interpretation. Would it be wrong for me to incorporate that into my answer and then post a new screened?

Feel free to use this answer, tailored as appropriate.


The "Block Robots/Spiders" option enters HTML <meta> tags into your journal's code to indicate that the content should not be archived or cached. Google's new Blog Search feature uses RSS feeds, not direct site crawling, to archive and index posts for searchability. Unfortunately, data feeds such as your journal's RSS feed do not have similar tags that instruct spiders not to archive the data. As such, the feature in question has no bearing on other sites' ability to read your RSS feed.

While it is not possible to entirely disable your RSS feed, you can limit its output strictly to the subject lines of your entries. To do this, you can go to http://www.livejournal.com/admin/console and execute the following command:

  set synlevel title

Your syndicated feed will only display public entries to logged-out users, along with anyone not on your Friends list. If your protected content has been archived on Google's Blog Search, then it was archived at a time when the entry was public. Unfortunately, there is no way for LiveJournal to require the removal of the material in question; you, as the content owner, will need to speak with Google about this matter. You may also wish to consult legal counsel if you believe your copyrighted material has been archived without your consent, to discuss what recourse you have in this situation.

Hi guys, does anyone have a list of all the things you can't do before you validate your email address? I mean, other than posting comments and receiving notification emails.

Thought I'd post this to support_interim because I don't think I've made a post here yet (hiiii). :P

I was going to wait until 200 points until I posted, but I've been on 198 for ages, and no luck. Sigh.

This is more for my knowledge than anything, but can someone either explain in plain English (with examples, please!) or point me to a post explaining how jitemid works?

(FWIW, this might be of interest to Webby people, and I posted here because I don't want to confuse the newbies in learn_support with this.)

Thanks, Kevin.