[Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

VM ending newsgroup support and moving to Forum - Any Truth in this?
 

Was just reading the boardband cable support on the newsgroup and read a message from Alex Brown with the subject: [From Virgin Media] Changes to Newsgroups and Forums.

Is there any truth in this?

Quote
Siguature is:

Re: VM ending newsgroup support and moving to Forum - Any Truth in this?
 

Yes. everyone knows Alex. even if it is for the bad things :)

Re: VM ending newsgroup support and moving to Forum - Any Truth in this?
 

Yep, it's outta here.

EDIT: If they'd actually offer some measure of support on their forums it would be useful, not a lot at the moment.

The newsgroups were getting trolled to death by a couple of posters so this is no surprise, posts can be deleted far more easily on forum.

Re: VM ending newsgroup support and moving to Forum - Any Truth in this?
 

I always knew it was coming sooner or later. if not for the bad feedback they was getting, or the constant trolling.

the sad thing is that they are turning off the text server too, not just the support groups.

Re: Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Great news. :rolleyes:

Re: Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Oh man, I loved the newsgroups for the information. So where are people gonna bitch and moan about their services now?!

Joking aside, this is a bad move as it'll force people to go to a forum they may not need for support they will need. It also forces more to dial the support number.

Re: VM ending newsgroup support and moving to Forum - Any Truth in this?
 

The newsgroup guys are going to moderate and offer technical support on the VM forum officially :)

Yes it was trolled to death :(

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

We've only got their word that support staff will be doing the forums now instead of usenet.

I'd say there's no real intention of having any support. and they'll phase it out once the official support groups are closed.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Staff already moderate the official forum.;)

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Maybe you should wait to accuse Virgin of lying until after the date they have set to move the support over?

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

They have to moderate it. otherwise you'll get all sorts on there :)

---------- Post added at 16:31 ---------- Previous post was at 16:30 ----------

Ok.
I'll wait.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Then why did you ask the question above, all the support people on that forum are staff.

So they are now going to offer full support via a forum which most people can access easier than newsgroups.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Because moderation and support are 2 different things.

Not really. it will stop a lot of people bothering though.
unless you count the takeup by new customers, and not the long standing old customers.

closing the text server itself will kill off a long running community.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

As it is 2nd line agents manning the forum who are the same guys manning the newsgroups you will get the same level of service but with tighter control of the trolls.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

The last time I looked at the support newsgroups the only community I saw was lots of people having a general moan at one another and at Virgin and very little support happening.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

That's the advantage of a forum based support place. you can control the trolls and censor the feedback.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

There is difference between censoring and keeping any posts relevent to the site.

However even if you look at the Community Forum at the moment you will find the only time posts are moderated (and very rarely deleted) is when they break the house rules - exactly the same as happens here

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Yeah, the trolls spolit it for everyone on the Newsgroups.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

You have to be over 16 to post on the forum, and this kind of censorship is bad enough.

http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/...p-s/td-p/27481

You can compare it to this site in the way that it's a family forum, but it is very hypocritical of them.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Because what has that got to do with a specific issue?

As far as I can see it's a general 'moan at VM' thread - unless you can point out the specific issue that Sephiroth was having with his connection or service?

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Is this going to be the official reason why the support groups were closed, because of trolls?

---------- Post added at 17:01 ---------- Previous post was at 16:59 ----------

That's my point. blueyonder/virginmedia never did like criticism.

is there going to be a feedback group on the forums like there is on the usenet groups?

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

It's got nothing to do with criticism - it's to do with relevence.

The Help & Support forum is exactly that - a forum for Help & Support for Virgin Media.

If you want to have a go at Virgin there are plenty of places on the net to do so.

I'm sure it all depends whether they think that they will get feedback that is constructive and sensible or the usual 'we think Virgin are rubbish so there' stuff that usually ends up being posted

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Well I think that this is a positive step by VM and if it can safeguard the jobs of our UK 2nd line technical staff so much the better.

When the Community Forum started the biggest criticism that our CF members helping over there made was the total lack of official help being given by VM. Staff members, giving advise in their own time, with no access to any of their testing tools and with no official channels to follow through, had no way of making sure that the person they advised would get their problem sorted in the appropriate way when they subsequently had to deal with VM by phone.

