Author Topic: General Support Read Me First: What qualifies as support; Tips & Hints  (Read 133 times)

Offline Crystal

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Before requesting support, please read through this post and make sure you are posting the right information in the right place. This will make it much easier for you to get the help you need, and for us to help you.

What Qualifies As General Support
Day to day we're seeing many threads posted 'how do i change the code to do this', 'how do i modify the siganture to do this'. We're also seeing people ask for support for code modifications and plugins which are not written by the EA Group.

This isn't the appropriate forum for such things.


The Support Group provides support in this forum for:
  • General issues with Exclusive Access
  • General faults (which could possibly be bugs) with Exclusive Access
This is not the support forum for:

  • "I added a signature and it doesn't work"
  • "This avatar is performing incorrectly"
  • Questions relating to the Exclusive Access
We have appropriate forums for such discussion in our Customization section.

Please also remember to use a descriptive title when posting as this allows us to quickly and possibly identify a problem and provide a solution. Support questions will be answered on a first come, first serve basis. You must wait your turn before receiving a response.

Threads containing hacking, pornography or any other illegal content will not be supported.

Failure to abide by these support rules may result in:
  • No support being given for such questions
  • Your thread being deleted (extreme cases) and you being notified through the use of a PM
  • Your thread being directly moved (with no redirect) to the appropriate forum
  • (Extreme Cases) Result in your account being suspended and/or permanent banned
Help us help the users by posting in the correct section.

Tips on Asking for Support
Here are just a few tips on asking for support. :)

1. Do not use thread titles such as "Help!!" or "Not working!"

Create a title that is unique and descriptive of your problem. Generally when the people want to give you answers they'd like to know what they're dealing with before looking at the thread.

2. Use descriptive details of your problem.

It really helps when you quote any errors being shown, and providing explicit detail about your problem. Screen shots are highly recommended. Provide the link to the problematic page if possible.

3. Bumping Threads

If you try and bump your thread before 24 hours has passed, it will not take effect. This is an automated process within the GA System designed to keep the fairness of our policy on "First come, first serve." You may bump your thread after 24 hours has passed, however it is likely bumping it won't achieve anything but annoy our support team. Only bump your threads wisely.

4. Try to fix it yourself.

We're glad you use Exclusive Access, and we're glad to help you out with your issue. But, instead of just running to us with an issue, always try to fix it yourself. Who knows, maybe you'll find your answer yourself. :)

And if your efforts failed, tell us about it so that we know what you have tried to do already.

5. Do not private message, or instant message, people for help.

Private messaging people for help is annoying and it won't help you get an answer quicker. This includes PMing people to ask them to read a thread. Only PM someone for support if they ask you to. Instant Messaging for help is also looked down upon, and extremely annoying. 99% of the time, your PM will simply be ignored. If it becomes an annoyance to our staff members, your ability to receive official support may be hindered.

6. Search The Forums First! Read the stickies, Wiki & FAQ!

Use the search feature, it is your friend. ;) Your problem may have already been addressed. Why open a new thread when there is already the same one with the answers. :D Also read the sticky threads at the top of the support forums as they will address problems we've noticed appear in multitude.

There is a FAQ available on the help documents page that may answer your question.

7. Use proper English!

The last thing we want is to try and understand what the heck you are saying. Proofread your responses, so we don't have to ask you to explain. We understand that not everyone here may be fluent in English, and that it may not be your fault for not having English as your dominant language, so just try your best. If you are unable to communicate well enough in English, you may be asked to move your support request to the internationalization subset of EA's support. This subset is run externally by volunteers (sometimes on separate sites) who dedicate their time to helping EA users in their native language.

8. Detailed Information
Give detailed information so we can figure out the problem and find an easy solution quick!

9. Screenshots
Include attachments/images that contain screenshots of the problem so we may see what you're seeing easier.

10. Correct Place

Please read this thread to ensure that you are posting in the right forum.

Please post your support question in the right forum. If you have a bug report, please report it on the EA Development Form. If a bug is found as a result of your support inquiry, you may choose to file it on the EA Development Form.

We also suggest you place separate individual questions in separate support threads, allowing us to keep the flow of the inquiry more consistent and clean.

11. Don't get annoyed

If someone cannot help you, but instead gives you a link to something that might help you, don't get annoyed because you don't have the answer right there and then. Go to the link and check it out. If you cannot make sense of it, say so. Don't get into an argument.

Remember, we, the support team (and the other members in the EA community) are human beings who volunteer our time for free to help you out. We are provided with no subsidies nor any kind of financial incentives or otherwise. We make our best effort to respond to your support requests and to resolve them in a timely manner. As such, we ask that you bring your best manners and work with us as much as possible. We bring inhumanly patience to us everyday here at Exclusive Access, so we ask that you make your best effort as well. The difference for you to take a few minutes more time to be more clear and descriptive in your inquiry means years more sleep for us.

12. Helping Out

If you know the answer, don't just say "You gotta...." but actually help out. Give them a step by step guide on what they can do to fix it. Not everyone knows what you know, so let them know.

13. Problems logging in or getting your pages to update even though you're sure you updated them?

Well, a couple of simple steps might fix this.

- First, find your internet options in your specific browser. Once you're at a screen that give you the option to delete things such as cache / cookies / browsing history, try clearing your cache. This will generally fix a lot of errors that involve things not updating.

- If that didn't solve your problem, try clearing your cookies, this will generally solve any log in problems. If you're still having problems with logging in or pages not updating, read any other suggestions you find in these stickies before posting your thread, as they're usually problems that have happened before

14. Problems with things missing from your signature, or avatars being weird?

Here are a couple things that can tend to help out with display problems.

- If it's a bug report it through this form.

- Avatars made as gifs sometimes act weird when you try and save one then upload it directly to the avatar choose file section. Try taking a URL from online and coping & pasting it into the section below "Choose File" which is "Avatar URL".

15. Just having weird problems that didn't happen after an update/instillation?

- Clear your caches, history & cookies and try again in 60 seconds.

16. Website content
Support will not be provided to websites containing either of the following:
-Illegal activity (****, pornography, hacking, etc.)
-Racism or hate related content
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