Forums General Discussion EFnet #mirchelp is amusing!!

I am having issues with 6.2 so I asked a question in #mirchelp on efnet (among others) and followed their help request protocols to the letter. I patiently waited for assistance. After what seemed only a few minutes I went afk for a cup of java. On return I found I had been booted for being idle after 30 minutes. No assistance, no comments, just swept out the door. In fact, none of the #mirc help channels respond to any polite help requests whether efnet, dalnet, undernet, etc. Just a lot of op bots and hangerons. Sadly, most help channels are devolving into unmoderated general chat channels. Whew, got that all off my chest!

sadly that is not just mirc related help channels. Quite a few help channels Ive been to for help have been like that. Timing is everything on SOME channels and ya have to get there during the "ON" hours (which can be different for every channel). As a former mirc help channel op, I can tell you that while I was in it, I was active and gave help. If I wasnt in the channel it was cause I didnt wanna helkp, was taking a break, or got burnt out for the day/time

Perhaps I am also sensitive to help issues since I assist in a mac help channel for the Ircle client (sorry mirc lovers) both in an english and spanish channel. Many times I don't see the questions until hours after asked and then respond. I was just flabbergasted that this particular channel booted me after 30 minutes. I would have let the questions rest in channel for 24 hours at least.

well, anti-idling issues aside, I feel if you're gonna be "off duty" you should be opped in the channel. Those help channels almost always have bots - let the bot and another op remain idle. There's no reason for 10 ops to be opped when only 1 or two of them are there.

I'm an op in Undernet's #mIRC channel and I help if I see people ask questions, but a lot of the time there's nothing going on in the channel. I can't be expected to sit there watching a blank screen just in case somebody pops in, so I go off and do something else like browse scripting websites or these forums and often miss people, despite checking every so often.

There are less people asking for help now, not just less people giving it.

landonsandor: That's not a bad idea, but remembering to do it might be a problem :tongue:

I'm helping in a help channel that has a topic that clearly tells people needing help that they can page an op by typing: help!
It seems like a lot less than 10% of the visitors bother doing that - even if you count the dyslexics who instead type !help.
Like many help channel helpers, I'm active in other channels at the same time, or am even doing things in <shock> other programs besides mIRC. Often, by the time I notice they've been in the help channel, they've spewed off a flood of insults and left.

Oh well, if they're not able to follow the simple instructions in the topic, they would probably have trouble following the instructions they get when someone tries to help them.

true hixxy, that's why you could alwys use a timer where if you dont say anything in "X" time you deop yourself :tongue:

maroon, as for the !help vs help!, that's a common mistake because in the past 10 years, mots triggers have been "exclamation point then command" vs "command then excalamation point". That being said, MOST people dont read topics in general so putting something in the topic only works if they pay attention to it.

All in all, hepl channels are there for help and if the people asking for the help arent there, then there's less of a need. At some point, I think right before the MASSIVE Dalnet DDoS attacks, the help channel I was in went from about 10 - 20 people every few minutes asking for help to maybe 20 people a "shift" (shift being as long as I was there) to 20 people a day. It was at that point I gave up helping entirely though for many reasons.