For those people with BB and a certain amount of internet savvy getting a problem sorted by going onto the newsgroups was a bonus but I wouldn't like to have tried to do it with out some help from you lot and I fear that a lot of customers would have given up. Many of our members joined our forum with problems that they could have sorted out that way if the newsgroups had been more easily visible/accessible to the average customer.

and Garry there is a feedback section already set up and in use over there. :)

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

That's a site feedback. where if you've got a great idea on how they can make the forum even better.

like an idea on how you can access it for support if you are having browsing problems :)

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

But then that would apply to the newsgroups or any other net based support solution.

The answer would be telephone support instead

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

It will be good when they do start giving support in there. the people who are still waiting for the support can stop waiting.

and as I said. I think whatever support is given in there won't last long before it's withdrawn altogether.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Anyone who has signed up to the forum so far has agreed to the current rules - one of which is it's (currently) not a official support route.

That message is on the forum homepage, is in the house rules article and is in the e-mail that you get when you join the forum.

So at the moment if they then post to the forum want a direct answer from Virgin they should know they are probably not going to get one

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Sometimes you can still access nntp but not have access to the web.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

If staff can [officially] offer support on that forum, why cant they do the same on other forums ?

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

I'll wait to see the big announcement for the forum now has support staff answering questions then.

that should be a big one. they'll be rushed off their feet with all these support queries now being made on an internet forum. as oppsed to newsgroups.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Probably because on that forum all staff will be verified by the Forum Manager. Any requests for information will also comply with things such as DPA etc.

---------- Post added at 17:55 ---------- Previous post was at 17:53 ----------

Even when they are supporting the forum I doubt it's going to be for every single query - just as the Admins and Moderators of this forum don't answer every single post.

The whole point of a community is that users help each other out - so it will be combination of both official and peer support

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

This is not an official virgin support forum.
I'd expect it will be impossible to answer all support queries on the official support forum with the amount of staff compared to the expected amount of customers. which will make it a bit of a waste of time and pot luck really that you might get answered.

That's what happens now on the usenet support groups.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Once again, maybe you should wait and see how well it works?

Also I'm sure that the support team will focus on those issues that need their expertise and escalation ability

For those simple issues it may well be that a fellow user will be able to provide the answer needed

Personally I don't know, but it will work better than it and the newsgroups currently do

what actually happens on the newsgroups is that a number of people spend lots of time chatting amongs themselves and occasionally a Virgin customer finds the newsgroups to ask a question.

Compared with amount of support that Virgin deticate to the newsgroups the amount of support that actually happens is minimal

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

No the reason is because only a tiny percentage actually used them, where as the VM forum is growing and being used by more customers.... the trolling is the general opinion from some staff and other users.

---------- Post added at 18:18 ---------- Previous post was at 18:12 ----------

Good question Paul, maybe CF can ask their VM contacts? Would be good if we could be "official" on here.. it is the better forum. ;)

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

I reckon they might do like a ticketing system where by you submit a support request from a link on the forum for direct support from VM, that could work nicely

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

the chatting in the support groups was very minimal really. it was mainly the feedback group that was a playground with certain posters. but then there wasn't really many support queries put in there to answer.

the staff that are manning the support groups can easily take seconds to skip the chatter if they wanted to.

I can see the forum being a bigger problem in that respect. the chatters will still be there, and their numbers will undoubtedly increase with it being a forum.

so you'll have the same (if not worse) problem of sifting through the clutter.

---------- Post added at 18:26 ---------- Previous post was at 18:24 ----------

And put your fellow colleagues out of a job? :)

they could do away with the forum and not pay any wages, and sponsor this site instead. how cool would that be? :D

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

They are 2nd line, so it's not their primary role, they wouldn't lose their jobs :)

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

I think Usenet is a very old support system, and certainly not in keeping with the more Social Network style that seems to be the flavour de jour.

