pingable help roles?

[pseudo crag]

yo, it would be helpful if we had roles we could assign ourselves for people to ping for help with different subjects (i.e i can ping the C++ Helper role to quickly find someone who can help me with some cpp related problem, Blueprint Helper role for a bp related problem, etc.)

Scrolled down and saw a similar rejected post, so let me add a few things to this:

1. If misleading info is an issue, we can have it so that you have to reach a certain requirement or have a good track record in order to be given the role, so that only fairly trustworthy members can be pinged for help rather than inexperienced ones

2. I'd imagine that misleading info would be swiftly contested by a more experienced member if they see the advice given to the person asking for help, so in retrospect, it might not be that big of a problem if what I said above would be too big of a hassle

[grim pumice]

OK so given the c++ scenario you proposed, why would you need to ping anybody?

Why can't you post in #cpp and the first available person will respond?

That channel is active nearly 24x7 and if it isn't at that moment you'd need to wait until normal time anyway to avoid pinging people on off hours.

[pearl vessel]

We will not be adding these types of roles for the foreseeable future.

We see very little to no benefit in them given how we have setup the server.

As explained above by Xero, you only simply need to post in the appropriate channel related to your question, and someone that can answer, will answer.

With how we have designed the channels, it eliminates the need for vanity roles for this purpose.

If you treat each channel as somewhat of "a community of individuals who specialize in this topic", then the channel itself is the role you are looking for.

[pseudo crag]

faster help and less chance that your question will be flooded out by many others before anyone able to help gets on

[pseudo crag]

you do have a point

[candid lake]

Sure, on the surface, maybe.
But then you add the role, everyone pings it for fast help, aaaaand you get drowned out anyway.
What's worse is the regulars that answer the questions so would likely take such a role, would be so inundated with pings, that you'll probably end up with less people answering across the board

[pseudo crag]

honestly would there be too much harm in just trying it

because while that may be true

it could also just be surprisingly successful

the difference between getting your question drowned out with and without pings is that when someone's pinged, the message is highlighted, bringing their attention toward it

so it would still greaten the chance of having your question seen

[pearl vessel]

We have observed the results of vanity roles in other large servers and there are many many pitfalls to their inclusion that we would prefer to avoid. They are not as successful as you think they might be.

[pseudo crag]

alright, if you say

[candid lake]

Yeah, but my point is, everyone wants quick help, so everyone pings, and all the messages are highlighted.

Making it as ineffective as not having the role, with the annoyance of constant pings

[pearl vessel]

We have discussed this topic at length both publically and internally many times.

[pseudo crag]

true

[upper thunder]

I'm against it just on principle: no one here is obligated to help you. That may sound harsh, but there's already a problem of some of the more experienced people here getting unsolicited pings and even DMs which goes against the culture of the server. Formalizing that with a "helper" role would only make that problem worse.
One question is not more important than another, and whether someone responds to you is up to them - it should not become an expectation that anyone needs to answer because this is a community of random people who like to discuss unreal, not an official help-line.

[pseudo crag]

i feel like this wouldn't be a major problem since you would have to decide for yourself whether you want to be pinged to help though

but i see your point

[upper thunder]

The problem with that is I know many of the experienced people would not want to be labeled "helpers" for this exact reason.

[grim pumice]

if people want a ping for any time somebody needs help they'll turn on notifications for that channel

[pseudo crag]

that's true

i guess

[grim pumice]

siliex is being nice... what you're asking for is annoying behavior and we all agree tbh

[pseudo crag]

it was silly for me to assume this wasn't already heavily considered in a place like this

[upper thunder]

Eh. I do feel that suggestions should always be welcomed and not discouraged but yeah this has been mentioned quite a lot.

[grim pumice]

I agree but they even mentioned in their original posts that they saw similar ideas were already rejected so they shoulda known what would happen 😄

[pearl vessel]

They are always welcomed, getting the response you are looking for may not happen however.