I wanna see advisor-points!..

[Karyuu]

There is nothing wrong with claiming sessions as long as proper answers are given. I think all GMs are capable of giving proper answers. I don't see the issue here.

[Janner]

Points very firmly to this post. In-Game Advisor System. There also was a post from Terel saying GM should only advice when no one else is.

[Karyuu]

How does the name "In-Game Advisor System" translate to "No GMs Unless No One Else"? We don't have rules about who can advise when. Tarel may like to advise only when he sees no one claiming sessions, and other GMs feel like answering questions no matter what.

If I see a question that I feel I can answer better as a GM than most players would, I'd take it. We're not competing with anyone here, so unless you dislike the quality of advice someone is giving, why do we have complaints at all? People are being helped by competent advisors, and that's the point of the system.

I really feel like there's nitpicking going on.

[Hadfael]

what's positive in claiming:
+ You know what you type won't be thrown in the void.
+ you can use chat history to spare typing "/advice thenameoftheplayer"
+ you avoid typos in thenameoftheplayer that would send what you type in the void
+ the player knows he will be answered shortly
this are the only reasons why people are using this feature.

Now it seems that you see many negative points outrivaling the positive one.
Which one?

And about the advices I give being a GM:
GMs don't exist IC. The help chanel beeing OOC, every player can help with his knwoledge. GMs are players (hard to believe but IRL we do exist).
But I doubt this is your point since you already complained against me when I advised with a non-GM char.

[Janner]

I meant read this link.
http://hydlaa.com/smf/index.php?topic=22709.0

 this bit.

 Advisor:
If you've played enough to know your way around, please consider becoming an advisor from time to time.  All that is needed, is to use the command /advisormode on to enable the system. You will see others' help requests in the help tab.  (And will not be able to make your own, until turning off this.)  If there is a question that you think you can answer, use the command /advice [player's name] [message] to respond.  If this message may be long, you can just specify the name to claim the advisee and respond momentarily with a full response.  Do not claim a session if you are not going to answer it, or if you're busy with another session.  (Claiming exists only to prevent stepping on others' toes.)  Please answer all questions to the best of your knowledge, without giving any spoilers.  For example, if someone asks where the next trainer in a skill is, tell them to check the other town but not exactly who the NPC is.

[Karyuu]

There is nothing wrong with claiming sessions as long as proper answers are given.

Janner, is there actually an issue here that you want to bring up? I'm just not seeing the problem.

[Janner]

 This tells you how to claim.

 If there is a question that you think you can answer, use the command /advice [player's name] [message] to respond. 


 This implies to me its for only long answers ? or am I reading IT wrong ?

 If this message may be long, you can just specify the name to claim the advisee and respond momentarily with a full response.  Do not claim a session if you are not going to answer it, or if you're busy with another session.  (Claiming exists only to prevent stepping on others' toes.)

 also if a GM  is claiming all the sessions, then how would this apply.
 
 We do keep track of who answers how many questions, and those who abuse this system will be banned.  We will know who the good advisors are, even though the system is anonymous to the public.  The advisor ratings are also used to judge potential new GMs, so if you aspire to become one, becoming a good advisor is a good idea.

 NO I am not nitpicking  just trying to stick to the rules as laid down.

[Hadfael]

the only negative aspect of claiming you pointed so far is:
- it annoys Janner.

It's the only reason that I made me let pple in need for help "tap their feet" while you were online and advising while I had an answer to provide and time to do it. If your suggestion is to implement a "Janner is on advisormode, please wait..." system message send to all advisors and advisees, then this should be moved to the "whishlist" forums.

Hadfael Asks: what's wrong with claiming advice sessions?
Hadfael taps his foot impatiently.

[neko kyouran]

The way I interpret it is as follows:  For long answers, claim the session so others can help other, and the person knows thier question is being answered.  For shorter answers, you neccessarily have to cliam, but there is nothing wrong with claiming those as well.

I think am I right and thats how the general rule of thumb goes.  

In respons to Had,  I believe hes saying that people shouldn't claim sessions unless it shall be a long answer, as that is the way he has interpretted the rules, and that is where lies the confusion.

