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To keep visnet a help channel and lower the burden on Staff fielding random urgent and/or covert inquiries from all sides, what if we had a "request" channel that only Staff could see, and could handle when it fits into their schedule? The difference between request notes and the proposed channel being that notes could be for long term inquiries, and the channel could be for more immediate needs. For example:

Player inputs:
request I'm stuck in Southside and can't get out. Could I get a hand from Staff?

Staff sees:
PlayerName requests: I'm stuck in Southside and can't get out. Could I get a hand from Staff?

When a Staff member is available to handle it, enters:
got PlayerName

Player sees:
A Staff member is handling your request.

From there, just gets handled the usual way. No need for the channel to log or be replayable; just a live channel for when notes aren't urgent enough for the situation.

Something like that, anyway. Would allow an outlet for the kind of "urgent" things that a request note can feel weird for without constantly filling the help channel with requests for private Staff communication. Would also allow Staff to field the requests at their leisure, rather than get dragged into tells when they're otherwise occupied.

+1. Like this very much for differentiating between things that actively need staff asap, like being behind locked doors or a junk mistake, and the stuff that goes on Request board.

I would think Staff should be able to send directed replies, either through the existing tell system or what have you that says: Can you note this instead?

Just because someone thinks it is urgent doesn't mean it really is.

Goes without saying, yep.

I appreciate the intent behind this suggestion! However, I think creating another channel would add to our workload rather than lessen it.

Most of us have a lot of channels on already, so creating a new one solely for filtering requests that need immediate attention would run into the same problem we already have with busy Staff simply missing the questions on visnet and, in fact, it might get worse on a channel without history. I think that's what you meant about the channel not being replayable?

Asking on visnet to send tell to Staff for things that are sensitive and urgent is entirely fine! We all see the channel and if someone is available to help, we respond as soon as possible. Posting a request note marked Urgent is also fine if nobody's immediately available, and less likely to be lost should the question disappear on visnet.

And for those times that nobody can help you at the moment, what about writing a request note for these things feels weird to you?