Source of Spell Check Feature

[eleanor*rigby]

sheila@ebay 

In early 2019, the Community switched to a browser/OS-based spell-check feature. Those of us who noticed were informed by a couple of threads/posts from Community Team members. I had bookmarked two threads on the topic.

The spell-check feature came up in another thread again today. When I went to my bookmarks to post links to the threads from 2019, one had already been archived. Isn't that somewhat of a newer thread to already to inaccessible? Especially on such a general topic as the spell-check feature?

I found the other thread which included a post from a Community Team member; however, the link he provided in his post was to the same thread that had been archived. 

The other day, I looked for the thread where you had introduced yourself as a new member of the Community Team (posed on this board, as well), and it was gone, too. That thread would have been from autumn of 2020, if I recall correctly. That thread would have been barely a year old!

So--my questions are:

How are decisions made regarding when a thread gets archived and when it doesn't? What criteria are used? Is this process being accomplished by Community Team members? If not, is the process being supervised by someone from the Community Team?

Does the Community software rely on a Community spell-check feature, or does it rely on a browser/OS-based spell-check feature?

Thanks!

[coffeebean832]

brian_burke@ebay- I appreciate the thorough reply and your response makes sense. I'm OK with asking you guys to restore a post if I think it's important or making due without the content. Otherwise- we'll just have to tag the community team to clarify a policy that was already clarified then archived. Maybe it's extra work- but the trade off is probably worth it. As long as the community team is responsive then I don't see an issue. I agree that too many sellers use search engines and pull up old threads with outdated info.

Of course- the notifications not working all the time may mean we have to tag you guys multiple times. If a couple days go by without a reply I'll assume you didn't get the tags because of the board tech issues.

[eleanor*rigby]

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@coffeebean832 wrote:

Of course- the notifications not working all the time may mean we have to tag you guys multiple times. If a couple days go by without a reply I'll assume you didn't get the tags because of the board tech issues.

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I, too,  have had disappointing results with @ mentioning Community Team members lately--not only with staff not responding, but also with the lack of anything that could be considered quality content from this new team. 

Thanks brian_burke@ebay. The thread/announcement to which I was referencing (that had been archived) was about whether the Community forum uses a browser-base spell checker. I can't figure out which of the criteria you posted would apply to an announcement about a spell checker. Are you suggesting that the Community no longer uses a browser-based spell checker? Is that information incorrect now? Have eBay/Khoros gone a different direction with the Community spell checker? Is that why the announcement was archived?

I question whether these archived threads/announcements are actually receiving any kind of substantive scrutiny. 

Interesting position to take, though, considering eBay uses the Community responders as de facto customer service representatives. I think maybe I'll just skip referencing eBay policy altogether and just go with an undocumented answer.

[brian_burke@ebay]

@eleanor*rigby 

Spell checker: Posts and messages leverage the browser spell check. 

This gives the community member control over what is recommended via spell checker when they are messaging others in the community, so the links are still valuable.

Archiving: Regarding the scrutiny of the archiving content. We will not go post by post with most of the content. More recent content (less than 3-5 years old) and Q and A content we will evaluate more closely, but content that we have already "archived" so it isn't visible in the eBay Community (which is what the spell check content was - you could only find it via a search engine or if it had been bookmarked) we will archive without reviewing since a decision was already made to remove it from the general community view. 

If you would like me to repost the previous content, let me know and I will do so and let you know where it is posted. 

Thank you. 

Brian

[eleanor*rigby]

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brian_burke@ebay wrote:

If you would like me to repost the previous content, let me know and I will do so and let you know where it is posted. 

brian_burke@ebay 

Thanks. Not necessary.

[brian_burke@ebay]

@eleanor*rigby  Thanks and I'll reiterate what I said earlier, in the future if there is any content you think we should not have archived, please do not hesitate to let anyone on the eBay Community team know. 

Thanks and I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving. 

Brian

[eleanor*rigby]

brian_burke@ebay 

Yes--got it. No need to reiterate, really, but thanks! Just going to go with not supplying links to documentation in responses. Appreciate your time and attention!

[brian_burke@ebay]

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@eleanor*rigby wrote:

brian_burke@ebay 

Yes--got it. No need to reiterate, really, but thanks! Just going to go with not supplying links to documentation in responses. Appreciate your time and attention!

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@eleanor*rigby I don't follow you on this. Can you explain to me why this would prevent you from supplying links to documentation in responses? 

Thanks

Brian

[lacemaker3]

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brian_burke@ebay wrote:

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@eleanor*rigby wrote:

brian_burke@ebay 

Yes--got it. No need to reiterate, really, but thanks! Just going to go with not supplying links to documentation in responses. Appreciate your time and attention!

