Opportunity to offer Feedback on the Feedback changes

LuckyLloyd

Seems to me that the non moderator user base should have the opportunity to discuss the changes. Can a thread in Open Feedback be opened for this purpose please?

Boards.ie: Niamh

Thanks for your suggestion. An open discussion about a format that has yet to be tested or used would lead to the same kind of negative whinging that we're trying to combat with the new procedure.

Give the new format time to bed in and users time to see it in operation before asking for their feedback on it.

If you have specific feedback on the changes that you'd like to contribute directly, that is more than welcome.

LuckyLloyd

'Trying to combat negative whinging' by essentially disabling access to open discussion. Here's some specific feedback: just because you fix it so that you can't hear negativity about the site doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Further feedback: as you damn well know, users on the site for years often avail of the Closed Account option. As such, the limitation of 100 posts and 3 months registration will close off the option of feedback to members who have valuable inputs to add. I am a consistent opponent of the Closed Account feature, and feel it is used for negative purposes. But, at the same time, there are people who love the site and have contributed positively to it for years who choose to utilize the option.

Bottom line is people just won't be bothered to follow a process like this. While I'm making an exception here, I generally despise my posts being pre moderated. So beyond this post I won't be using this forum.

I can understand you personally wanting to avoid situations like the below as much as you can because no - one likes their shortcomings to be exposed:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057712071

But in the rush to make your personal job easier you are killing the last vestiges of community feel for something that's been around for two decades. A damn shame.

Boards.ie: Niamh

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

'Trying to combat negative whinging' by essentially disabling access to open discussion. Here's some specific feedback: just because you fix it so that you can't hear negativity about the site doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

We're all fully aware that negativity exists, and we'll still hear it here in Feedback, via email or via Contact Us. The difference now is that a user gives feedback and we don't have a cohort of people jumping in with pages of "me too, "he's right", "circling the wagons", "mod bias" etc. that end up dragging what might have been an engaging and useful discussion off-topic.

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Further feedback: as you damn well know, users on the site for years often avail of the Closed Account option. As such, the limitation of 100 posts and 3 months registration will close off the option of feedback to members who have valuable inputs to add. I am a consistent opponent of the Closed Account feature, and feel it is used for negative purposes. But, at the same time, there are people who love the site and have contributed positively to it for years who choose to utilize the option.

I specifically referred to users who do not meet the set post count and membership criteria in the announcement - they can email us or use the Contact Us form at any time. I agree it is unfortunate that this may inconvenience some genuine users who've closed an account and registered a new one, however the number of people re-regging to have a pop at someone in feedback will be reduced significantly which can only be a good thing.

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Bottom line is people just won't be bothered to follow a process like this. While I'm making an exception here, I generally despise my posts being pre moderated. So beyond this post I won't be using this forum.

Nobody ever likes change. However if someone has something to say that they think is valuable feedback, all they need do is create a post about it. There is no extra or new 'process' from the user side, it's still just a matter of creating a post with their thoughts.

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

I can understand you personally wanting to avoid situations like the below as much as you can because no - one likes their shortcomings to be exposed:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057712071

But in the rush to make your personal job easier you are killing the last vestiges of community feel for something that's been around for two decades. A damn shame.

Personal attacks - another reason Feedback is no longer wide open. You've given a good example of the kind of off-topic posts we plan to avoid from now on. The changes we made were not a personal decision of mine, it was a team effort.

It is clear that you are passionate about the site and angry at a change you think is to the detriment of it but, at the risk of repeating myself, this is the reality: feedback as it was was becoming a time and energy sink with few redeeming features. Genuine feedback was being overtaken and lost in the noise. A change to the policy on one forum is not going to undermine a community of over a thousand forums.