Reasons for this?

• Even with real names, many people behave less empathetic on the internet. It’s too easy to forget that the person you are talking to is a real human.
• The people helping are mostly volunteers, who don’t feel obligated to be nice, or represent Mozilla.
• Also with volunteers, many are involved in support simply because they know the technical solution to some issues, and have no formal training in support.

Those factors tend to create a community of geeks lacking the social skills to help novice users. Most people in the community just haven’t considered this. If a fellow user is being uncivil, it’s natural to flame back.

It’s important to remember:

• Empathy: If you have a problem with your cable, and call your cable company tech support, how would you like to be treated? They would never say “PEBCAK” or “RTFM“.
• The user is having a problem with Firefox, and it’s obviously of some importance to them, because they made the effort to find the support venue, register, and post about it. If they’ve gone that extent, we should expect a level of frustration. It would be nice if most users posting in a support forum were calm and civil, but that’s not the nature of the beast.

I’m not saying the customer is always right; I’m saying don’t argue with them. Here are some tips everyone can use when giving technical support:

• Remind yourself of your purpose there. It should be to help others, not to show off your knowledge of Firefox. Don’t expect to be treated like royalty by users, just because you’re helping them. “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you” does not fly with software users. If you don’t think you’re getting enough appreciation, let it be known to the forum manager, not the user.
• Packaging, packaging, packaging! Almost any criticism of the user can be phrased in a way that appears helpful rather than confrontational. If your mind says “How in the world am I supposed to help you, when you provide no details and no URL? I’m not a mind-reader“, then say “We’ll need some more info about your Firefox setup. Here are the details we need and how to provide them…” There’s a big difference between telling a user he/she should have searched the web before posting, and letting them know that they can search the web before posting.
• You can calm a user down by explaining things. Frustration comes from lack of understanding. A couple of years ago, I went to see my dentist about a pain I was having. He showed me an x-ray of my tooth, explained what the problem was and why it was happening. He then told me what he planned to do to fix the problem, warned me of any side-effects, and told me how much it would cost. I walked out of there feeling much more confident and relaxed about the situation. I also thought “So much of that applies to user support“. Instead of simply giving the user instructions on how to fix a problem, explain what you think the cause of the problem probably is, and what the solution is. Then tell them how to carry out the solution.
• If you’re not having the same problem as the user, say so. It doesn’t directly help the user, but it shows that you’re making an effort to help, which the user will appreciate. It shows that the problem may not be a bug, which will discourage other users from chiming in just to rant about the product. It encourages people to give details, which a good user support person loves like crack.
• Act as if you are talking to the user in-person.
• Don’t get hung up on protocol. This is something I see a lot of in newsgroups. If the user starts a new thread to respond to your reply in the original thread, or puts the entire question in the subject and nothing in the message body, mention it, but don’t focus on it. That takes focus away from the issue they posted about. Better yet, don’t mention it at all until after you’ve solved their problem. At that point, they will have gained some respect for what you have to say.
• If the user just wants to argue, disengage. Some users just want to rant. It’s good to offer to help and direct them where to submit feedback, but if you’ve already done that and they continue to rant, leave it alone.

Quantity vs quality is hard. With SUMO focusing on making sure every question gets answered, making those answers better quality can take time away from another user getting any answer at all. One good way to solve that is snippets that provide good detailed explanations, instructions, and links. Right now, you can use an extension called Clippings, which allows you to automatically paste canned responses you’ve saved. It works on both Firefox and Thunderbird, so you can use it on web-forums as well as mailing lists and newsgroups. You can find a list of canned responses to use on the Mozilla wiki. Soon the SUMO support forum will have canned responses built in.

What should Mozilla do when a volunteer is not being empathetic?

That’s a natural extension to the above issue. I have some scattered thoughts on that. I still need to organize them, and will probably start a thread in the SUMO community forum to discuss.

If you’ve made it this far into this blog post, thanks for reading.

You can connect the messages with thread lines, using a userChrome.css tweak.

1. In Thunderbird, click on the Help menu, then select Troubleshooting Information. This will open the about:support page.
2. Click on Show In Finder. That will open your profile folder in the Finder.
3. Create a new folder called “chrome”.
4. Create a file in the chrome folder, called “userChrome.css”.
   
5. Open userChrome.css, and insert this text:

   #threadTree treechildren::-moz-tree-line {
     visibility: visible !important;
   }
   
   #threadTree treechildren::-moz-tree-line(selected, focus) {
     border-color: #FFFFFF !important;
   }

6. Save userChrome.css and restart Thunderbird. Threaded view should have lines connecting messages.

In the past, it wasn’t possible to delete individual messages. At least not without exploiting the message aging feature. In the latest version of Thunderbird, you can delete individual messages. You just need to change a preference in the config editor to enable the feature.

1. Go to Tools > Options > Advanced > General, and click on Config Editor.
2. In the Config Editor, search for the preference: news.allow_delete_with_no_undo
3. Double-click on it, to set the value to true.

