Private Messages: A Personal Request

#1 - July 12, 2013, 4:16 p.m.

It’s sad to open your Guild Wars 2 Forum account and see more than 1,430 private messages. And it’s doubly sad to know that in order to focus on the forums as a whole — with the related benefits that help all players — answering those PMs is simply impossible.

Please do not send a PM to:

• Ask me for a personal review of your ticket. If you need help, post about it in the forums, Consider using the Tickets for Review thread, because posting immediately after creating a ticket is pointless — we must allow the agents time to resolve your issue.
• Ping me to respond to your thread. If it’s in the forum, and if I can respond to it, I will. Note that I primarily focus on game account issues.
• Ask me to point out your thread to the devs, or expedite a review of your suggestion or feedback.
• Report a bug.
• Report an exploit. Send an email for exploits to [email protected] (to keep critical info off the forums).
• Protest a Support decision.
• Give an opinion on a game change.
• Argue about comments in a locked thread.
• Request special services, such as a Display Name change that already has been declined by Support.
• Ask about a third-party program. Review Our Policy Statement for the current policy.
• Report a phishing mail. Review the A Note About Phishing thread and report in the Email from ArenaNet thread.
• Report other things that can and should be reported directly to Support, including scamming, harassment, and other breaches of the Rules of Conduct and the User Agreement. For some issues, such as offensive language, you can report from within the game.

The forums are a wonderful place, and we can, will, and do respond to as many posts as possible on pretty much a daily basis. PMing isn’t the right way to get help. If you have an account issue, submit a ticket. (Click “Support” at the top of these page, and then “Submit a request” to get started on a ticket.)

If you want to follow up on an existing ticket, you must give the team time to analyze the issue and response. If you still need help after three days, post in the Tickets for Review Thread.

If I ask for you to PM me with information that is not safe to post on a forum (never your password, but perhaps the user name or other info that helps me identify the account) I will look for your response. But these situations are very rare.

Lastly, everyone appreciates a friendly note or a warm greeting. But please keep forum business on the forums, so that everyone benefits from the information provided.

Thanks for understanding!

#3 - July 12, 2013, 6:53 p.m.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Gaile deserves a bonus for putting up with this. I’ll e-mail Colin with the suggestion to double her pay.

gasp Don’t you dare! Colin doesn’t need one more email, that’s for sure! (But thanks for the sweet idea! )

#14 - July 24, 2013, 2:39 p.m.

Let’s be clear. I love my job, completely adore being able to help people and serve as that liaison-y person between players and the company for support-related issues! It’s mainly just a problem with people — honestly, you’re right AP — submitting a ticket and then messaging me to try to expedite it or, having gotten a couple of thorough reviews, pinging me via PM to ask for another review or to argue with the decision.

As a company, we are open to another review. We’re even open to defending a decision, of making it clear why something must be as it was told in the ticket. Heck, you’ve probably all seen us reverse a decision due to a forum discussion! It’s part of being responsive, and that’s what we’re all about.

But those discussions should happen on the forums, not via PM, so that others can benefit from what we learn about one player’s situation. So much can be gained with an open discussion, and while PMs are great for some things (I’ve gotten some PMs I truly treasure) the best place for situation discussions is the forums. (Exception: telling me about an exploit or exploitable bug, which naturally cannot /should not happen in a public space.)

Thanks for understanding! <3

#15 - July 26, 2013, 2:16 p.m.

I have received quite a number of PMs, many from people who haven’t even submitted a ticket. Please read the first post and help us help you!

#18 - July 26, 2013, 3:54 p.m.

Well, I don’t want to block people completely, because occasionally I need to get a PM. For instance, you’ve both seen someone post “I think I know about an exploit” and I give them an email address or tell them to PM me. I do not want to start collecting exploit reports, but sometimes — is that’s the only way we’re going to hear about it — it’s good to have a PM box.

Also, sometimes I need a bit more info about a situation (say one in which a ticket has not been submitted) and I ask for that via PM for privacy reasons.

Plus, I don’t want to be out of touch, I just want people to post where they will be helped as quickly as possible and where their post and the solution/answer may help others.

#23 - Aug. 13, 2013, 3:28 p.m.

