Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down here people. I leave you guys alone for a few hours and get one new applicant and page upon page of discussion of a single word I used in the OP? This is ridiculous guys, calm down. I'm going to give an answer and then I want that discussion to stop. Also I will ask to have the discussion deleted.
Kissblade is 100% correct, I had no intention of insulting anyone by use of the word noob. My experience on this forum (and I tend to find the term noob and all other variations of said word to have different meanings depending on the community) has been that noob is not a dirty word. I have played and admined in numerous "noob friendly" games, some of them started by noobs. No one here has ever cared before, and we always, ALWAYS use the term noob when talking about new players here, and I can't say I recall it as ever having been used in a derogatory way before. However, to avoid further controversy I am changing the title of the thread and will remove all mention of the word "noob" from my opening post. I will not, however, try to prevent its use at any other point in this thread or in conversations held by CSRs. Now please, for the sake of the project stop cluttering up this thread with nonsense.
To Blackguard's original post: Thank you for choosing the Dominions New Player MP Helpdesk! Please feel free to continue using IRC as a place to get advice, or contact one of our helpdesk personnel on the forum by pm, or ask for their email if needed (will be needed to send turns, obviously). I'm not sure you're going to personally benefit a whole lot from the program since you're already on IRC anyway, but we will see what you can do. Remember that it is your place as the customer to choose which CSR to speak to at any given moment.
Gandalf:
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Actually the argument that "this is technically true and therefore should not bother you" is one facet of what I think might be a problem with the whole project. There is a reason that techs and experts dont do customer support. CS people act as a buffer in both directions. Clarifying and translating user questions into clearer technical terms, getting the answer from an expert, then translating the techs answer into user language. Often expletives are removed and replaced with PC terms (in both directions). You know what they say "Those who can, do. And those who can't, teach." Altho sometimes its added "Because those who can do, can't teach.".
We have some here who can do both but not as many as think they can. Some who know the answers are just generally rotten at giving those answers. Particularly to new players. This 3-party method of customer support tends to happen automatically in open forums like IRC or this forum. In My Humble Opinion Im not sure that many direct expert-2-newplayer conversations will leave the new player with the best impression of our community anymore than customer service with no experts would.
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This is a really weird argument. First off, IRC is the best place to go to get dominions advice, period. And all the people that have joined so far already spend lots of time on IRC, and are some of the primary advice-givers. Especially sombre and squirrelloid, who ironically are the exact people you're talking about as being bad CSRs. So since these are the people who would be giving advice anyway, I can't see how this in any way hurts.
Secondly, I would hardly describe the current list of helpdesk people as being filled with experts. Most of us are mid-level players with varying levels of experience. What we are, is a generally capable bunch of players who are offering to help new players learn the ropes. And, my hope is, explain the whys of things more than most guides and help does at present.
Helpdesk personnel: On a different note, I have been informed that it is unlikely at this point that the thread will be stickied. In an effort to help keep this thread visible, please consider adding a link to it in your signature. Thank you.