It's the moment of truth

[itonewbie]

A new day has dawned.  The day of reckoning.  But life goes on...

[IRonMaN]

It's time to take a vacation.  Spend some more time interacting with folks that pay me for my services and appreciate what I do for them.

[rbynaker]

I've just been invited to the TurboTax Live team.  They're offering "flexible at-home schedules, excellent pay, amazing training and software."

[TaxGuyBill]

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@rbynaker wrote:

I've just been invited to the TurboTax Live team.  They're offering "flexible at-home schedules, excellent pay, amazing training and software."

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I  wonder if THAT is the reason why they switched the forums.  If they make the TurboTax forum not helpful, then more TurboTaxers will be forced to upgrade to the "Live" version for some help.  The Accountants and Quickbooks forums are just  a by-product of changing the TurboTax forum.

As a side note, I've peaked in at the TurboTax forum a few times.  Many of Intuit employee "experts" only give vague, general information and don't actually answer the question.  Other answers are completely wrong.  Of course, there are a few employees that answer well.

[IRonMaN]

@TaxGuyBill  ask @qbteachmt  what happened over in the QuickBooks community.  They prettied it up with badges and things to make it so attractive that folks just couldn't stay away.  Well, everybody except the AllStar group over there.  A number of answers over there were provided by Intuit employees.  Of course most of those answers were wrong, but who cares when the place looked so pretty!  I hung around there for awhile (just for the free lutefisk), but the folks that were carrying the load over there got extremely frustrated.  I haven't taken a gander over there in centuries so I don't know if any of the folks carrying the real workload are still around.

[itonewbie]

Talk about workload.  Even with some of us pitching in periodically, the number of posts with no response remains high.  Just took a quick look (yes, I have more time now that there's no more AllStars), there're 186 posts with no response as of the end of Feb 21 since Feb 18.  And that's just 4 days' worth.

[qbteachmt]

I stopped being on the QB forum when I realized that nearly every answer I gave started with my response to an "Intuit" badged person, as: "XXX, please learn from this response." When I realized I was training customer support, I decided I was done. I also deleted a lot of images and reference materials. I think it's been at least 2 years since I bowed out of that community. I'll never be an Intuit Champion.

It's important for Intuit to realize that the "power user" participants on their community forums are Product owners and users, too. It's like a local motorcycle shop; you get people who stop by all the time, sort of hanging around socially. But they also buy more bikes than the typical owner, they bring friends to town to that shop, and they share info in their community of what they have seen and heard, while hanging around. That's why the motorcycle shops tend to have, at the minimum, a coffee bar inside. But no one asks them to earn points or checks them in and out at the door.

"amazing training and software"

Are you aware of the Oxford comma, and style guide? Because I read that as "Amazing Training" and "Amazing Software." Which I confess I am using, and the mileage rate displayed for business use of personal vehicle hasn't been updated in years. Amazing? I think not.

Or perhaps it was meant to read as" Amazing Training" and "and software." Considering they push everything to be online, what "software" would this include? And how amazing is that training?

[IRonMaN]

I pitched my tent but I am not going to pitch in.  I have a couple of campgrounds I have been visiting, but that is about it.  In prior years there were Intuit employees pitching in to help out with some questions - they even had the weekly radio show "Ask an Expert".  This year there isn't anybody from Intuit on the mound.  They have officially turned this place over as the 1st call for support and they don't support it themselves.  If Intuit don't care, I really don't care.  A number of years ago Intuit let go of one of their moderators.  He joined our outside e-mail list and I remember him making the statement that at that time for each answer provided here, that saved one phone call to support.  I don't remember what the exact figure was, but Intuit had figured that it cost something like $50 per call at that time.  So go ahead and do the math.  With the thousands of posts that I have provided over the years, how much money was kept in their pocket because of those posts.  None of that cash hit my pocket, so like I said, if Intuit don't care, I certainly don't care.  I'm done tithing at the Church of Intuit.

[itonewbie]

Yes, we can camp here until they send the bailiff and claim that it is illegal for us to be here unless we are part of the cheerleading squad.

Haven't seen anything about the Ask Me Anything sessions this year.  They have replaced that with the Ask Me Nothing special this year, Iike someone said in the other post.

I don't agree with Intuit shifting first call of support to this forum and, especially, not taking into account the feedback that they have been given by a sincere group of superusers, except I can't stand seeing folks left out in the cold knowing how difficult it is to get hold of Intuit and get the right answer from them.

BTW, there's a flurry of congrats messages coming through as I type, for new badges.  Now, I really have something to show for, don't I?

[IRonMaN]

Geez, I wonder who posted that "Ask Me Nothing" post 😀

And I almost fell on the floor laughing when I saw I just had more badges popping up after my last post 🤔

[IntuitAustin]

We're looking into launching the "Ask Me Anything" series again. It was definitely a great way for customers to ask Intuit experts questions. I appreciate everyone's feedback.

Any suggestions you have about improving engagement on community is always appreciated!

[itonewbie]

Hope Intuit will get a group of knowledgeable staff to field questions at those sessions, now that there are no more AllStars.

[qbteachmt]

OMG, I feel so validated; I just earned the All Star badge!

[abctax55]

So did I, and I have NO friggin' clue what that means. 

Sure do with there was a way to turn OFF those worthless badge notifications.

[IRonMaN]

I just got my AllStar badge too.  Now when my **bleep** Tracy badge shows up I'm thinking my badge collection should be complete!

[IRonMaN]

I see you still can't be named Richard here 🙄

[itonewbie]

**bleep** Tracy badge.  That cracks me up.  Really, that's an illegal name?

Oh yes, I too just got an All-Star badge, whatever that means now...

