Actual moderator/staff response in the suggestion forum

insomniacdude · Post by **insomniacdude** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:48 am

* Suggestion Idea: To actually have staff response to suggestions in the suggestion forum.

* Specifics: This is the first forum I visit everytime I log on to CC. On most days it is the only forum. Why? I would like to see CC evolve, because it's a friggin' amazing site. I'd guess though that of all of the suggestion threads, only about 5% of them actually get a response from somebody who matters. To be fair, many suggestions are duplicates and/or are taken care of by other members who have an idea on what is and isn't a good idea. But very often a thread gets basically ignored. The To-Do list is never updated either. I find it hard to tell new posters to check the To-Do list if I don't find it very reliable or up-to-date myself.

* Why it is needed: I think it's self-explanatory. Feedback on what is feasible and what isn't, and what is and isn't a good idea can help develop suggestions into better ideas that actually can be used for the good of the site.

Kaplowitz · Post by **Kaplowitz** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 12:06 pm

its been rejected. The mods are too lazy to actually do things

AndyDufresne · Post by **AndyDufresne** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 12:21 pm

If you notice Jennifermarie and I are in here quite frequently. We try to keep up this the suggestions an ideas. And Lack stops by in between peanut butter and coding breaks.

--Andy

DiM · Post by **DiM** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 12:27 pm

AndyDufresne wrote:If you notice Jennifermarie and I are in here quite frequently. We try to keep up this the suggestions an ideas. And Lack stops by in between peanut butter and coding breaks.

--Andy

actually this is partially false/true. i see you guys answering from time to time but there are also threads with lots of pages and no action from a mod.

in fact in 90% of the cases your responses are on suggestions that have already been proposed and you simply tell people it's on to-do list or it is rejected. which is basically simple moderation work.

you don't get involved in discussions, and that's what the community needs. we need official feedback on suggestions, like if it is possible or not, what ever problems it may pose if it is implemented, etc.

AndyDufresne · Post by **AndyDufresne** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 12:32 pm

We do actually try to give feedback on ideas. Most of the time we like to see where the discussion goes. Sometimes I don't contribute ideas because I don't have any thing to add.

The Suggestions forum is a beast, as you know. Give us time to regroup and fix some kinks. Our team is pretty small currently, and we are in a number of places at once. Expect as our team grows, to get more Board Specific moderators.

--Andy

DiM · Post by **DiM** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 4:00 pm

AndyDufresne wrote:We do actually try to give feedback on ideas. Most of the time we like to see where the discussion goes. Sometimes I don't contribute ideas because I don't have any thing to add.

The Suggestions forum is a beast, as you know. Give us time to regroup and fix some kinks. Our team is pretty small currently, and we are in a number of places at once. Expect as our team grows, to get more Board Specific moderators.

--Andy

i wasn't blaming you or the staff i was just stating the facts. i know you guys have a lot of other more important things on your heads but sometimes a suggestion could use even a little post like: "nice idea, keep debating it cause we're watching". that can do wonders because i've seen lots of ideas where the discussion simply stops because everybody is waiting for a mod to come and say something. then the thread slowly falls in the pits of the forum.

Herakilla · Post by **Herakilla** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 4:02 pm

DiM wrote:
AndyDufresne wrote:We do actually try to give feedback on ideas. Most of the time we like to see where the discussion goes. Sometimes I don't contribute ideas because I don't have any thing to add.

The Suggestions forum is a beast, as you know. Give us time to regroup and fix some kinks. Our team is pretty small currently, and we are in a number of places at once. Expect as our team grows, to get more Board Specific moderators.

--Andy
i wasn't blaming you or the staff i was just stating the facts. i know you guys have a lot of other more important things on your heads but sometimes a suggestion could use even a little post like: "nice idea, keep debating it cause we're watching". that can do wonders because i've seen lots of ideas where the discussion simply stops because everybody is waiting for a mod to come and say something. then the thread slowly falls in the pits of the forum.

i agree with dim entirely

lackattack · Post by **lackattack** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:00 pm

I bookmark anything that interests me, and if/when the time comes to seriously consider it I can revive the discussion if necessary.

The update schedule is mostly booked for the next 3-6 months so it isn't a good use of my time to comment on the daily batch of suggestions. I'd rather work on getting some of them done.

