New HelpLINK system.

[Rob]

Hey everyone,

After a long absence following the site reset at New Year, our HelpLINK system is finally back online! For those of you who don't know, HelpLINK is an anonymous email advice system where you can send in your problems and have the responses emailed back out to you. This makes it especially ideal for those of you who do not wish to post publicly in the Support Forums. Requests sent to HelpLINK are answered by our volunteer Mentor staff team and you are usually guaranteed between 3 to 5 replies within 18 hours of being submitted.

For our system we have decided to implement a different software than what we used previously. While our old software served us well for the past 3 years, there were a number of limitations to it and so we've decided to take a different approach to our system. The new software should hopefully benefit both our Staff and our users even more than our old one did.

If you would like to submit a request to HelpLINK, please go here: http://www.teenhelp.org/helplink.

We are also now looking for a new team of HelpLINK Mentors, who log in to HelpLINK and respond to the submitted requests. If you are interested, please visit our Staff Application system to find out more and apply: http://www.teenhelp.org/apply.

I hope you enjoy the new system!

Rob.

[Hyper Sonic]

I kinda guessed after I saw a few pink names on the forums

surely enjoy is the wrong word . I don't think anyone would enjoy talking about their problems

[Rob]

Originally Posted by Hyper Sonic

I kinda guessed after I saw a few pink names on the forums

surely enjoy is the wrong word . I don't think anyone would enjoy talking about their problems

Well if the system is good enough they'll leave it with all their problems solved and will be positively delighted with their experience.

[Justin Bieber]

Will there still be archives?

And yay for bringing it back! The new system is cool looking
Thank you!

[eunoia]

This is so exciting. xD I didn't realize how much I missed HelpLINK until it was back.

[Bonheur]

I'm really glad to see HelpLINK back up. The new look of the system is definitely different, but I'm sure I'll get used to it in time. xD Great job Rob for getting it all back up and running.

[Hyper Sonic]

You need to take the html out of your link in the OP

[Rob]

Originally Posted by lost-myself

Will there still be archives?

And yay for bringing it back! The new system is cool looking
Thank you!

No public archives are planned as of yet, though if you think about it, since it's a one-on-one 'private' system, it didn't really make sense that we had archives before.

Originally Posted by Hyper Sonic

You need to take the html out of your link in the OP

That's not me, that's vBulletin parsing my BBCode wrong. <_<

[Lizzie]

I am so excited that HelpLINK is back, I may be green on the outside, but I am really pink on the inside.

[✖Ice✖]

That's good news.

[udontno]

I'm so glad HL is back up. Dream come true--I actually have dreamed about this, guys.

[soul]

Wow this is such a coincidence! The day I talk to my friend about how much I want HELPlink to be back up it rises from the dead!! HAPPINESS

[Pandamonium]

Originally Posted by Lizzie

I am so excited that HelpLINK is back, I may be green on the outside, but I am really pink on the inside.

Couldn't of said it better.

[Lozzaa]

Glad its up and running

[VanishingActs]

Yayyy I'm glad it's back

[Ellie]

So glad it's back! Cheers, Rob

[Melody Pond]

I am so happy HelpLINK is back. I was planning on applying for HelpLINK mentor before the down time when I was a Buddy and then when the site and staff applications were back up HelpLINK wasn't.

YEY HelpLINK!!

[i_am_me_again]

Yay HelpLINK!

I want to apply...cant wait till my 2 months is up!

[FromTheAshes]

I'm so glad to see it back And it really reminded me how rewarding being a mentor is when I saw this and instantly missed being one!

[ScottishFriction]

Ah it's nice to see some pink names again! Now people will be able to get help from HL again, always a good thing! I always liekd about HL how you could check back on your old requests.

I just applied. Sort of.. I clicked post before I'd finished =/

[i_am_me_again]

Is there a maximum limit to the number of staff needed?

Ta

[eunoia]

Well... we need an adequate number of staff to respond to the volume of help requests received. When HelpLINK picks up, we'll need more than we have now.

There's never really been a limit on the number of Live Help Operators we need--we can always use more. But even the Buddy position might be closed to new applicants at times the Administrators deem necessary.

[i_am_me_again]

Ok thank you. Im going to try again & apply for a LiveHelp or HelpLINK once my 2 months is over.

[Rob]

Originally Posted by i_am_me_again

Is there a maximum limit to the number of staff needed?

Ta

It's all about supply and demand. We'll stop accepting new staff members when there's not enough work for them to do. Before the site reset we typically had 50-65 mentors at a time, depending on how active they were, though I'm not sure whether HelpLINK will be as popular now as it once was. With Live Help, the most Operators we've had at a time was about 30, and that still wasn't enough. Ideally, Live Help would be online 24/7, but we've never even come close to that, so there's plenty of space for more. Buddies, it's difficult to gage how many we need, because some of their duties are being fulfilled excellently (e.g. Arrivals and Departures), but some of their duties are barely being fulfilled at all (e.g. the Chat Room is massively un-buddied), but the amount we have right now is about right (~25ish), though we've left the applications open anyway.

[udontno]

Originally Posted by i_am_me_again

Is there a maximum limit to the number of staff needed?

Ta

To be honest, I think the more the merrier to some extent. There are times when trying to work LH that things are so not busy that you have to fight each other for calls. It's always good to have more people to do stuff, especially since we want the site to grow and expand. I hope there is always a demand for staff. It's especially hard to keep a constant list of the same staff members, because we always have someone being added and someone leaving, unfortunately.

[Lizzie]

For all those who are interested and meet our minimum requirements for staff, we still have a ton more HelpLINK Mentor positions available, so if you thought it was too late it’s not! If you love giving advice around the forum then this might be the staff position for you! Feel free to send us your best application.

Apply to become a HelpLINK Mentor

[BrittneyNicole]

I never realized how much I missed HL until I was responding to requests. :]

[sakuchan]

Oh, cool it's back..good job.