[itonewbie]

Now, what is an All-Star badge?  Here's the official explanation you get when you click on that badge:

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Thank you for being an All-Star during our Accountants Community days. We appreciate your ongoing participation in the community!

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[IntuitAustin]

The All-Star badge was awarded to anyone who was an All-Star in the Accountants Community. Here's the badge description 

Thank you for being an All-Star during our Accountants Community days. We appreciate your ongoing participation in the community!

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@itonewbie wrote:

**bleep** Tracy badge.  That cracks me up.  Really, that's an illegal name?

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The short version of Richard is being caught by our expletive filter since it's also a slang word with a negative connotation. 

[itonewbie]

@IntuitAustinI know what that is but Intuit should consider changing the profanity filter to be less sensitive so that the name  D i c k  not preceded by an article (which most likely mean it is a proper instead of common noun) will not be blocked.

After all, this is a forum for tax professionals, isn't it? /s

I don't recall professionals here using profanity.

[abctax55]

The short version of Richard is being caught by our expletive filter since it's also a slang word with a negative connotation. 

Seriously ???

1) Isn't this place *supposed* to be for tax PROFESSIONALS? 

2) I doubt seriously that any of us *professionals* are under age 10 or so.

I feel sorry for those man that are named **bleep**.

An example of being TOO politically correct.

[itonewbie]

Exactly my thinking, Anna!

[IntuitAustin]

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@itonewbie wrote:

@IntuitAustinI know what that is but Intuit should consider changing the profanity filter to be less sensitive so that the name  D i c k  not preceded by an article (which most likely mean it is a proper instead of common noun) will not be blocked.

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The filtering we have looks for specific instances of the word, unfortunately it's not a filter that uses artificial intelligence, so it ignores context.

With that being said, you all are correct that I would not expect professionals to use it in the wrong context. I have removed it from the profanity filter. 

[IRonMaN]

I haven't referred to the Richard Tracy crimefighter badge in ages.  I guess some things never change 😜

[qbteachmt]

"The All-Star badge was awarded to anyone who was an All-Star in the Accountants Community."

So it's an historic recognition of something that no longer applies? "Back in the olden days, when we were the Accountants Community, why I remember the youngens needin' help with their homework..." As in, none of the current users will understand its meaning, even if anyone even looks at Profiles, and none of us cares, because that designation is moot. But hey, thanks for throwing that bone. It gives me something to gnaw on.

[itonewbie]

Now, I'm confused.  I thought your name is Larry.

[IntuitAustin]

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@qbteachmt wrote:

As in, none of the current users will understand its meaning, even if anyone even looks at Profiles,

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The badge was only awarded to those who were All-Stars in the Accountants Community. Users who were not, do not see the badge on their profile as even something they can earn. It's a hidden badge to those who have not earned it. 

[IRonMaN]

I fixed it just for you Obi-Wan. 😁

[abctax55]

Do you guys (collectively at Intuit) not have anything BETTER to do with your time?

The fact the you (collectively) think that we care about those says so, so much.

[IRonMaN]

So I can't remember the last time I nosed around the QuickBooks community but I just received the following e-mail:

"All,

I wanted to reach out and let you know that we are going to be updating and adding some new badges to the community tomorrow, Feb 25th, and because you are among the top contributors you may end up getting quite a few notifications from them."

Intuit's Badge Team must have ordered too  many badges and the new shipments must have arrived over the weekend.  It looks like they are now trying to clear some space in their badge warehouse.

[IRonMaN]

And I guess I didn't read all the way through the e-mail to see this on the bottom:

"We will also be adding badges for our first group of Community Champions, and I just wanted to remind everyone that for this first year if you choose to join the program you will be grandfathered in due to your AllStar status on the old community, just let us know that you are interested by filling out the application form here"

[itonewbie]

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@IntuitAustin wrote:

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@qbteachmt wrote:

As in, none of the current users will understand its meaning, even if anyone even looks at Profiles,

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The badge was only awarded to those who were All-Stars in the Accountants Community. Users who were not, do not see the badge on their profile as even something they can earn. It's a hidden badge to those who have not earned it. 

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Sure.  That's Intuit recognizing the contributions of former All-Stars.  If that is the case, it'd be prominently featured.  Instead, it's buried in a haystack and you have to actually go deep down to search for it.  Thanks but no thanks.

I just don't understand why Intuit is putting so much effort and emphasis on badges, which serve no real purpose, when this is supposed to be a professional forum.

[IRonMaN]

"I just don't understand why Intuit is putting so much effort and emphasis on badges, which serve no real purpose, when this is supposed to be a professional forum."

Because Intuit interpreted "how about knocking a couple bucks off of the software for helping out here" as an answer to a survey as meaning "they want to earn something".  Discounted software means lost revenue but badges don't cost anything. 

All I ever wanted was foam anvils instead of the steel ones that are available here.

[itonewbie]

But... but... but they must be thinking.  Gee, these folks can line their walls with the shinny badges we issue, along with their other certs, diplomas, and awards.  Let's bus those badges to them quick since the tax season is already underway.  That's one way to look at it. /s

[IRonMaN]

I'm just disappointed because now I have to move to a larger office.  My current office just doesn't have the room for all of the badges I have earned.  I had to put a few boxes of badges temporarily down in storage until I find a new office.

[qbteachmt]

The All Star badge doesn't even show in the first profile listing; you have to view All Badges to see that you are an All Star. Don't you feel honored?

How often will you bother to view someone's "view all badges?" This is simply conveying to us, something we already knew.