D1.7 Description of the registry user helpdesk & impact on user support via community forums

The objective of EXCELERATE Deliverable 1.7 is to provide comprehensive support for users of the ELIXIR Tools and Data Services Registry ( https://bio.tools ). The core aim is to deliver impact for end-users broadly, making it easier for them to contribute to and use bio.tools. Users are of three types: tool†providers†such as major institutional providers and community-driven collections, tool†developers†including developers of individual tools, workflows and workbench environments, and tool†users†including scientists and bioinformaticians. We originally anticipated to provide direct support to tool users, primarily by leveraging the existing and highly popular user bioinformatics forums (BioStars, BioPlanet etc) This remains a good objective (highlighted in the EXCELERATE midterm review) but is not yet timely, as it cannot be done in an impactful way given the resources available to EXCELERATE and sheer number of tool users.