[Karyuu]

Does it honestly, truly, really matter how advice sessions are claimed and by whom, if the answers are all correct, helpful, and appropriate?

No offense, but who cares? Why does this bother you? Are any GMs who are claiming advise sessions doing bad jobs? If someone is claiming sessions and not answering or answering nonsense, that's another issue. But what problems are there with GMs?

[Hadfael]

When someone asks "I am stuck. What can I do?"
"use the /unstick command" can be seen as a short answer.
But between the time he asks and the time you press enter it has to take long.
You must ensure you really understood the question. Not all help requests are that clear.
Are you answering the right person? When many questions are asked in a row chat can scroll to the next one while you look at the name of the advisee to type it.
You have to check that you spelled at least "/unstick" well. It's not really helpful to tell someone to type "/ustick" or any other typo. Even this way you could still use the up arrow to "/advice advisee" to correct a typo unless you are a perfect typist.
The main reason the "claim" feature was shortly implemented after the release of CB is that when you have done all this, it's discouraging to see all your efforts send to the void. Encouraging fast typists or people who did not do the minimum required efforts needed to give a valuable answer to the person in need. Claiming profits advisors and advisees. Avoiding wasted efforts from the ones and providing useful help to the others.
And by experience, nothing says that this short answer will solve the problem of the advisee. So you may have type a few more /advice advisee without mispelling his name in order to help him further as quick as possible.
Some people are not "stuck" as in unable to move, but stuck inside a sector (dungeons, death realm, holes) only unable to find an existing exit.

[Janner]

the only negative aspect of claiming you pointed so far is:
- it annoys Janner.

It's the only reason that I made me let pple in need for help "tap their feet" while you were online and advising while I had an answer to provide and time to do it. If your suggestion is to implement a "Janner is on advisormode, please wait..." system message send to all advisors and advisees, then this should be moved to the "whishlist" forums.

Hadfael Asks: what's wrong with claiming advice sessions?
Hadfael taps his foot impatiently.

That was totally uncalled  for as you well know, yes I take my time, FOR the reasons you later state to try and get it right, not as you told me in tell I will leave you a few for comfort. I suggest if you think that is all i do it for and indeed am that slow the you truly are the fool I take you for, do yourself a favor and find out how many I do have.

[Drey]

Personally, as long as people are getting the advice they need/want... I don't see how there is a problem.

[Syilph]

By the Gods! This thread has become humongous!
Ok, about claiming: Claiming exists so you won't have to type an answer and see that after you typed it you get the message "[playername] is being advised already" (and sometimes that message pops up and you see that the advice given is worst than your answer that went to /dev/null). And here's the surprise: Everybody can claim a session. So that means that you can claim sessions too. The only thing that is important is the QUALITY of the advice no the way it was answered or the fact that the advisor claimed a session or not. IMO the only reason people would complain about others claiming sessions is because they are intherested in that AP lost because that other guy claimed the session.
So, my conclusion would be a special request to any developper that has DB acces: Please award all those who hunt those AP 10 mil AP (yup, "10 mil" means "10 million"). They will be happy, we won't care about the fact that they have 10 mil AP, like we don't care now that they have 1k or something, and we will be happy too. 

[Kerol]

Maybe the emphasize is on the little word "all" in "he was claiming all the questions", at least thats what Í guess. If so, then I see the problem is not GM specific but is more appearant when a GM is doing it.
Also a player can claim all the questions, simply by typing faster/having less lag. When I started advising, there was a player also claiming all the questions and also answering all correctly. Back then I didn't know about claiming, and also would have taken more time to answer than him, but nevertheless I was a bit disturbed as he didn't leave others any chance to answer even simple questions. That's when I /told him nicely that I like to answer simple questions and he didn't make a hassle about it.

I think as good advisor one shouldn't claim easy questions (or claim after a little while, giving others the chance to claim), to give other people, whether beginner or not, the chance to be helpful (even if it sounds weird).

However, I don't feel that can or should be solved via rules or game mechanics. One can look at it as little practice of common sense.