How do I use the support system?

Our support system creates an account for a user when they submit their first ticket using the email address they used to create the ticket. This account is separate from the account associated with our membership website (for more information on that, read the article about how our websites as set up). In order for users to access responses to their tickets, they must first create a password for their account, and then log into the support system. For users with issues logging in to check on their support tickets, refer to our article on logging in.

When submitting your first ticket, or creating your account in our support system, we suggest using the same email address used to create your account on our membership website. This will help ensure our support specialists can access information related to your account needed to help you.

Occasionally, there is an issue where a user receives an 'Email address is invalid' message when trying to create their ticket. This is normally due to a space at the beginning or end of your email address. Please double check to make sure there are no spaces in there.

When creating subsequent tickets, we always recommend logging into the support system first, then creating your ticket. This helps prevent mistakes like misspelling your email address. This happens more frequently than you would think, more often than not with people frustrated with our support when they never receive a response (because the response is going to a non-existent email address).

Due to the private nature of what we do, and the fact that email is by default, insecure, we do not communicate with anyone via email. All communication must be done by logging into the support system and responding on tickets using the website. We realize this may be a point of frustration for some people, but please understand that it is a requirement for security and privacy.

In some circumstances, a support ticket may require a phone call. People opening support tickets may feel free to leave their number in the ticket, and if it is deemed necessary to resolve the ticket, a support specialist may follow through with that.

If there are communication issues, an email may sometimes be directly issued from our support system to the email of someone that opened a ticket. We will not provide any information in those emails, only information on how to log into the support system to carry on with the ticket.

Never respond to an email from our support system - always log into the support system and follow up on the ticket.

If we have accomplished what you needed in your support request, please use the 'Submit and Closed' option when replying to the ticket to close it. If you do not close the ticket, we normally follow up in about a week after hearing no response with a message that we are closing the ticket. You can still respond to closed tickets. Closing them out just helps us know where we are at with providing support.

Due to our support specialists being mostly volunteers and members that are active in the community forum, we do not by default reveal their identities in the tickets. This is to help protect them from getting inundated with questions outside of our support system. As part of being a community focused on learning about and living privately, this also aligns with those principles. This may seem impersonal to some people, and we understand that. We hope that these individuals can respect the privacy of the people that we have working to keep our membership and community running and together.