Twill · Post by **Twill** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:18 pm

Well, considering you've had the 3 admins of the site comment on this in the first page, (no we didn't tell each other this thread exists) then it's probably a sign that we are watching

We don't comment on a lot of stuff because we just don't have the time but we read most everything, Jennifer and Andy do great jobs of bringing good suggestions to our attention and Lack and I regularly discuss suggestions which have been made and should be implemented.

You guys are just too prolific with ideas though

We can't hardly keep up.

I am, however, looking for a suggestions moderator to take some of the load off of jennifermarie so she can spend time in other places as well, so if you know any regulars in this forum, drop me a line and we'll talk

Have a good one
Twill

jennifermarie · Post by **jennifermarie** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:22 pm

AndyDufresne wrote:We do actually try to give feedback on ideas. Most of the time we like to see where the discussion goes. Sometimes I don't contribute ideas because I don't have any thing to add.

The Suggestions forum is a beast, as you know. Give us time to regroup and fix some kinks. Our team is pretty small currently, and we are in a number of places at once. Expect as our team grows, to get more Board Specific moderators.

--Andy

Exactly...i tend not to comment too much because I don't want to bring people's hopes up and then find out that something isn't feasible. As for the To-Do list not being updated, i'm working on it, it'll be a little while yet, there are almost 90 pages of Suggs/Bugs forum to look through so it takes a while.

Thanks to all for reading the forums and keep posting your suggestions! (After reading the to-do list and using the proper form of course!

)

john1099 · Post by **john1099** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:32 pm

Twill wrote:Well, considering you've had the 3 admins of the site comment on this in the first page, (no we didn't tell each other this thread exists) then it's probably a sign that we are watching

We don't comment on a lot of stuff because we just don't have the time but we read most everything, Jennifer and Andy do great jobs of bringing good suggestions to our attention and Lack and I regularly discuss suggestions which have been made and should be implemented.

You guys are just too prolific with ideas though We can't hardly keep up.

I am, however, looking for a suggestions moderator to take some of the load off of jennifermarie so she can spend time in other places as well, so if you know any regulars in this forum, drop me a line and we'll talk

Have a good one
Twill

There are many regulars on this forum, including myself.

I almost guarantee however, if there was not "staff" in the title, none of you (or few of you) would have actually read this.

Also, I RARELY see Jennifer Marie posting anywhere, and definitely not in here.

wicked · Post by **wicked** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:42 pm

I just wanted to post on the first page as well.

Seriously though, I read and comment on the suggestions that interest me, but spend most of my time here moving threads or merging bug threads because people can't seem to grasp the concept of REPLY instead of NEW.

DiM · Post by **DiM** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:52 pm

this is silly, it's like we're giving free donuts for mods in this thread. who's missing?

anyway, twill is right perhaps a suggestions mod would be needed but i don't think the regular thing is such an important criteria, i'm willing to say that instead of a regular i would always choose a specialist even if he never visited this forum in his life. the thing is like this, a regular can post and debate all day long with the community and bring some great suggestions, but if in the end that suggestion is impossible due to technical reasons then all the talk was for nothing.

so i say you should get a person that has imagination, brains and time needed to participate in all kinds of talks BUT at the same time he must be fully aware of what is possible and what is not and even come up with solutions for lack on how to implement stuff.

for example, let's take the neutral zombies suggestion. really nice idea, i have posted in that thread and i have also exchanged some really big pms with cicero but in the end it's kinda pointless cause i have no idea if such a thing can be implemented and if it can i have no idea how.

john1099 · Post by **john1099** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:55 pm

I was actually thinking of someone to go through the suggestions forum, and perhaps highlight all the threads from the day (all new ones), and if they were truly "new", send an e-mail to lack, with a link to each thread.
That way lack can simply read a 10 second PM to get caught up on the days activity, and then can go from there.

wicked · Post by **wicked** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:58 pm

oooh donuts?

Actually john, there's something similar to that already in place. Just because lack or jennifer or whoever might not comment in every thread, doesnt' mean they don't know about them. But I see your point (and others), that unless we post that we're looking, you guys don't know.

Coleman · Post by **Coleman** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 6:00 pm

I nominate DiM for suggestions, lol.

Edit: Err, the lol implies I was joking, my mistake. Not joking, but I do think it is funny.

DiM · Post by **DiM** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 6:22 pm

john1099 wrote:I was actually thinking of someone to go through the suggestions forum, and perhaps highlight all the threads from the day (all new ones), and if they were truly "new", send an e-mail to lack, with a link to each thread.
That way lack can simply read a 10 second PM to get caught up on the days activity, and then can go from there.

not really, i doubt lack has time to read so many threads each day. it would be better if that mod would take care of all suggestions, decide what is possible and what is not, participate in the discussions of the possible suggestions and when a suggestion has been refined and all the details decided he can pm that to lack. this way lack only looks at well thought suggestions that are also technically possible.