After that, the delete command will work when you have any newsgroup messages selected.

I don’t know if I’m the only one with this issue, so I thought I’d share how I fixed it.

In my Bugzilla Preferences, there is an Email Preferences tab that allows me to choose what changes I get emailed about based on my relationship to the bug. In it, I turned off most options for when I am a voter of a bug. Then, for any bugs in which I only care if the bug is fixed, I vote for it instead of adding myself to the CC list.

I made that change over a week ago. So far, so good.

When you delete a message, it doesn’t really get deleted from the folder. It gets marked as deleted. Thunderbird sees that marking, and knows not to display the message. Compacting a folder will command Thunderbird to remove all messages marked as deleted from that folder.

To compact your folders, go to the File menu and select Compact Folders.
To compact an individual folder, right-click on the folder and select Compact.

If you’re having any issues, post in the Thunderbird Support forum at https://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/kb/ask

Thanks to Joshua Cranmer for creating the patch.

Every once in a while, someone on news.mozilla.org will enquire about receiving an error message “A News (NNTP) error occurred: xpat not supported“, when trying to search newsgroups on news.mozilla.org; so I thought I’d post my ‘stock’ answer.

News.mozilla.org is hosted by Giganews, who’s servers do not support XPAT commands.
To quote one of the Giganews support personnel:

“The XPAT command attempts to search through our entire spool of over 700 million articles, to match on a specific keyword, that is often found only in a handful of newsgroups. The command puts enough of a load on our servers, that several people using this at one time can affect the performance that all of our customers receive.”

Disabling XPAT support is not an uncommon thing. When using the “Search Messages” function in Mozilla Thunderbird [Edit-->Find-->Search Messages], the XPAT command is used to search that news server. The workaround for this is to make Thunderbird search messages locally. There are a couple of ways to do that:

1. Use the Quick Search toolbar item [View-->Toolbars-->Customize, and make sure "Quick Search" is on a toolbar].

2. Before opening the search window, you can switch to offline mode [File-->Offline-->Work Offline]. There’s also an offline toggle icon in the bottom left of the Thunderbird window.

Additionally, all mozilla.* newsgroups are archived on Google Groups, which is searchable using Google Groups.

Rather than go through every problem/bug I see in Mozilla’s user support, let’s go through solutions, which may fix multiple problems at once:

In-product

• Add “More Info” links to tooltips and pop-up messages:This is less about troubleshooting, and more about general “How to” enquires. Whereas some features may be relatively discoverable, finding documentation on it, can prevent users from creating there own problems. I’m not sure if it is technically possible, but putting “More info” links in tooltips may help users get to know how the program works.
• Beef up the Help menu: Let’s say Joe User has a problem. If he is willing to look for support, the first place he is going to go is the Help menu. The Help menu should have quick links to the primary support venues. A while back, I took a screenshot of Google’s Picasa2 Help menu:
  
  Not only is there an item for the in-product help content, but there are links to tutorials on some of the basic functions, a link to the online support site, and a link to the user forums. We’ve got an online help site, and it has a User Forums page.
• Beef up XUL pages/errors: What ever happened to bug 335289?! Each time there is a new Firefox update, we get a batch of questions about Firefox not being able to connect to the internet anymore (caused by a Firewall not recognizing that the app was updated). It’s a major problem with every release.
• about:support(diagnostics): I filed bug 367596 to get this created. In looking at the Dell support site, I loved how I could enter my computer’s serial number, and the Dell site would show me info, that applies to my setup. Likewise, by giving a Dell support person my computer’s serial number, that person would have my computer’s specs in front of them; and this helps greatly in being able to diagnose my problem, and telling my how to fix my problem. While every Firefox download is available “as is,” there’s still a lot of info that helps support volunteers help users. For example, what version of Firefox the user has, what operating system, what add-ons are installed, the version number of each add-on, what plug-ins are installed, what locale is being used, where the profile is located, etc. It would be nice if support volunteers could direct users to a single about: page, that listed all the info a user needs for user support; and create a “Copy my support info” button on that page.