If the support guys are going to be working the VM community forum, then it should well reach a larger, more up-to-date audience.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Only if you don't have tools that help you do exactly that

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Support works well on Twitter so I can't see why there should be any issues with providing it on their own forum

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Alex once said that a very very small percentage of users knew or used usenet. so they made a web based forum.

Alex once said that a very very small percentage of users distrupted other downloaders. so they invented STM :D

---------- Post added at 18:33 ---------- Previous post was at 18:31 ----------

Reminds me of how I always imagined AOL.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

As Ben has already said it is a question of DPA plus they have access to all the account details and relevant tools to help diagnose any issues correctly.

Any staff that post on here can only offer advice and guidance with any issues anyone posting on here may ask for, but that is as far as it goes.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

As you seem to know how this all works. how does Google fit into all this? :)

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

It doesn't. Virgin Media use Google for their e-mail service and nothing more than that

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

I have no idea as that is not a Virginmedia tool.;)

What Google got to do with anything.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Probably nothing. let's hope not eh :)

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

It's definately nothing. Google have zero involvement in the Forum.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

yeah, it will be DPA, you are right... I did register on the VM forum a while back (with my real name) but posters didn't seem to listen to any advice and just abuse VM... maybe things have changed?

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Not really. Some people ignore advice, many get no advice, plenty abuse VM as their services suck and they're getting no help.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

PR stunt gone wrong that forum.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

There needs to be somewhere that VM reads to send feedback good and bad too and for it to be passed on to the right people to look into.

---------- Post added at 20:22 ---------- Previous post was at 20:18 ----------

... and a complete mess the email system is now in, non-standards compliant system, hence I've moved all my xBY email addresses away to use along with my domain names.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Proper feedback can already be left on the forum and it is paid attention to

However a lot of the stuff at the moment consists of 'Virgin's rubbish - go to Sky/BT' etc which is hardly constructive

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

True, however VM aren't helping themselves by downgrading the email service.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

But having a go and feedback are 2 different things... I believe there is a feedback group in the VM forum too?

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

But again just posting 'Don't like it' doesn't help anyone

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

It's sad, but them closing the virginmedia discussion groups as well as the support ones is heartless really. there's a few upset long time posters that post in them. and have done for years. this will affect their normal everyday life a lot.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

But if VM hear that customers aren't happy then maybe they will look into it. Instead of them hiding their head in the sand.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Will "I didn't have a contract with Google as my email provider" help?

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

It would help more if you posted it to a topic that was actually about the Google migration

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

A high number of people are angry that a working email system is no longer working properly and that's not just people who use the newsgroups or forums either to express their annoyance. Shame the downgrade was only for the bean-counters.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

I had to laugh when I searched for such a thread and saw this one :D

http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/...ost/td-p/24809

Mark Wilkin would probably delete my posting.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

I'm afraid that I dont quite see how DPA affects anything, nor what tools you have access too. You have access to the same tools no matter what forum you are logged into. As for DPA, you are not revealing personal data to anyone else, nor are we storing it here, so how does that come into play ? A member contacting you by PM here is no different to them ringing you, or e-mailing you (its probably more secure than e-mail).

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Most of the time when direct support is offered either through the newsgroups or via Virgin's community forum then the accounts are accessed - so that the agents offering support can log any fault to comply with their OFCOM requirements and also note any resolution

I would expect the same happens when this forum uses it's high level contacts

---------- Post added at 21:00 ---------- Previous post was at 20:57 ----------

Don't see what so difficult about that - this forum has closed long running threads before if they've got to hard to follow

No he wouldn't

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

I always suspected you of running Virginmedia. now you have got me all excited again ;) :)

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

well i have just tried to register with the vm help and support forum to try to find out when the blueyonder emails are going to be working again but can't post because the activation email hasn't arrived ....honest you couldn't make it up :mad:

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

There is no update available at present.. issue is still ongoing. Est fix is 23:30 this evening, but this is only a guide and will probably change. HTH

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Yeah, these ETAs change all the time, you just get another 4 hours added each time.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

thanks for the info :tu:

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Sometimes IT (and other) problems refuse to resolve themselves to estimated timescales....;)

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Yeah, I know, we work on a 4 hour fix from issue submitted, whilst over 98% of the time we hit that, it's not always possible.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Indeed... same for VM :)

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

The way some of my colleagues have been spoken to on the Feedback Newsgroup tonight is disgusting, some from the old school on there and some from the trolls. :td:

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

This is what happens sadly when people are angered, there has always been a few trolls around.

