Tell us what you think of the new Gaia Help Center

[Bunai]

I feel good to be helping with this. I know it's gonna be quite a while before it is complete.
So to people who say the Rules and TOS are missing, note that links to them will be added in later.

Perhaps this Help Center - will ease up QA a bit, and be more helpful to New Users coming in.
I am glad that this will be sort of a "catch all" basic view of Gaiaonline.

What I hope to see, is a multi language attempt. There are many people in the International forum, who are fluent in various languages and would like to help out other Gaians. So please look into this.

[FrankieTheCow]

Can't Wait tbhh'

[rashellkhan]

Easy.

[MrsrachaelSnape]

I like it. I think if you added color it would distracted the text more. I think it's fine the way it is. Maybe link people to Q&A

[putative]

To be honest, I like the colors, soothes me.
But I would like a link to the TOS, and maybe a little more brushed up look. (with the same colors)

[Splendide Mendax]

I like it. Thank you, Gaia! Maybe actually put it on gaiaonline.com rather than an external host, though? How is this s3.parature.com getting our usernames and avatars?

[Gabriel Faust]

I appreciate that it is leaps and bounds more friendly to the new user, and that it doesn't come off as a drastic wall of text (that set off me when I first visited almost six and a half years ago).
Improvements: Toss in more avatars! As of right now, it feels a world apart from Gaia, with three stalwart avatars at the entrance; peppering in random items or different outfits (or even just a few cropped heads) will make it feel more like it is part of Gaia and this would definitely make it more hospitable to a new user.

Walking on the Moonlight

I like it. Thank you, Gaia! Maybe actually put it on gaiaonline.com rather than an external host, though? How is this s3.parature.com getting our usernames and avatars?

Its externally hosted for the time being so the developers and UI artists can display it in its current state without opening a gaping hole in the security of the development servers. This is known as being "intelligently secure", as they are sharing (a portion of) the contents of the development servers without leaving the door open.

This is just for the time being, until it unveiled next month.

[The Valkyrie Ryu]

Looks like it's topic based? So does that mean people can actually ask questions there? o-o

I think it could look better visually. I'm liking Needs Moar Tax Plz's suggestions about that.

[Mrs. BoogerSnooger]

I think there needs to be somewhere to contact an admin about some miscellaneous thing that isn't addressed in the FAQ. I've looked all over the site for somewhere to do that, but all I could find were links for account questions, re-activating, Monthly Collectibles/Cash Shop, and advertising with Gaia. There isn't anywhere to just ask a question. I understand lots of people don't even check the FAQ for answers, but I have, and I've asked around, and I still haven't found an answer to my question.

[Dyr3]

About the colours/design: I don't think it needs more colour or anything, but that tan in the main content area is quite.. ugly. I think it should at least be the same tan/gray/violet/whatever that is used as the background colour for the "post your message" text. Also, I am of the belief that a help center should be easy to read and the small text doesn't reflect that. Size 12 font would be preferable for readability.

I really like how there is a tickets area since (I believe) before, there was no way to track your tickets. I think that that tickets link should be mirrored under My Gaia > Account Settings... and just as a sidenote, I really think "Account Settings" should be changed to just "Account" since quite a few things under that menu are not really settings.

The New to Gaia section is somewhat annoying because it doesn't use the same hierarchical method of listing as the other sections, so I think that should be changed to match.

Many people say include a link to the ToS, however, I think that the ToS is difficult to read and understand (as most are). You should probably still put in a link to the ToS, Rules and Guidelines and Privacy notice (maybe) under the New to Gaia section, but you could also put in info from those places in existing sections, especially the ToS prohibited things and the Rules and Guidelines things.

For instance, under New to Gaia > First visit the forums, you could put in sections about thread content and post content. Something stating that threads should relate to the forum you are posting in and how you can check the stickies in each forum to find out what the forum is for would be good, as well as talking about how you should search for existing topics and join in sometimes, and other times, start a new topic. Then, for including the Rules and Guidelines, put in how certain posts and post content is not okay, ever.

The New to Gaia section should most definitely have something about scamming/hacking and not giving out your password.

For the How-to section, it might be good to seek out some existing guides in the various forums and copy them (with the writer's permission) for the help center... if that isn't possible, perhaps spotlight "Search" under the Community menu and let people know they can find more guides that way.

My last comment is that I hope the Help Center will be kept up to date. It is very confusing when you are new to a site and you check out the help center to read official info and it turns out to be wrong. People may submit bug report and the like because they think something is broken when it actually just doesn't work that way anymore.

[Dyr3]

Mrs. BoogerSnooger

I think there needs to be somewhere to contact an admin about some miscellaneous thing that isn't addressed in the FAQ. I've looked all over the site for somewhere to do that, but all I could find were links for account questions, re-activating, Monthly Collectibles/Cash Shop, and advertising with Gaia. There isn't anywhere to just ask a question. I understand lots of people don't even check the FAQ for answers, but I have, and I've asked around, and I still haven't found an answer to my question.

they probably don't want people deciding to PM admins/devs/mods about various little things. Your best bet might be to check the profile listing for Gaia staff (in this forum) and comment in a related person's profile.

[jimmster60]

its ok. but its only good for the new people

eaTaiaG

Hi,

You probably got here from a link in the new, upcoming Gaia Help Center. So, now that you've seen the "sneak preview" of it, whadayathink? smile

Tell us 1 thing you like about it and 1 thing you think would make it more, uhm, awesome-er. blaugh

We can't make promises yet on what can/can't be included when it debuts next month, but we want to hear from you! Thanks in advance for your input!

eaTaiaG

[onlycookie]

..... sweatdrop

[The Sly]

I just took a glance at it, its pretty nice. ninja