Submitted by admin-boss on
We've had a few irate comments from patrons, saying that the service provider has "rudely" chosen to end the session.
Of course, we as service providers know that there was no rudeness intended - that this must have been a technical glitch. So how can we communicate this with our patrons?
Patrons do not have the green square/yellow diamond/red circle indicator to show the status of the connection. If the service provider sees the yellow diamond, then the red circle, and so closes the session, all the patron will see is the message: "Librarian ended chat session." Without any other indication of what's going on, you can see how this might be interpreted as rude!
Sending a quick message such as "Are you still there?" or "Can you see my messages?" will quickly communicate what is happening.
The TechTrouble - Refresh Browser script might also be useful in this case. Here is the text of the script:
It looks like you are disconnecting from this chat session. If this is not your intention, please click the Refresh button on your browser.
This clearly communicates the situation to the patron, and also provides a possible solution.
Please note: most of the comments from the patron survey have been positive. In particular, 95% of respondents indicated that they would use AskAway again. Well done, everyone!