Communication between members/users and staff: an idea Thread poster: Nikki Graham
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Nikki Graham 
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:54
Spanish to English
I actually posted this at the end of the "answer found elsewhere" thread, but would like to draw more people's attention to the idea, if I may, to see what reaction there is.
This is totally off-topic, but surely communication between Proz.com members/users and staff could be improved. Suggestions are constantly being made in the forums but there is often no feedback whatsoever, so we are left wondering whether anybody noticed / it's been rejected / being considered / being worked on as we speak / etc. And there are so many threads these days that if there IS a reply in one of them, it will probably only get read by a small number of people. Would it therefore be possible to have a separate page summarising suggestions made / staff response / action taken (if any) / pending / etc. We could all then see at a glance what was actually going on and perhaps not feel quite so frustrated...
http://www.proz.com/topic/52746
| | | | mediamatrix (X)
Local time: 09:54
Spanish to English
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Nikki Graham wrote:
(...)
We could all then see at a glance what was actually going on and perhaps not feel quite so frustrated...
To which I previously replied, and will just repeat here since I've little else to add at this stage:
Excellent idea!
And it would also avoid us users wasting time drafting suggestions for things that are already in the pipeline or that have already been rejected.
More transparency, please, on the development front!
MediaMatrix
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The other benefit is that when changes are implemented, we are not all quite surprised and panicky
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awilliams
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:54
Italian to English
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Great idea, Nikki. A little heads up on the whole WWA issue would have been nice, for example.
I wonder whether a "glitches/progress" board could be incorporated into your suggestions page somehow (and linked to from the home page, maybe?) to make a single point of reference for users - a sort of global "update" board? Only yesterday there were 3 threads opened in English about mail/websites not working. Evidently the "search the forum before posting" idea just isn't getting through... See more Great idea, Nikki. A little heads up on the whole WWA issue would have been nice, for example.
I wonder whether a "glitches/progress" board could be incorporated into your suggestions page somehow (and linked to from the home page, maybe?) to make a single point of reference for users - a sort of global "update" board? Only yesterday there were 3 threads opened in English about mail/websites not working. Evidently the "search the forum before posting" idea just isn't getting through. I think in that instance a simple statement on a site page would have helped enormously. Users would have only had to consult a single page and site staff would have been saved the trouble of darting around topics to answer queries.
I know that's not quite what you suggested but it is something I'd welcome. Anything that improves communication has to be a good thing.
[Edited at 2006-08-09 14:36] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Nikki Graham
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:54
Spanish to English
TOPIC STARTER
Amy Williams wrote:
I wonder whether a "glitches/progress" board could be incorporated into your suggestions page somehow (and linked to from the home page, maybe?) to make a single point of reference for users - a sort of global "update" board? Only yesterday there were 3 threads opened in English about mail/websites not working.
There is already this:
http://www.proz.com/?sp=site_status
under the About tab, but you are right, this information needs to be more visible, and actually, the problems you mention are not listed.
[Edited at 2006-08-09 14:37]
| | | | awilliams
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:54
Italian to English
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Nikki Graham wrote: There is already this: http://www.proz.com/?sp=site_status under the About tab, but you are right, this information needs to be more visible, and actually, the problems you mention are not listed.
Quite - nothing has been entered since May this year. Although that's great as far as uptime is concerned (!), a little expansion would be appreciated.
[Edited at 2006-08-09 14:53]
| | | | mediamatrix (X)
Local time: 09:54
Spanish to English
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| That's another very good idea | Aug 9, 2006 |
Amy Williams wrote:
Only yesterday there were 3 threads opened in English about mail/websites not working. Evidently the "search the forum before posting" idea just isn't getting through. I think in that instance a simple statement on a site page would have helped enormously.
I'd go further, and suggest that it would have been prudent - and a sign of respect to users - if admin had given 24 advance warning of the major reorganization of the servers, with a possibility of some disturbance to normal service. That way, users could have taken suitable precautions before the event, rather than scurrying around for quick-fix solutions when already pressed by deadlines.
Above all, once the real, serious problems began to occur, then a pop-up warning should have been created alerting all users, at log-in time, to the existence of a major failure, the possible work-arounds, and the estimated time to restore proper service. Those who are complaining in other threads about lost data, lost business opportunities and projects being held up should not have had to wait until they needed their files before finding out there was a problem.
Of course, that would have drawn unwanted attention to the problem. But it would also highlight Proz.com's dedication to serving the users' interests first.
Henry & Co. can do it when they want to sell membership and software discounts. They should do it also when things go wrong.
MediaMatrix
PS - I write this as a potential Proz.com web-hosting user, still waiting for a response from hosting support to a ticket sent a full week ago. Looks like I should continue looking elsewhere for the service I need...
