Hi folks. I thought I would chime in to offer some clarification regarding our chat group.
Our guidelines for the group are very simple:
1. Keep chat respectful.
2. Please discuss selling, prices, giving & trading in some of the great groups some of our members have created (use search to find them)
3. If someone doesn't follow a guideline: Please IM THEM PRIVATELY, and gently remind them. (this is to keep a pleasant chat environment)
4. Have fun!!!
To clarify further:
1. Keep chat respectful.
- This boils down to treating other people the way you would like to be treated. Be respectful. Be kind. Be positive. Be polite. If you have a disagreement with someone, please talk to them privately rather than bashing them publicly.
2. Please discuss selling, prices, giving & trading in some of the great groups some of our members have created (use search to find them)
- I understand this is probably what causes people the most consternation. We try to keep chat clear of anything like "promotion" or "advertising" because we don't want it to take over the chat, nor do we want to seem like we are endorsing any one market/shop/seller/etc. over another. We've seen other groups where this kind of policy was either not in place or not enforced, and people would frequently advertise and spam in those groups. That's not what we envisioned for the KittyCatS Addicts, group, so it's been a hard and fast rule ever since we launched. If a CSR thinks that you might be promoting a store/market or advertising a kitty, or soliciting in any other way, they will IM you and remind you about this rule. It's not personal - it's just something we have worked really hard at keeping separate from our chat group. That said,
we do have an entire section in our forum where you can advertise your cats, discuss pricing, promote your markets, etc. and we really encourage you guys to use them. We also encourage the use of groups where you can talk about pricing and sales (and we try to list these groups in our
Market Directory!)
3. If someone doesn't follow a guideline: Please IM THEM PRIVATELY, and gently remind them. (this is to keep a pleasant chat environment)
- Basically, if someone isn't following a group guideline, then you should message them privately and let them know, in a kind and positive manner. All of our CSR's are instructed to do this as well. Again it's not personal. We want the chat to be a positive and welcoming space for everyone so we work pretty hard to try and make sure that's the case, and we ask that our group members help us towards achieving that goal.
4. Have fun!!!
- This should be self-explanatory, LOL. Simply put, we want you to have fun! If you're not having fun, then we want to know, so that maybe we can help with whatever is taking away from your enjoyment of our community and your KittyCatS.
As a side note, although we think it's GREAT if all people want to talk about is our KittyCatS, members can talk about other things as long as they're keeping it positive. If it seems like the chat is being taken over by non-KittyCatS topics in a way that could be excessive or exclusionary to others, a CSR will try to gently steer the discussion back to our cats.
(08-27-2015 05:55 AM)Reven Rosca Wrote: [ -> ]KittyCats Addicts is a store group. As such, it is meant for news and customer support from "the source", the KittyCats! store.
-And that is how it must be. As a business owner, I curate my groups the same way. Using the Addicts group for general chitchat should be okay as long as it doesn't hinder customer service.
What I miss is a group where there is room for discussions, for learning and understanding within a community.
A community where you can say "Hey, I have these three cats, and I want to accomplish this. Which strategy should I choose? does GirlA or GirlB match best with BoyC for that purpose?" etc.
There seems to be a misconception here?
You can (YES) absolutely discuss breeding strategies and ask for advice. In fact just last weekend I did en entire Q&A devoted to discussing how breeding works, and even talked about Confetti breeding. So by all means, ask/discuss away!
Regarding our CSR's - they're good people. Some of our CSR's have been with the company for years. They're all members of the KittyCatS community that truly love our cats and love helping others. I can promise you that they all really care about making sure you have the best experience possible with your KittyCatS.
If you have a problem with a particular CSR, or feel that you've had a bad experience, or were treated unkindly, please let me know. While I've been told sometimes that I appear hard to approach because I seem so busy, I promise you my IM window is ALWAYS open to you guys. If you have a concern, then I want to hear it. I can't solve a problem if I don't know it exists, and if an interaction with a particular CSR has led to someone not wanting to participate in the group anymore, then that makes me feel sad.
As far as the mentions at feeling "shut down" by a CSR for helping in the group, I'll share my perspective on why I might ask someone to stand down on helping someone else in the chat...
Sometimes we see a person ask a question in group, and they get several people trying to help them at once, all with a different way of explaining things. On the one hand this is great! It means we have a community of super helpful people that love to watch out for each other!
On the other hand, it can be really confusing and overwhelming to suddenly have several different people trying to help someone at once, especially if each person is giving a different answer. It's a "too many cooks" scenario. And sometimes the information given in the group isn't accurate, so then it's a CSR's job to make sure the correct information is being heard. For those times you think a CSR is ignoring the group, keep in mind that our CSR's provide a lot of support via IM. If chat is really busy, they might IM a person directly to help them, rather than try to help the person in the group when their text can get lost among all the other chatter.
If you're not sure if a person has been helped, ask them, "hey did someone answer you?" either in the group or via IM. If you think a CSR is giving inaccurate info, IM them and let them know. I know I really appreciate it when people IM me to tell me something they think might be helpful, instead of talking over me in the group, and I'm sure the rest of the CSR's feel the same.
Remember, there's NOTHING wrong with helping out in the community. It's part of what makes the KittyCatS Community the BEST community in SL! Just tonight I had someone ask for help in the group chat about a missing cat. I replied to the person and IM'ed them instructions for filing a ticket, another CSR replied and offered to come help them search for the cat after they were done helping their current customer, several others chimed in and suggested using area search or filing a ticket also, and then a community member IM'd the person and went over to help them area search for their cat. I think that's a great example of how the community works together to help each other out.
Finally, I know that the chat group can be pretty active, and with all of the growth we've experienced over the years we've got lots of new people. There's nothing wrong with wanting to splinter off and form other chat groups that help fit your needs better as a community member, or that aren't as active, or have different rules and guidelines. But we hope you continue being part of the KittyCatS Addicts group too!
So I hope that helps a little? Maybe? Hopefully it did! But if anyone has questions about the group or questions about KittyCatS in general, please feel free to ask.
Kitten!