Obtaining Advice or Support

[Mel]

Obtaining Advice or Support

TeenHelp is one of the best ways to obtain advice or support on the internet. With the forum fairly active, you're sure to have any questions you may have answered. You may ask, though, if there are any other ways other than the forum to obtain support or advice on. To answer that question - yes! There is more than 1 way!


Firstly there's HelpLINK.

HelpLINK is an email support system. Here you send in support or advice requests, requests which will primarily be answered by TeenHelp's mentors. Mentors are staff members who volunteer specifically to answer requests on HelpLINK. When they answer your question you will be directly emailed by the system with the advice to the email that you provided when you sent in the request.

How do I send in a request for HelpLINK? (See image examples below each step.)

1. Locate the HelpLINK button on the site. When you've found it, click on it.



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2. Click on the "Open New Ticket" button.



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3. Fill in all information. After you've done that, please be sure to select the "support department" off of the drop down list and the category in which your HelpLINK request fits to.

Note: You do NOT have to put in your real name, but a valid email address is required for you to be able to receive the help and receive your request ticket number. If you supply real age as well, this will help mentors better their replies in certain situations.

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4. Hit "Submit request." Doing this places your request in the system and allows mentors to view and reply to it.

After you've submitted your request a new page will come up letting you know that a "request ticket number" has been sent to the email address you provided when you first submitted the request. The request ticket number is needed if you want to log in and see the status of your request.

Note: You do not need to log in to view replies from mentors. Replies will automatically be sent to your email. The feature, however, is available to those who wish to use it.


How do I check my request if I want to, though?

If you'd like to, you'd do so by following step #1 above. When you're on the page you should see the following section:



Fill in your request ticket number, email address and hit "Check Status."

Note: The request ticket number was sent to the email address which you provided when you sent your request in. In some cases it may be considered junk mail, so be sure to check your junk mail folder for it if it's not in your normal inbox.

When you're on the status page, click on the subject of your request. This will take you to your request, where you will be able to view everything.


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Is there an additional way to receive help?

Yes. One of the other ways to request advice is to go onto Live Help.

Live Help is a support system where you talk live to an operator one-on-one. It looks a lot like an WLM conversation box, and works quite similarly. There you will talk to a volunteer staff member who is qualified to help you, which usually will be either a Mentor or Live Help Operator.

Note: The conversation is text only, not voice.


So, let's get started!

1. Locate the "LiveHelp" button on the main forum page and click it.



Note: Please remember that it must say "Online" in green in order for you to be able to speak to someone. If it says "Offline", that means that there is no operator online at the moment and that you will have to use an alternative way of seeking help on the forum until one becomes available.

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2. Click on the little round button by "Get advice/Support", then fill in information.



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3. Click on "Start Chat".



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I've seen these two ways now, but is there anything else I can try?

Yes, there is something else you can try. If you don't want to get advice via the forum or if Live Help isn't online, stop by the chat! Stopping by the chat doesn't insure that you'll get help by a staff member specifically, but there usually will be someone around to help.

How to get there:

1. Locate your way into chat.

When you have found the below image located near the top of the site on the main forum, click on "Chat Room" and select either option.



Note: The first option will load chat in the current window. The second option will make a separate pop-up window appear with the chat room.

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When you enter chat you will notice that there are a lot of buttons. On the right hand side, though, there is a list of people in chat and the two different chat rooms. The "Chat Lobby" is for all off-topic discussions and random chit-chat. The "Support & Advice" room is strictly there for asking for support and advice.




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1. For support or advice, double click on the "Support & Advice" room title. When you enter the room you will receive a notice indicating you have left the "Chat Lobby". You will then receive another notice indicating that you have entered the "Support & Advice" room.

When you enter the Support & Advice room, usually a user will follow you in to help you or someone will already be there. If no one does follow you or if no one is there, go back to the chat lobby by following the above step and ask for help. If no one answers you, double click on the user name of a person with a red user icon. A red user icon means that the person is a "Chat Moderator", "Project Advisor" or a "Project Coordinator". Either person will be willing to help you!

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Is that all? Or is there another way?

No, that's not entirely all. If you haven't received advice that way, please remember that you could always send a private message to any staff member that's online. In order to do that, please see the previous manual "How to use the forum." It explains how to start threads, how to private message and so on.

To view the previous manual on how to use the forum, check out this link: http://www.teenhelp.org/forums/showthread.php?t=31

I hope that this was helpful! Please enjoy your stay here at TeenHelp. =)