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Nikki Graham wrote: I actually posted this at the end of the "answer found elsewhere" thread, but would like to draw more people's attention to the idea, if I may, to see what reaction there is. This is totally off-topic, but surely communication between Proz.com members/users and staff could be improved. Suggestions are constantly being made in the forums but there is often no feedback whatsoever, so we are left wondering whether anybody noticed / it's been rejected / being considered / being worked on as we speak / etc. And there are so many threads these days that if there IS a reply in one of them, it will probably only get read by a small number of people. Would it therefore be possible to have a separate page summarising suggestions made / staff response / action taken (if any) / pending / etc. We could all then see at a glance what was actually going on and perhaps not feel quite so frustrated... http://www.proz.com/topic/52746
Thanks Nikki, this is a good idea. We already implemented a similar system for suggestions from moderators, and it looks reasonable to have another one for members. This is in line with our plans for the ProZian community.
Regards,
Enrique
| | | | justin C
United States
Local time: 09:54
English
| I like the idea as well | Aug 9, 2006 |
Hi Nikki, I like your idea as well, thanks for the suggestion!
Mediamatrix,
I'd go further, and suggest that it would have been prudent - and a sign of respect to users - if admin had given 24 advance warning of the major reorganization of the servers, with a possibility of some disturbance to normal service.
This was done last week, we ended up noticing problems a couple days later than expected...
Of course, that would have drawn unwanted attention to the problem.
It is not our intention to 'hide' problems. I have been responding to forum posts (there has been 3 or 4 on the subject), individual emails, and support tickets regarding the issue (there was also a notice up on the support page informing users of the problem). If you wish to comment further on this issue, please do so in the hosting forum. And thanks, for your suggestions.
Best regards,
Justin
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Thanks Nikki.
Great idea!
Lucinda
| | | | | Reply, mostly to Amy | Aug 10, 2006 |
This is slightly off-topic, but I felt it needed to be added, especially considering the topic.
I agree that the idea of searching the forum BEFORE posting is not getting through - or so it seems at least. I have observed an underlying problem in this near-perfect idea: many people do search the forum before anything else, but don't find what they are looking for, eben if it is actually there, because the forum search feature is really bad.
Improving the forum search fe... See more This is slightly off-topic, but I felt it needed to be added, especially considering the topic.
I agree that the idea of searching the forum BEFORE posting is not getting through - or so it seems at least. I have observed an underlying problem in this near-perfect idea: many people do search the forum before anything else, but don't find what they are looking for, eben if it is actually there, because the forum search feature is really bad.
Improving the forum search feature was suggested many many times, and many moderators agreed, even site staff said it was a good idea. Since then - nothing. Once again, it was discussed in a couple of threads but no action was taken and the line went dead. Meanwhile, increasingly often, when people use the forum to ask basic questions that have been asked before, they don't get any replies. So these members get no help at all, because people are sick and tired of explaining the same thing all over again and because the member can't find the correct answer through forum search. This is very discouraging to me as this is a community and no community can function if members don't help each other.
The initial idea would work well for this particular situation and I am putting this into my notebook to suggest later IF and when the feature proposed above takes shape.
Cheers! ▲ Collapse
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BelkisDV
United States
Local time: 09:54
Spanish to English
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| Furthermore... | Aug 10, 2006 |
Hello everyone,
I agree with everything that's been said so far. I also think that when an actual suggestion is implemented, credit should be given where credit is due.
From a personal standpoint I remember a rather passionate argument about 'site abuse'. I made a couple of suggestions and was told (and I quote) "there is no such thing as 'abuse' when this is a free service".
Well....lo and behold, now we do have 'Report site abuse', which means I was righ... See more Hello everyone,
I agree with everything that's been said so far. I also think that when an actual suggestion is implemented, credit should be given where credit is due.
From a personal standpoint I remember a rather passionate argument about 'site abuse'. I made a couple of suggestions and was told (and I quote) "there is no such thing as 'abuse' when this is a free service".
Well....lo and behold, now we do have 'Report site abuse', which means I was right to begin with.
I also suggested differentiating among PRO and NON-PRO level questions and voila (sorry no accents right now), here we are.
Since most of our work per se goes unrecognized, how about giving us credit for improving the site with our suggestions?
Best,
Belkis ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Thanks, Belkis. | Aug 10, 2006 |
Belkis Díaz-Vidaillet wrote:
From a personal standpoint I remember a rather passionate argument about 'site abuse'. I made a couple of suggestions and was told (and I quote) "there is no such thing as 'abuse' when this is a free service".
Just to clarify, I do not think it was a site staff member or moderator who would have said this. That is not our position.
| | | | Nikki Graham
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:54
Spanish to English
TOPIC STARTER
Enrique wrote:
Thanks Nikki, this is a good idea. We already implemented a similar system for suggestions from moderators, and it looks reasonable to have another one for members. This is in line with our plans for the ProZian community.
Thank you for the positive response. I'm sure that if we could all see at a glance what was going on a lot of threads would not need to be started and we (members/users) would feel better served and more able to direct our comments in a positive way.
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