How often do the blues respond to posts when they are tagged nowadays?

[bigdeals.etc]

Maybe I haven't been around as much as before, but I was just thinking of the promptness of the blues responding to concerns when they are tagged in posts.

How often do they address ebay issues on the boards compared to a few years back? Is the difference in attention due to the personal preference/workload/job description of the current blues versus the ones who are no longer with us here? At first I thought the promptness is relative to the popularity or length of a thread... but I don't think that's it anymore.

[valueaddedresource · Accepted solution]

@bigdeals.etc  - it's my understanding that the community is not considered to be an "official" support channel by eBay (vs their social support pages or cs call back options etc.).

In the past I think the blues tended to be more directly involved with "helping" where they could - more recently there seems to have been a shift in what their roles are.

More and more it seems like we are getting responses like this one from Brian on my post about the Funko Pop presale issues:

I want to be clear about what the Community teams role is. The Community team is here to answer general questions regarding eBay and eBay policy. We also actively gather and pass along member feedback to relevant teams within eBay to ensure the Communities voice is heard. There is also a large amount of 'behind the scenes' work that we manage, ranging from Community administration work to assisting other teams within eBay to build and launch boards so they can engage with users (a recent example being the Watches board), and other various projects. 

It seems like they are trying to set boundaries/expectations that their participation here and ability to do much beyond pass information to other teams may be limited.

I can't say whether that is really a change or maybe it's more that is how it was supposed to be all along and we all just got a little spoiled by past "over engagement" for lack of a better term. 🤣 But you are definitely not alone in noticing the shift.

[1grandmashope_1]

Okay, my stupid is going to show.....Blues?  There is my assumption based on the post, but could someone explain the reference please.

Thank you in advance,

Grandma

[valueaddedresource]

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@1grandmashope_1 wrote:

Okay, my stupid is going to show.....Blues?  There is my assumption based on the post, but could someone explain the reference please.

Thank you in advance,

Grandma

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@1grandmashope_1  - that would be the official eBay staff here in the community.  😊

[1grandmashope_1]

@valueaddedresource 

Thank you...it was what I was thinking, but I wanted to be sure.  I appreciate your help.

Grandma

[lacemaker3]

@bigdeals.etc,

In my experience, they do respond when they can. Not usually on weekends (although they do sometimes). 

"How soon" often depends on whether they know the answer off the top of their heads, or have to research it or contact another department to get an answer. The other departments are not always very prompt or reliable at getting back to them.

@1grandmashope_1, many years ago when eBay first started the community and it was hosted and run by eBay employees, a post by an eBay employee was highlighted by a pink banner at the top. Because of that, the eBay employees become known as "Pinks". Later on, this was changed to a blue banner to be more compliant with eBay's preferred visual effects, so the name was of course changed to "Blues". Currently, posts by eBay employees have a blue border around them, so the name still works.

[eburtonlab]

My understanding is that between ebay.com and ebay.ca, the community team is currently stretched quite a bit thinner than usual, due to a couple of currently unfilled vacancies and one impending move/vacation.

[lacemaker3]

@bigdeals.etc, as you have seen by now, Tyler responded to your question from yesterday in just under 24 hours. 😁

[pikabo-icu]

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@lacemaker3 wrote:

@bigdeals.etc, as you have seen by now, Tyler responded to your question from yesterday in just under 24 hours. 😁

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I got a reply in less than 24 hours too.

Question was asked last night, they posted this morning. 

It wasn't much help lol but it was a reply.. 

[bigdeals.etc]

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@lacemaker3 wrote:

@bigdeals.etc, as you have seen by now, Tyler responded to your question from yesterday in just under 24 hours. 😁

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Yea that actually was quicker than I expected. Although my current issue (in a coinciding post) reminded me about making this post, it isn’t the reason why I brought it up. Because as you say, it’s only been 24 hours. That’s why in my OP I didn’t refer to my coinciding post in the other section asking how come they aren’t replying to me. It was more of a global question.

As @valueaddedresource said, others have been noticing a shift too. I’m not around as much as I used to be, but I’m remembering various other recent posts where the blue was tagged. I can conclude and agree that those posts had very difficult questions. @valueaddedresource message quoting Brian answers my OP question here pretty good.

[eleanor*rigby]

IMO, part of the problem--if there indeed is one--is that some members tag blues inappropriately. As previously posted, and I'll bet I've posted it dozens of times, blues are responsible for responding to general policy or procedures questions. They are not tasked with helping individuals with specific account problems.

Once newer posters run across someone tagging a blue, they think it's appropriate to tag a Community Team member for anything and everything. It's sort like the boy who cried "wolf."

Sore subject for me, obviously.

[valueaddedresource]

@bigdeals.etc with Brittanie leaving and now Brian announcing in the chat today that he is leaving too, my guess is the plan is to get to the point where the generic community team handle is the one we have to tag rather than specific individuals.

Just a guess on my part though, take it with a grain of salt.

[bigdeals.etc]

@eleanor*rigbyYea I agree. I haven't tagged a blue in so long that I wasn't sure which ones were still around. I had to look it up a bit in the boards.

[bigdeals.etc]

Is there a generic team handle?

[valueaddedresource]

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@bigdeals.etc wrote:

Is there a generic team handle?

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@bigdeals.etc  - @community_team , though I'll be honest it's not entirely clear to me what the role is of the "team" vs individual blues/ if they are interchangeable or if some issues should be addressed to an individual vs team or vice versa