OpenBB is Setting the Standard for Customer Support and Service in the FOSS Community. We Named our new Feature, Support!

#opensource #python #showdev #help

It is one thing to publish an open-source project, and it is an entirely different animal to adopt open-source solutions for the workplace. When it comes to providing its users with a comprehensive suite of MIT-licensed financial research and public equities analysis tools, OpenBB wants them to take comfort in knowing that the tools they have grown to rely on will continue to be there for them when they need help, or when things break inexplicably.

Depending on the type of workplace, adopting open-source solutions and platforms can work great until they don't. If a person integrating the OSS ecosystem within an organization leaves, then so does its ability to maintain or improve the systems in place. It has been a quiet conversation taking place deep in the background, but new concerns with cybersecurity risks are advancing timelines for the inevitable demise of proprietary closed software and technology. Eventually, open-source eats everything.

For those unfamiliar with the topic, this short video does a good job of explaining the general problem large organizations face while adopting OSS solutions.

While the goal was not a complete enterprise-grade solution, the key objective was to remove points of friction ordinarily preventing users from submitting issues for bugs, deficiencies, general questions, and suggestions.

How many times has the barrier of signing-up, or in, to a service prevented you from interacting with their support team? How many times have you stopped using software or a service because of bad, or non-existent, user support?

To begin supporting our users, we added a global command for them to pre-populate a form and then presents it for final submission. No more hunting for a location to ask questions, or wading through GitHub to open an issue. OpenBB wants to reduce friction from participating in our global community of users, contributors, and maintainers.

Anyone can request support, from anywhere in the Terminal.

(🦋) /crypto/dd/ $ support -h

usage: support [-c {generic,load,oi,active,change,nonzero,eb}] [--msg MSG [MSG ...]] [--type {bug,suggestion,question,generic}] [-h]

Submit your support request

optional arguments:
  -c {generic,load,oi,active,change,nonzero,eb}, --command {generic,load,oi,active,change,nonzero,eb}
                        Command that needs support (default: None)
  --msg MSG [MSG ...], -m MSG [MSG ...]
                        Message to send. Enclose it with double quotes (default: )
  --type {bug,suggestion,question,generic}, -t {bug,suggestion,question,generic}
                        Support ticket type (default: generic)
  -h, --help            show this help message (default: False)

If a user would like a reply to the submission, they can include an email address of their choice. All that is left to do is review, attach any screenshots, and submit!