DiM · Post by **DiM** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 6:25 pm

Coleman wrote:I nominate DiM for suggestions, lol.

Edit: Err, the lol implies I was joking, my mistake. Not joking, but I do think it is funny.

one second to insert my technical knowledge gizmo chip.
...
bzzz
brrrr
...
beep
...
snorrr
...
operation failed. technical data rejected by the brain.

sorry mate. anything related to programming coding and stuff is totally beyond me. and to think that my dad is a programmer

insomniacdude · Post by **insomniacdude** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 6:26 pm

lackattack wrote:I bookmark anything that interests me, and if/when the time comes to seriously consider it I can revive the discussion if necessary.

The update schedule is mostly booked for the next 3-6 months so it isn't a good use of my time to comment on the daily batch of suggestions. I'd rather work on getting some of them done.

That's understandable, but I think a lot fo people would like to know what exactly are the ideas that interest you. The To-Do list is never up-to-date and I find that incredibly unreliable.

I understand the day-to-day demands on Andy and jen. They are doing this as volunteers, so they can't spend 18 hours a day working on the forums. And I appreciate your hard work Lack. You do a lot of things that I don't think get enough credit form most CCers. I just think an extra two minutes a day in this forum could really liven up a lot of the discussions and drive them to places. Andy said that he likes to see where a discussion goes before commenting. The discussion might reach an end faster if the people get feedback from the staff and know that the staff is interested in the discussion to begin with.

insomniacdude · Post by **insomniacdude** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 6:34 pm

wicked wrote:But I see your point (and others), that unless we post that we're looking, you guys don't know.

Precisely. It's hard to gauge what's going on behind the scenes without much response in individual threads or the to-to list.

Strife · Post by **Strife** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 6:49 pm

You don't always get mod posts because some of the players, call them veterans if you will, know just as much as the moderators. They can help you too. Alot of topics in here and Q&A are solved by smart and kind players looking to help other players out.

john1099 · Post by **john1099** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:17 pm

DiM wrote:
john1099 wrote:I was actually thinking of someone to go through the suggestions forum, and perhaps highlight all the threads from the day (all new ones), and if they were truly "new", send an e-mail to lack, with a link to each thread.
That way lack can simply read a 10 second PM to get caught up on the days activity, and then can go from there.
not really, i doubt lack has time to read so many threads each day. it would be better if that mod would take care of all suggestions, decide what is possible and what is not, participate in the discussions of the possible suggestions and when a suggestion has been refined and all the details decided he can pm that to lack. this way lack only looks at well thought suggestions that are also technically possible.

Isn't that what I said?

Well, that's what I meant anyways.

DiM · Post by **DiM** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:20 pm

john1099 wrote:
DiM wrote:
john1099 wrote:I was actually thinking of someone to go through the suggestions forum, and perhaps highlight all the threads from the day (all new ones), and if they were truly "new", send an e-mail to lack, with a link to each thread.
That way lack can simply read a 10 second PM to get caught up on the days activity, and then can go from there.
not really, i doubt lack has time to read so many threads each day. it would be better if that mod would take care of all suggestions, decide what is possible and what is not, participate in the discussions of the possible suggestions and when a suggestion has been refined and all the details decided he can pm that to lack. this way lack only looks at well thought suggestions that are also technically possible.
Isn't that what I said?

Well, that's what I meant anyways.

actually you said the mod would send links to threads to lack. that's why i said lack doesn't have time to read tons of posts and a mod needs to refine the ideas remove the bad and impossible and keep the good and possible ones and present them in a proper manner to lack.

rebelman · Post by **rebelman** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 12:07 am

i realise my role in the mod kingdom is centred in chat but I read most threads in here and where possible throw in my twopence halfpenny. i have been known to start them in here too eg a thread of mine led to the blue / red ? rankings

jennifermarie · Post by **jennifermarie** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:21 am

DiM wrote:
actually you said the mod would send links to threads to lack. that's why i said lack doesn't have time to read tons of posts and a mod needs to refine the ideas remove the bad and impossible and keep the good and possible ones and present them in a proper manner to lack.

we already send stuff to the turtle, just on a weekly schedule.