The expert system (revision)

The user role  OMSI Expert refers to particularly knowledgeable users who offer qualitative support and assistance here at the OMSI-WebDisk. The experts have experience with OMSI, know about many troubleshooting tricks, and have accumulated years of solid expertise in the OMSI world - for example by creating their own AddOns, working professionally, or as beta testers.

The basic goal of the expert system is help for self-help: The experts do not fulfill AddOn-/Mod wishes and only work on projects at their own discretion. There is no obligation for experts to participate in community projects.

Who are the experts?

You can find an up-to-date overview of all experts on the team page: Team page

How this works?

The experts are involved throughout the Help & Support area and write answers to threads asking for support or assistance. Should a situation arise where files that are not intended for the public need to be exchanged with the expert (e.g. Blender files, complete maps that are under development), the expert will continue support via PM at his own discretion.

Unwanted requests via PM, email or Discord will be deleted without comment; in the case of multiple unwanted requests there may be warnings or admonitions.

Can you make my favourite bus / map / mod?

No. The experts help you to help yourself and do not develop AddOns within the scope of their expert activities. Multiple unwanted requests via PM / email / Discord can result in warnings or admonitions. The experts do not fulfill any mod/ad-on requests!

Can I also become an expert? How are the experts selected?

Unsolicited applications are not possible. Only the experts decide in a democratic vote who will become the new expert. The rank itself is awarded by the administration after a further review. The resignation of experts is also not a reason for applications. Furthermore, an attempt is always made to create a balanced ratio between the areas of specialisation, which also limits the selection of possible new experts.

Apart from the fact that an expert has great expertise - in general or in a certain special field - the previous behaviour (in the community) is taken into account: Does the person have AddOn / Mod projects to show? Has the person provided helpful (!) support in the past? Due to the responsibility of this rank, only users who have not previously attracted negative attention are selected. Counterexamples would be copyright infringements, existing warnings and unfriendliness towards support requests.

Are the experts paid?

The experts do not receive any rewards, remuneration or preferential. Like all other team members on the WebDisk, the experts are volunteers. The Expert Team is not obliged to help - everything is on a voluntary basis. Each Expert has a private life in addition to the community activity and has a job. This should be considered.

Can I also give support if I am not an expert?

Yes, this is explicitly desired! Anyone who wants to may write articles, give support and assistance and help other users! The "normal" support operation will of course continue. By the way: New candidates for the expert team are identified by qualitative and competent support. - And maybe you are one of the next OMSI experts on this platform.

Further current information

We don't close support threads that have been resolved

... so that users who have the same problem can still have their say. To mark support threads as "resolved", there is a comfortable function: At the very top below the thread title you can double click on Unresolved, the label will change to Resolved. This status also appears in the thread overview, it is possible to filter unresolved threads. You should also write a short note for posterity, which suggested solution led to the goal.

Use meaningful thread titles

The thread title should contain at least the following:

• Related content (to which commercial AddOn the thread refers, to which map or bus) - in the future this will be solvable with labels. Until this is implemented, we ask you to mention the AddOn in the thread title.
• One or two keywords that meaningful describe the error.

"Need help", "Error", "Problem" are not meaningful titles. Better e.g: "Map Y: Invisible wall at train station", "Hafencity: Blue sky", "Bus Z won't start". The title should be not a whole sentence, keywords will do.

Prefer code blocks over spoiler blocks

Whenever you post a code from OMSI files, use the Code block. This makes it easier to read due to formatting. You don't need to wrap a code block into a spoiler because code blocks are automatically expandable. This also applies to log files!

Finally, if an expert answers your topic, you can be sure that the answer will contribute to the solution