Ugh, Ask the Admin Time.

[Anabaena]

Adnama Lavode

I really have tried everything at this point. I've PMed a few already and they PMs have gone unread. I suppose I just need to PM the entire Dev/Admin team, even though I was trying to avoid bothering people unnecessarily, but I'm starting to just not care.

Don't be scared of bothering them. I think they must get a lot of PMs, so if you feel like you're not being heard. Spam them to death! twisted

[Pumpkinfrost]

The only thing that annoys me about Ask the Admin is that there are a lot of repeated questions. I've only browsed the Ask the Admin thread a few times in the past, but I didn't find it hostile at all.

[Rabid-Turtle]

The only other way I way I could see them doing it is:

open the thread for an hour to let everyone spam their questions, lock the thread THEN go in and sort through and answer the legitimate ones.

The only downside is that it would take away the appeal of feeling that your actually talking with the Admins in real-time.

[kitten tea]

I enjoy reading through the AtA a lot, and some of the post to just...leave me stunned. The things some users say I can't believe. I don't usually post, but if I do then it's just something that I like about the site, or something random. If I was an admin, dev or whatever I'd be pretty pissed at the questions but thankfully I'm not. They are probably use to it by now, and might even have bets going about which will be the most ridiculous question.
Unrelated:
I was so happy last night, I was quoted by lanzer. It made my shitty night a whole lot better. Of course by the time I had checked my gaia again, the thread was already locked.

[Sagebomb]

The key is to ask your question in the first few pages (At least if you want a lanzer awnser). Or before the Dev Alert.

To not ask about something that is asked everyweek

zOMG ploxerz.....dosent work...we know all there is to know about zOMG atm (I am pro zOMG, but pestering about it wont achieve anything)

But you should ask about certain things each week....Preying mantises and beards oh my.

If you know who works in the area of your question you should target it

Aka asking Zero about the event, or sisky about HoC, or Pan about scam reports, or Nar about um ponies, or Lanzer about anything (kidding), or etc...just wont get you anywhere.

What really surprises me is how fast some of those devs do reply....Like some of them read and replie to posts faster than I can read them.

But I feel the Devs do a awesome job in there...and for those who want things more causal they should just go take a bite out of a BLT or something.

[Halfling Heroine]

Personally I stay away from the ATA, partly due to the reasons cited above, and because it's usually on during the middle of the night for me.
Often if any questions of great importance are answered in the ATA, someone makes a thread about it in the GCD, so I keep up to date that way.

[leaf]

I think they could do with having a permanent "ask the mods" thread as well, to field all the questions that could be answered by mods(I got banned, I got hacked, what do I do about this ticket, etc.). It seems a lot of the questions are about hacking/banning and I can see why they don't want to ignore them, but it doesn't leave much time for other questions.

[Yeata Zi]

Normally, I just drop a question, and run. I never expect to have answers.

[Anabaena]

Oh and usually. Usually...

The thread opens way after I go to bed. sweatdrop

[Magnificent Moonbeam]

I go into the AtA, only if I have a question that seemed extremely useful in the near future or is one no one has ever brought up like 200,000 times already in the same day... sweatdrop I was happy Sisky told me about which artist did the art a character I like in Love Charm II. I was so happy to find that out after 2 years of searching.

As for the impatience, it is pretty irritating having to wait a long while, but it was worth it, since all of the admins are human after all. I sometimes pop in to say hi, but I felt discouraged to do so without having a question to ask since then.

[LemonKat]

Rabid-Turtle

The only downside is that it would take away the appeal of feeling that your actually talking with the Admins in real-time.

I think that's what makes the ATAs so cool -- is that you can talk to them in real time. Anything else (like posting questions ahead of time, etc.) would be the same as posting in a forum and hoping they see it.

I always get a kick out of reading the ATAs, even the fun questions. I don't think the entire purpose of it is just to get questions answered. It seems like more of a meet & greet type thing where the Gaia staff can talk to the users in real time and get a feel for what people on the site are doing/thinking. I think it's supposed to have a fun element to it. But I could be wrong.

[Creamy Filling]

any post that is not a question (excluding staff answers, of course) =spam
any post that is a repeat question=spam
Report spam when you see it=may help fix the situation.

[Uxie]

ATA used to move really slow too...

[Milk Kittea]

I actually ignore most of the posts made by users & go directly to the answers the devs provide.
There's so much spam in the ATA that I'm really not that interested in a lot of the posts.
I do, however, always enjoy hearing what the devs have to say to some of the meaty questions.

[Chibi Halo]

Myrielle

Chibi Halo

I can fix the issue of the AtA flooding and pissy respondents in three words, quit advertising it. The only reason it gets that way is because they advertise it every week in the Dev Notices. They have a link to a thread on how to do the AtA right but no one reads it and we get the mess we have each week. Stop advertising it and in two or three weeks people will forget about it and the numbers will drop drastically. Easiest fix out there.

Could kill it for people with legitimate concerns as well. Easiest fixes can be the most damaging at times.

People who have actual concerns and questions for the staff will take note of when the AtA takes place and try and be there for it to make their posts. Most of the stuff we're getting lately is from people who use the AtA as a hangout with their friends because they think it will get them on the friends list of the staff. I see a lot of "Well did you read it or what" stuff from people to the admins about account specific issues that should be dealt with only through PMs, which they are, yet they have to bother the admins and nearly demand their PMs be responded to right that moment. A lot of that sort of stuff can be avoided by not advertising the thread or along with advertising the thread also link them to the user run Asked the Admin archive thread so they can see if their question has been already answered.