Are you new to Bloop? Have you been here for a little while, but haven't grasped everything there is to know about Bloop? Veteran Bloop who is learning from the nooks and crannies?

The Bloop Diary Help Desk is here to help you. We have comprehensive tutorials started for new members on the major aspects of Bloop and are currently working on more! By the end of the week, we should have tutorials on every aspect of Bloop there is to know about as well as an in-detail FAQ.

Come check us out!

this diary comes across as smug and patronising, and has grammatical errors. if i was a newb it would put me off sticking around.

I've actually got done doing a bit of editing, to get rid of the excessive amounts of times we've mentioned we've been here forever. I didn't notice it before. Anything else, aside from the grammatical errors?

just the whole smug/patronising tone of it. when did you edit it? i looked about a minute ago.

jess, you're the wrong person to do this - you're a drama queen who always gets in massive sulks with people.

is this similar to bloop diary basics?

Actually, I'm glad you mentioned Bloop Diary Basics. The Bloop Diary Help Desk is an attempt at a group diary run by, hopefully, several people, operating on a deeply interactive level. Our current plans for the diary, after the basics tutorials are done, is to provide an interactive FAQ, a welcome committee for new members, and a few other things. Our intention for this diary was basically to be the first thing new members see so they can get the gist of how the site works as well as knowing the basics of how service diaries operate.

The current person who runs Bloop Diary Basics was totally fine with a reboot of the concept.

so it aims to be slightly more interactive with newbs than bdb?

Yes indeedy! Its basically what Steve mentioned in bloop news a while back - the group of people to help show newbs around the site.

Checking out the diaries, they're the exact same thing...

Bloop Diary Basics was not updated for 8 months, hardly a diary newcomers to Bloop can rely on for information. A new diary that is actually an updated and better version can provide a lot more. This diary should be on the main page instead of BDB.

I run BloopDiaryBasics, under the direction of Steve. I updated it at the beginning of this month. I check it all the time for messages and comments, so rest assured that those people get the help they need.

I generally only update it when a) a new feature comes up or b) there's an onslaught of questions about the same thing (e.g. BloopPlus points). Sadly, the diary used to have about 40 entries but they were all lost in the crash. However, many of them are irrelevant now, with the removal of old features and a shift in the focus of the site.

If you, or anyone, thinks BDB should include something that it doesn't yet include, please let me or Steve know.

I have a feeling that Bloop Help Desk, while it has the best intentions, will eventually be updated as infrequently as BloopDiaryBasics, because you can only talk so much about the way Bloop works before you, literally, have nothing else to update about. And I just don't see the point in the duplication.

But I do like the more 'interactive' feel of the Help Desk; I just hope it persists and doesn't fizzle out like everything else around here. xD

I was not trying to in any way be offensive, but there were only 4 entries on it. When I came back to Bloop I checked and 4 entries isn't much help. I am sorry all those other entries got deleted, but they should have been re-written or replaced. New people on this site are constantly trying to figure out how to use all the features on this web site. I have repeatedly recommended layout diaries and HTML help diaries for new people. They need a place that is updated and has everything a newcomer to this site needs. Had those other 40 entries been reposted then no there wouldn't really be a need for a 2nd diary like this.

Steve is awesome in that he changes and ads things to this site all the time, as well as creating new versions. So I believe there is always things to be posted on for a newcomer. Another option is to post questions that are asked and answers. Updating regularly just for people to know the diary is still used at all is another idea. But I do believe there are ways to keep a diary to help newcomers updated and current.

@Ashalicious: Like I said, many of the lost BDB entries were rendered irrelevant - especially with the inception of Project Service. And you'll notice that the first BDB entry was one where I actually combined, literally, 10 BDB entries - it's a "Manage My Diary overview" and it pretty much covers everything, except the Entry Editor, which I cover in a separate entry.

And, like I said, whenever a new major feature crops up, Steve sends me a message to let me know and within a couple of days I write a BDB entry pertaining to the feature.

I love Bloop and am always looking for an opportunity to update BDB. However, no one has come to BDB with any suggestions on topics they feel should be updated.

I think the Q and A thing is actually a good idea, and that is what the Help Desk should focus on - not a reiteration of what already exists at BDB. The idea of a real-life help desk is to act as a place where people can specifically go to get questions answered. In contrast, the idea behind BDB was to explain new features as they come about, to to explain in layman's terms the ins and outs of the basics of Bloop.

i have to agree. i never found bdb to be unhelpful or ignore questions, it's just that we hardly get new people it seems and what else is there to possibly update on?

See, there's the key phrase- "we hardly get new people". All of the new diaries are diaries people want because they don't like their old one or they're going to revolutionize bloop with another design contest or whathaveyou.

we seem to do a better job at scaring noobs away than helping anyway.

@ &skull: we DO do a better job at scaring noobs away than helping! Noobs can't handle us! We are too awesome for them!

Well, information about a site is finite - once you've written about it, there's nothing more to say. Like a manual. I wouldn't expect a frequently-updated diary about the basics of how to use a site - the basics would soon get lost in a sea of waffle. It simply needs to be updated when there is a new feature.

it can't really be updated regularly though can it, there's no reason for it to be. there's only so many ways you can explain how to start a new diary.

Good idea.

Woot!

Currently searching a Bloop Veteran or two to join Bloop Help Desk. Anyone interested can send a message! Please apply if you have been here since 2004 or earlier.

I found one typo, and I sent a message letting the TWO people who run it know about it. It was presented in an easy to understand format, very descriptive, and used simple enough terms. And I don't see anyone's personal feelings or attitudes towards others being reflected at all in this diary, seeing as it's not a personal diary AT ALL. It would be hard for "sulks" with other diarists to affect a simple explanation created for new diarists of how to use all the features on this site.

Gosh, yo - you must be quite a n00b if you have not seen how non-personal diaries have very easily and quickly descended into all kinds of daft dramaz and sulks in the past on Bloop! 'Tis a frequent occurrence for certain people!

If the diary were simply providing information in entries, that would be one thing, but this diary is planning to be very interactive, involving much personal interaction with n00bs, and this will require quite a bit of patience, maturity and an ability to get on with all sorts of people, and not take it personally if, say, they use a certain tone. Experience of Bloopers and their communication styles and personalities would suggest that not all Bloopers have an equal ability to do this.