This really has angered a lot of people and upset a lot more.

Think it's the fact that the service is bit by bit being downgraded.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

I'm sorry but that's no excuse. I've just gone had a look at the posts that have been left and some of them are downright rude, patronising and are direct personal attacks on VM staff for no reason.

How is moving the support staff to the forums - which more pepople use than the newsgroups - a downgrade?

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

I think the attacks are aimed at Alex Brown. there's a lot of people that don't like him.

I think you'll find that it's more about losing the internal virgin discussion groups that most people are getting upset about.

to some people that is their life. they've been there since the early days. Virgin are taking away their life line if you like.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

And that makes it all right does it?

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

If it was Alex's decision or idea to close the groups and the server, then yes.
if it wasn't Alex's decision or idea to close the groups and the server, then a close yes.

Alex gets this abuse because he is seen as a liar and a traitor by the old school users. and they're just a bit upset at the moment.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

I noticed this in the newsgroup post:

"The usage of these community forums has now risen to the point where a
significantly higher number of customers are using them in preference
to using the Virgin Media newsgroups. As such we have decided to focus
our online technical support resource to assist customers via the
forums instead of the Virgin Media Newsgroups."

How much truth in that and how much of the Earth's salt is needed with that is up for debate.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Can't see anything wrong with that statement. The forums are much easier to find and user for general internet users.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Currently online: 15 members.

busy busy busy! :)

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Currently online: 27 members 71 guests

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

That's you telling the staff to log in.

Why don't you update the page and tell everyone that it will be manned by support staff in March?

http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/...s-first/td-p/5

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Which for a relatively new forum is very good when compared with the present statistics for this forum which has 82 members and 738 guests at present.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

You're not taking into account that it's only risen from about 2 members because of the announcement in the virgin groups, and the new numbers are just them people :)

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

I'm sure that would just cause a load of 'well why can't they do it' now type of threads

And your proof of that statement is where?

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

I'm just guessing at logic.

---------- Post added at 11:28 ---------- Previous post was at 11:25 ----------

Are they blind / partially sighted user friendly?

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

So you don't have any proof then

As I'm neither I can't comment about readability of web forums by screen reader software.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

As I said above for a relatively new forum that is not bad going, some of the more established forums would kill for that many people.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

I didn't say I had. it was just logical thinking and reasoning.

You don't have to be blind to comment.
I just thought you might know from when you said The forums are much easier to find and user for general internet users.

there's a blind user that has expressed his disappointment with having to use a forum where before he could use the text based groups.

he mentions DDA.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

He would have to complain about every single forum out there not just one.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

I think it affects him in the way that Virgin is his service. and the forum is part of that service.

just like their homepage and all subsequent pages are a service to him, and is subject to DDA because of customers with a disability.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

They are indeed. Doesn't mean though that he can't use them

The community forum is text based and has very few images -those that are have full ALT text. So even in a text browser it would still work.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Yes they are.

---------- Post added at 11:51 ---------- Previous post was at 11:49 ----------

Indeed I have no problems with that forum and can use it just as well as this one.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

Sadly one huge reason to be rid of the newsgroups, easier to moderate posts and ban idiots in a forum environment. People happily talked to technical support with no courtesy and a chronic sense of 'entitlement' - they being somehow better than every other customer because they are on the newsgroups.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

He says
Do you know if that is the case with DDA?

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

If only that were true :D :p: :D

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

I answered YOUR question - not his.

The question you asked was

'Are they blind / partially sighted user friendly?' - to which the reply was and still is yes they are.

As for the DDA I don't think it's worth the paper it's written on, but that is a discussion for another thread.

If you /really/ want to know a definitive answer I can certainly find out from the rnib for you although it will take couple of days.

Re: [Merged] Technical Support via newsgroups is withdrawn.
 

OK, so some idiots keep coming back :dunce:

It's all relative :p: