Where's this forum heading (the whole Tech Forum)? Near/far future.

I told someone that I was going to provide some feedback in this forum about this site from the Church https://la.churchofjesuschrist.org/Portal/, and that person told me that this forum was no longer active, and it was deprecated in favor of the Church's ticket system (which I think it is this one here: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/feedback/?lang=eng. So my question is: What's in the near and far future for this forum? Is it still maintained by the Church? Should I take my LDS Tech concerns here or to somewhere else?

Clearly the forum is still active. It's true that in many cases official feedback needs to go a different route to make sure it gets to the people who can actually do something.

The forum is for getting help that can be provided by other clerks or users of church software who are familiar with how things work. It can also be used to informally discuss bugs and suggestions before submitting official feedback. But to report bugs, make official suggestions or otherwise provide feedback to the church on church technology then the Feedback link should be used.

The Tech Forum is not inactive and is alive and well, as you can see. The person you spoke or communicated with probably was referring to the method of submitting issues about any of the sites and pages of ChurchofJesusChrist.org. That method has been in existence for a number of years. The second link in your post is a link for feedback found in nearly all ChurchofJesusChrist.org pages at the bottom in the footer. It is one of the preferred official methods to report issues with any sites or pages of the church web presence. There is another direct ticket entry method for those with callings granting permission to Leader and Clerk Resources (https://lcr.churchofjesuschrist.org/) and the Help Center > Contact Us feature.

The Tech Forum has never been an official support or feedback channel since the charter of the Tech Forum from it's beginning over 13 years ago has been to provide user-to-user help and support for technology and certain callings. There are changes in the works to up the official presence on the Tech Forum. But the official support channels to report issues have not changed.

I do think it's a bit confusing for newbies trying to understand what exactly is going on with the "Tech" site. If you go to the main churchofjesuschrist.org website and click the "Site Map" at the bottom, then at the bottom of that new page you find a link named "Church Technology Updates: LDS Technology Projects and Updates". Clicking that link brings you directly to the Tech Forum (which I don't think anyone would expect from the wording of the link). And if at the top of the Tech Forum page you click the "Tech" link (next to the Home icon), you get the "Tech Blog Retired in 2017" webpage.

If I'm new to all of this and I use the main Church webpage to access the Tech Forum, and I then see that the Tech Forum page has the official "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" banner at the very top, I'm definitely going to think it's an official type of support site. It's only after a newbie makes a post, that other Forum members kindly point out that it's a user-to-user help forum, and not the official method for interacting with any kind of Church support.

I actually really like how this is separated from Tech Support, and the Church is leveraging a knowledgeable community to help out. But I also think it's time for them to update the "landing page experience". Perhaps I should submit "Feedback" via the official channels for this!

BrianEdwards wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 8:05 pm I do think it's a bit confusing for newbies trying to understand what exactly is going on with the "Tech" site. If you go to the main churchofjesuschrist.org website and click the "Site Map" at the bottom, then at the bottom of that new page you find a link named "Church Technology Updates: LDS Technology Projects and Updates". Clicking that link brings you directly to the Tech Forum (which I don't think anyone would expect from the wording of the link). And if at the top of the Tech Forum page you click the "Tech" link (next to the Home icon), you get the "Tech Blog Retired in 2017" webpage.

Can't thank you enough for this explanation. I am trying to do some training and the link just disappeared from the usual
help page. Used to be: Select the "?" on the calendar and it would take you to Help Center and then just go down to user forum. That certainly is no longer the case. Hope they fix that.

BrianEdwards wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 8:05 pm...that it's a user-to-user help forum, and not the official method for interacting with any kind of Church support.

While it's true, the forum is not the same as calling the help desk, it has evolved into an official means of support. More and more help documents on the church website link to the forum for further assistance than ever before. The Global Service Desk has made it known that they don't have the staff or resources to handle the number of calls they would get if this forum wasn't here. It's also frequented by church employees from all levels, including managers, developers, etc., who lend their insight when occasions permit. Moderators and admins have a few inside contacts that they can ping, should a question come up that they can't answer. So yes, by participating in the forum, you are receiving church support and sometimes even playing the role of the one offering support.

Is there a direct link to the forum?

casper684 wrote: Fri Apr 15, 2022 7:54 am Is there a direct link to the forum?

If you have been coming here by way of another link, this address should allow you to directly connect.

https://tech.churchofjesuschrist.org/forum

I'm not sure what's the story with the Help Center re-write, but a direct link to the calendar forum would be

https://tech.churchofjesuschrist.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=110

Thank you! I was truly saddened when I couldn't get to it easily. This site is very informative.