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@eleanor*rigby I don't follow you on this. Can you explain to me why this would prevent you from supplying links to documentation in responses? 

Thanks

Brian

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brian_burke@ebay 

I can't speak for @eleanor*rigby or in general, but in this particular case, the documentation no longer exists because the thread has been archived and is not accessible or viewable any more.

I posted in Message 12 that the URL for the missing thread was:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/About-the-Community/Browser-based-spellcheck/m-p/29372154#M96

But that thread is not available any more. Now, that URL shows this:

Normally, we can still access archived threads, they just can't be replied to or posted to anymore. However, for that board, the archived board is empty.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Archive-About-the-Community/bd-p/ArchiveAbouttheCommunity

[eleanor*rigby]

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brian_burke@ebay wrote:

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@eleanor*rigby wrote:

brian_burke@ebay 

Yes--got it. No need to reiterate, really, but thanks! Just going to go with not supplying links to documentation in responses. Appreciate your time and attention!

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@eleanor*rigby I don't follow you on this. Can you explain to me why this would prevent you from supplying links to documentation in responses? 

Thanks

Brian

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brian_burke@ebay 

Brian, if I attempt to provide a link in a response and find the link to that thread/post to be dead because the thread/post has been archived, it is not helpful to have to @ mention, or email, or send a private message to you or another Community member, wait for a reply (which, as mentioned previously, have not been terribly successful lately), identify which thread/post I'd like re-activated, wait for that to happen, and go back to the current thread in order to post the hot link in a discussion that is now most likely days old.

As stated previously, in future, if I find a bookmarked link is no longer available, I will post my response in the thread without any documentation in the form of a link to the source that supports my answer.

Archiving content that is still current and correct--and still being used by members of the Community as de facto customer service representatives for eBay--seems to me not to be the best decision the Community Team has ever come up with.

If this explanation isn't satisfactory, I'd really prefer to take it off this board and into private messaging.

Thanks for your understanding.

[brian_burke@ebay]

@eleanor*rigby Thanks for the clarification, that makes sense to me now. I misread your original comment to mean you would no longer supply links to documentation for any post you make, but it's only in those cases when we've archived the content. 

I expect those to be infrequent occurrences. 

Thanks. 

Brian

[brian_burke@ebay]

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@lacemaker3 wrote:...

Normally, we can still access archived threads, they just can't be replied to or posted to anymore. However, for that board, the archived board is empty.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Archive-About-the-Community/bd-p/ArchiveAbouttheCommunity

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@lacemaker3 

In the past we "archived" content in a manner that removed it from the eBay Community but it could still be found via search engines or when a user bookmarked the content.

If content is that valuable everyone in the community should have access to it, so we should move it to an evergreen location (Seller Center, Help, About the Community - in the example of the spell check content). It shouldn't reside in a post that sellers access through a bookmark or stumble across via a search engine query.

Going forward we will archive content regularly and the content will no longer be available. We are starting with the oldest posts and content we already moved into the "archive" formats. 

If we archive a piece of content you find valuable, let us know and we will determine whether to unarchive it, repost it, or ensure it the information is available in Help or Seller Center so you can continue to reference it. 

I'm happy to have a call about our approach and get feedback.

Thanks

Brian

[lacemaker3]

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brian_burke@ebay wrote:

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@lacemaker3 wrote:...

Normally, we can still access archived threads, they just can't be replied to or posted to anymore. However, for that board, the archived board is empty.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Archive-About-the-Community/bd-p/ArchiveAbouttheCommunity

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@lacemaker3 

In the past we "archived" content in a manner that removed it from the eBay Community but it could still be found via search engines or when a user bookmarked the content.

If content is that valuable everyone in the community should have access to it, so we should move it to an evergreen location (Seller Center, Help, About the Community - in the example of the spell check content). It shouldn't reside in a post that sellers access through a bookmark or stumble across via a search engine query.

Going forward we will archive content regularly and the content will no longer be available. We are starting with the oldest posts and content we already moved into the "archive" formats. 

If we archive a piece of content you find valuable, let us know and we will determine whether to unarchive it, repost it, or ensure it the information is available in Help or Seller Center so you can continue to reference it. 

I'm happy to have a call about our approach and get feedback.

Thanks

Brian

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brian_burke@ebay ,

If you want to have a call to discuss this, please reach out to arrange it.

[brian_burke@ebay]

All,

I have set up a Zoom call for 11am PT Friday, December 3rd. I'll email those on this thread with the dial-in information and if you think anyone else would be interested, please pass on the call in information. 

I look forward to you input and I hope you all head a nice Thanksgiving weekend. 

Thank you.

Brian

[coffeebean832]

Thank you for the invite brian_burke@ebay- sorry I'm not available to attend. I hope you received my   e-mail response and my notes about the Announcements board in particular.