While this thread got a wee bit off topic the bullet list of recommendations and requests in the topmost post still bears noting. And I know I need to bump it back up to the front page when I’m seeing folks post a question and immediately send me (and perhaps other members of the Anet Team) a PM to follow up.

Thanks for reading the first post and following those guidelines!

#24 - Aug. 22, 2013, 3:40 p.m.

I just found a whole passel of PMs in my box, so I need to make sure folks have seen this post.

Thank you.

#26 - Aug. 28, 2013, 5:14 p.m.

Well, if you managed to bump this thread, I’ll forgive you the joke.

Maybe.

It’s probably worth noting that there are now more than 1,430 PMs in my in-box, and I confess that quite a number have not received a response. It’s a matter of bandwidth and focusing on where I can do the most good. Please continue to submit tickets to Support by filing a ticket through the “Ask a Question” tab on that linked page. They will be able to assist you. For tips on what information to provide in a ticket — mostly intended for security reasons to establish that you own the account — please read this post and provide as many suggested details as possible to expedite the ticket.

#27 - Sept. 4, 2013, 9:04 p.m.

Another week, another 50 PMs.

Please remember that forum posts help every player and posts are usually the best way to get help!

The only exception I can think of is letting me know about an exploit that would be dangerous if posted. Otherwise, please use the forums as intended.

Thank you!

#29 - Sept. 27, 2013, 6:51 p.m.

I need to refresh this post, since I feel bad with unanswered PMs.

#33 - Oct. 16, 2013, 1:26 p.m.

Hey, thanks for keeping this on the front page!

~waves Wand of Special Dispensation against the “No Bumping Threads” rules for those who do it for a good cause~

Jayne — your PM was more than welcome, and I appreciate the kind thoughts. I just worry that I’ll miss a pressing issue in the PM box, but the “No PMs” really means “no issue-based PMs so I don’t miss them” and not "Never write me again!! 1 ! "

#38 - Nov. 7, 2013, 5:19 p.m.

Thanks for keeping this close, guys. I am sure that it’s helpful in explaining why I may not be able to respond to PMs.

There are cases where I get PMs by request. Right now I have a few with headers from rejected e-mails that will help us get that situation resolved. A few contain a friendly note, which is fine. But most of the PMs are folks asking for extra or expedited help, and I need to keep those on the front page here because an answer for one can be an answer that helps many.

#41 - Nov. 20, 2013, 8:17 p.m.

I’m getting a lot of “Please check on my ticket” requests via PM. Please, please read the topmost thread! Thank you kindly.

#50 - Dec. 17, 2013, 5:40 p.m.

Moving to front page.

If this is TL;dnr: Please submit a ticket for support issues and do not ping me directly unless I request information that we need to keep private. Thank you.

#51 - Jan. 2, 2014, 1:57 p.m.

I have received a few dozen PMs asking for help with individual tickets, so I’m going to move this to the front page.

#52 - Jan. 6, 2014, 7:21 p.m.

Got several “Can you review my ticket” PMs this weekend. Please, please read the first post and follow the steps there for help.

#56 - Jan. 28, 2014, 7:27 p.m.

Moving to front page. Please use the forum as intended. Thanks!

#57 - Feb. 6, 2014, 3:02 p.m.

Bumping because this still applies.

#58 - Feb. 12, 2014, 11:52 a.m.

I have been getting another batch of “Hey can you look at this ticket?” or “I got disconnected, what’s going on with the game?” or “I think I’m being harassed, will you investigate?” private messages.

Pretty much anything that brings you to the forums can be posted in the forums and should not be sent to me via PM. Issues of a personal nature, such as individual harassment, should be submitted via a ticket, so the team can investigate.

• If it’s an individual issue, please submit a ticket.
• If it’s a general issue, please post in the forums where the answer will benefit everyone.

Exception: If you know of a game exploit, you should write [email protected] or you can PM me, but sending an email is much the preferred means of the team knowing about a possible exploit.

Thanks for understanding.

#62 - March 4, 2014, 6:10 p.m.

Moving up to front page. I am unable to answer “I submitted a ticket yesterday, when will I get a response” PMs.

We have a thread — tickets for review — if you need help. Please use that and thank you for understanding.