Website

• Move it to mozilla.com/%PRODUCT%/support/: If a person is looking for Firefox support on the web, they are going to go to the Firefox website. If a person is looking for Thunderbird support on the web, they are going to go to the Thunderbird website. If a person is looking for SeaMonkey support on the web, they are going to go to the SeaMonkey website. If a person is looking for Camino support…well, you get the idea. The support indexes at www.mozilla.com/support/ and www.mozilla.org/support/ are redundant, and give the user a lot of info that may not apply to that user. In almost all cases, a user is looking for info about one product. The biggest offender of this is actually the MozillaZine Knowledge Base. For example, if a Firefox user is directed to the profile folder page, they are bombarded with profile locations for Thunderbird, Sunbird, SeaMonkey, and told about files that don’t exist in Firefox profiles. A SeaMonkey user may be taken to a page written for Firefox users. It simply has a note at the top saying “this page also applies to blah, blah, and blah.” Meanwhile that page may contain UI directions, that are different in SeaMonkey. Having one page for all products might be beneficial for maintainers; but it’s a lot of unnecessary confusion for the user. Support web content should be split by product from the get-go. Maybe even split by version.
• Search: I’ve mostly taken care of this on Firefox and Thunderbird Help sites, but I just want to explain the philosophy. I found this comment on Eric Shepherd’s blog very interesting: “I tried to call their customer service (ha!) but on top of their horrible support they’ve added an obnoxious automated system that insists on making you jump through the hoops you used to be able to demand they not make you jump through (admittedly with varying degrees of success).” Too much automation can be a bad thing; and while we discuss methods improving self-help, diagnosis and solutions need to be quick. There cannot be so many steps, that the process becomes a hassle. When I have a problem with any product, the first thing I look for is a search engine. I go to the Help menu, open the help viewer, and do a search there. If I don’t find what I need, I go to the product site, and look for a search field for the online help documentation. If I don’t find what I need, I look for a support forum, and try find a search field for that. These functions already exists for Firefox, but need to be obvious/convenient. The term I like to use for it is “unmissable.”
• Use multimedia: I’m sure you all know the saying “A picture speaks a thousand words.” It is very true for user support. Many users tend to give incorrect terminology, or not understand the terminology we use. It’s amazing how much confusion can be avoided, by using screenshots. Screen videos are even better. Are you familiar with the CustomizeGoogle extension? Are you familiar with what it does, or how to use it? Go to customizegoogle.com, and view the introduction video. I doubt you’ll find many people who won’t know what the extension is, or how to use it, after viewing that video. Apple is doing the same thing, to give folks a preview of Leopard.
• Designate responsibility: The Mozilla Organization is great, how it organizes and coordinates Mozilla development. There are project leaders, module owners, etc.. That hasn’t really happened with Mozilla User Support. One thing I’ve found about Mozilla support is that there are a lot of “Jacks of all trades”. Perhaps its just me who’s guilty of this. In addition to running the firefox support list, I also run the thunderbird, mozilla-suite, other, accessibility, and calendar support lists, as well as the test, and test-multimedia list. I answer questions in all of those lists, except for calendar and accessibility. I contribute to the www.mozilla.org support site, as well as maintain my own website, which not only requires knowledge of support issues, but knowledge of web coding (HTML,CSS,etc.), and the need to proof-read and organize everything, and keep it all updated with every new release. I often find myself spread too thin; and perhaps there are others in the community doing much of the same. There needs to be more designation of responsibility. Thunderbird helpers should leave Firefox support to someone else, and vice versa. Designate people for adding content to documentation. Designate others, who know a thing or two about the English language, for proof-reading, and others, with web-coding knowledge, for presentation. Instead, we’ve got people who answer questions in support forums, providing web-content, and doing all of the above. It may not seem like a lot of work at first, but the more web-content there is, the more maintenance needs to be done, when the product is updated.

Other

• Private support: It’s inevitable. Mozilla is going to have to start offering private support sooner or later. The only current private option is a whopping $40 USD. You know that feeling you get after you’ve bought a printer for a great price, then see the price of an ink cartridge for that printer? The private option is usually that taken by those who don’t want to “test the wild” of public support, or aren’t familiar with certain technologies. How many Firefox users are familiar with IRC, newsgroups, or even web-forums? I think it’s safe to assume that most, if not all Firefox users have a phone, or….an email address. The support mailing lists used to get a lot of non-members posting, thinking that address was for private support. I don’t know what the cost of offering private email support is; but I really like that, as a new support venue.
• Certifying experts: Don’t you hate it, when someone who claims to be an expert, starts giving the most BS answers you’ve ever read? Or even worse, a community troll starts deliberately giving users bad advice. One incident that sticks in my head, is in the days of Netscape 6/7. A user was having trouble installing Netscape, and one person suggested they take the Netscape CD, and put it in the microwave for a couple of seconds. The user followed that advice. Users need some sort of assurance, that the help they are being given is from an expert. This is separate from moderators, because being good at helping users does not equal being a good forum moderator, and vice versa. And those who are certified, can take that title to any third party Mozilla support forum.
• Make a better product: Okay, this isn’t really a support issue. I just sometimes feel guilty, telling people about a product upgrade. You still need a computer guru to install add-ons in Thunderbird, there’s still no UI for backing up your Thunderbird profile, you still lose bookmarks, and they still eat memory like a pig…but now you’ve got live titles and a new theme. There’s only so much good user support can do.

What’s up with that?

Here’s how to make those icons small:
Go to Tools–>Options–>Advanced–>General, and click on “Config Editor“. In the Config Editor, search for the preference mailnews.attachments.display.largeView. Double-click on it, which should change the value to false.

I’ve updated the wiki page, with screenshots in a table, and my work so far. If anyone is willing to contribute to that document, please do. Once we’ve got definitions for all the option settings, I’ll reformat it for the the Thunderbird Help site.

http://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:Help_Documentation:The_Options_Window