How you can help

We need enthusiastic (and patient!) people to answer questions from all types of Firefox users. You don't have to be an advanced user to start giving help. Many questions people ask are covered in the Knowledge Base or Forums already, and users simply need help finding the answer or walking through the solution.

Some questions cover new issues that aren't documented yet; advice for many of these issues can be found on the Contributors Forum or by simply asking for help. Information learned in live chat about issues that are being investigated should always be passed on in the Contributors chat room or forum. In addition to volunteers who answer questions directly, we need some helpers who can assist the people giving support while making sure new issues are documented.

What you'll need

• You'll need to install the Spark client for your OS.

Spark is an open source application that, combined with the server-side Openfire software, lets you take questions from the users who access our Live Chat support through a web interface.

• Read our guide to using the Spark client to learn about the different features we use.

When you should help

Our official hours reflect when helpers are reliably around to help. Since these are the times that we tell users to come by, this is when we'll need extra help. We'll also want help after hours. If you can help, please add yourself to this week's schedule so that other helpers can plan when to come.

Official hours

For a time conversion chart, see the Live Chat coverage

Monday and Wednesday:

• 9am to 10am PST (GMT -8)
• 2pm to 5pm PST
  
  

Tuesday and Thursday:

• 2pm to 5pm PST
• 8pm to 9pm PST
  
  

Friday:

• 9am to 12pm PST (GMT -8)
  
  

For Saturdays, Sundays and holidays see our after hours policy

Live Chat may close during posted hours if the expected wait time is too high, depending on the number of people waiting and the number of helpers signed in to help.

After hours

If you're available outside our set hours, you're more than welcome to log in to the server and help any users that come around. Before you do so, check that a Room Monitor is available. Please don't open Live Chat without a Room Monitor.

If you can reliably be available to help outside of our current hours, please let us know. Once we have enough people committed to help at other times, we'll expand our hours to include them.

Getting started

Read our rules

You can find our rules and guidelines for using forums and chat here. Please read them!

Read our basic support handbook

Our Live Chat basic support handbook will help you get started if you haven't given Firefox support before, and it will let you know some of our policies for different situations. While you don't have to follow it to the letter, it's very important that you're familiar with this guide.

Learn about the top issues users are facing

Before starting to accept chats, you will want to read some of the discussion on this website concerning the most common support issues. Get started by reading recent threads in the Contributors forum and browsing the most visited Knowledge Base articles. Make sure to read the weekly issue thread in the Contributors forum. If you have a question, don't hesitate to ask!

Shadow help chats as a trainee

As soon as you're logged in to Spark, you'll be added to our "trainees" group. You won't be offered help requests directly with users, but members of our support group can invite you to join their help chats.

Join the Contributors conference to let the support team know you'd like to be invited to watch chats.

1. Click on the conferences tab at the bottom of the Spark window
2. Double click on "Contributors" in the list of available conferences

The invitations will work just like help requests do. You'll be offered a chat with "Accept" and "Reject" buttons. If you don't accept the invitation it will be passed on to another member of the trainees group.

Join the Contributors conference

Supporting users is a team effort - discussing issues with other helpers allows everyone to learn more and coordinate troubleshooting steps. Everyone must join the Contributors group chat while available to take chat requests. You can use it to get advice on a tough question, get tips on how to use Spark, or find someone to take over questions when you need to leave.

By default, Spark will join this conference automatically when you log in. If you need to re-join the room, follow these steps:

1. At the bottom of the main Spark window, click on the "Conferences" tab
2. Double-click on "Contributors", under conference.chat-support.mozilla.com

This group chat can also be accessed via irc in the #sumo channel on the irc.mozilla.org server, or via Mibbit.

Mechanics of Live Chat

Accepting questions

Once you're moved from the trainees group into the support group, you'll automatically be offered help requests if any are available.

1. Read the user's question, as well as the other provided information like operating system.
2. If you think you can answer the question or are confident you can help find the answer, click the "Accept" button. A one on one chat with the user will begin.
3. If you don't think you can help the user, or don't want to take that question click the "Reject" button. Another available helper will be offered the request.
4. If you get offered the same chat several times in a row, but don't think you can help, accept the chat anyway and explain the situation to the user. Ask them to wait while you try and find another helper to transfer the question to, or help the user search for an answer to their problem.
5. Each chat request includes the current position in the queue. Try to take low numbered chats first, as they have been waiting the longest.

How to log in without being offered requests

At times you may wish to be logged in to the support server without taking questions. You may want to talk to other helpers, or take a break without logging off if you've been helping already.

1. At the top of the main Spark window, under your user name is the status drop down. It is set to "Available" by default.
2. Click the drop down and set your status to "Away" or "Extended Away"

Spark will automatically set your status to away if your computer goes idle.

Quality assurance and monitoring

Since Live Chat offers one on one help, we expect all helpers to follow our basic guidelines to ensure that users receive quality support. To ensure quality, administrators and senior helpers actively monitor chats and review logs to offer suggestions to helpers and keep documentation up-to-date.

Transcripts

All conversations are logged on the server and are viewable by our admins. We'll periodically go through the transcripts - more often in the case of new helpers - to make sure our helpers are on the right track. We'll also make use of transcripts to keep the Knowledge Base up to date. Transcripts will also come in handy in the case of disputes between a user and a helper.

Room monitors

Some senior helpers in the community become room monitors, screening chats in real time to make sure quality help is provided. If you need help while answering a chat, feel free to ask a room monitor to look in on your chat and provide feedback. You can also invite other helpers to a chat session yourself if you want another opinion on a difficult question. Room monitors also have the power to speak in a chat session or kick an abusive helper.