Accepted Solutions

[Martin-O2]

Hey guys, 

As I'm sure your all aware we have a lot of people come to the O2 community looking for help and advice on various subjects ranging from major hardware faults to simple settings queries. In order to help people find the right answer to their question we mark the answer as the "Accepted Solution". This is then linked to the opening post so it can be found quickly. 

My question is do you think that "accepted solution" is the best way to mark the answer? Many other forums use a similar process but have different wording such as "Best Answer" or "Most helpful response" and we were curious as to what you guys think of "Accepted Solution" as a way of marking correct or helpful answers.

I would also like to hear your thoughts on "Kudos" as a way of liking posts? Do you think a simple Facebook style thumbs up would be better or is it fine as it is?

Please let me know what you think in the comments below and don't be afraid to think outside the box with alternative suggestions. Perhaps something tied in to O2's branding or wording on our main website.

[MI5]

I agree, we've tried many different ways of education over the years but none have worked completely successfully.
Even the tacky "please mark thread solved" type of signature fell on deaf ears.....

[jonsie]

Admin do go round and mark threads as solved, hence the many posts tagged at the end of threads asking if the issue is solved.

[Cleoriff]

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@jonsie wrote:

Admin do go round and mark threads as solved, hence the many posts tagged at the end of threads asking if the issue is solved.

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I was about to say the same. Also in defence of new posters many of them are unaware that they should be marking a post as solved. Sometimes things take a lot longer than the initial post and subsequent answers to solve a problem..

[MI5]

Indeed, there are also those that never get solved, but plenty that do without a marked solution too.

[Anonymous]

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@Cleoriff wrote:

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@jonsie wrote:

Admin do go round and mark threads as solved, hence the many posts tagged at the end of threads asking if the issue is solved.

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I was about to say the same. Also in defence of new posters many of them are unaware that they should be marking a post as solved. Sometimes things take a lot longer than the initial post and subsequent answers to solve a problem..

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You're both right, but reading between the lines, this will be another exercise designed to raise awareness of the importance of selecting best answers (or whatever term is settled on). But I didn't mean to sound critical of newcomers, as I'm actually on their side. Yes it's always nice to get some feedback on the help that is being provided, and even a simple "thank you" wouldn't go amiss. But we have to accept that some people may only post once in this community, and may not have time to get familiar with how the forums work. The important thing is that they get their problem solved.

[Cleoriff]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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I didn't mean to sound critical of newcomers, as I'm actually on their side. Yes it's always nice to get some feedback on the help that is being provided, and even a simple "thank you" wouldn't go amiss. But we have to accept that some people may only post once in this community, and may not have time to get familiar with how the forums work. The important thing is that they get their problem sol

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I totally agree @Anonymous In addition to this newcomers may have limited time so they don't always do a search for previous answers. Having said that.....information goes out of date frequently so I have no issue with posters starting a new thread. It keeps advice and information current

[Anonymous]

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@Martin-O2 wrote:

I would also like to hear your thoughts on "Kudos" as a way of liking posts? Do you think a simple Facebook style thumbs up would be better or is it fine as it is?

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One of the things I do like about this community is that kudos are used sparingly, so as not to devalue them. I don't use Facebook myself, but I'm guessing that "Likes" are handed out quite freely (perhaps too freely), so it could see a dumbing down of the community (@gindygoo will understand what I'm talking about), and I don't think we want to go down that route.

[gindygoo]

Goodness no, honestly gg is a kudos fest at times (more often now they've raised kudos limits) where ppl get 5/6 kudos for a "lol" and then you've got the serial "on the fence" posters who comment on anything and everything, mostly with "it doesn't affect me, so I don't know" and still get 5 kudos for posting that!!

Ian_ is right it's a sticking plaster to rename accepted solution that'll not change the amount of threads marked. What's refreshing about O2 compared to gg is you rarely see a thread that's not solved eventually. It obvs does happen, but ppl here stick with a thread until a solution is found 95% of the time. Be it six months down the line, someone will usually pop back to a thread if a solution becomes apparent.

Hmm... @Toby is this a pre-emptive exercise to try to get more threads marked as solved as oppose to just refreshing the terminology? If so, what prompted the move? If we've got as much info on the story as possible it might help to shape how we reply. As if you're going to change it anyway it'd be best that we offer our suggestions even if initially we didn't agree it needed any changes.

[Toby]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Toby wrote:

Hi guys,

While the general consensus here is that most are happy with the 'Accepted Solution' label, we may still consider creating a more recognisable name for it. I'm doing my own little research and seeing how its used around the web :).

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A couple of years ago giffgaff took the decision to change that term to "Best Answer", in the mistaken belief that it might encourage more newcomers to close off a thread, but they're still fighting a losing battle in that respect. In fact, after a lot of consultation on the subject (which divided opinion greatly), they've decided to let a small pool of trusted members start selecting best answers. Whatever terminology is used, you're still faced with the same problem, so it's only going to be a cosmetic change really.

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Hi @Anonymous,

I was working on that team when they had that consultation

This would be a cosmetic change at the moment. As you rightly say Ian, members will either use the feature or not and trying to be overly persuasive for members to accept solutions is not always best.

However, our thinking is that certain phrasing may be easier to recognise for casual member or readers of the great content here as opposed to us wanting lighten our workload.

Anyway, keep discussing this, as its really useful to know how you feel!

[Anonymous]

The problem that I have with the term "Best Answer", is that it's too subjective, and even implies that the issue may not have been resolved, whereas indicating that a post has "solved" the problem seems to be more of a clear-cut message.

@gindygoo makes a very good point, that people in this community are usually conscientious enough to want to stay with a problem until a solution has been found. The pursuit of "Best Answers" can change the focus somewhat, and people seem to become less concerned with troubleshooting problems.

Edit: typo