Other Systems & Languages
Hi there!
How to make the forum better:
1. Add RSS! For subscribing to threads!
2. Make it a must to register!
2.1. Use OpenID or sth. like that for login'in ! Will add a lot of convenience to the otherwise bothersome register enforcement.
3. Add recaptcha.net as a security border for posting. I don't know how many forum spam you do receive, but even if you don't receive any, this would be a great way to help the world!! ;)
4. Try to really take every request / issue very serious!! What I see here, is what I often see in many support / user forums, that issues aren't fully audited, there a maximum of two answers often and if it isn't solved after that, it's often forgotten or (as it seems to me!) ignored! I can't understand this! Of course those are all strange, bothersome and maybe almost unique problems, but hey, what's the point?! Isn't that the reason the forum was founded? Even more:
I think, most of the people wouldn't post here, IF their request COULD be potentially solved with to simple "check check checklist" answers. Because people ARE NOT STUPID! Especially flock users! ;-) So they'll have checked the most common points most of the time anyway. Of course you should ask for it, if they don't provide any details, but you should let them alone after that!
Because not every problem solves itself, as one of mine strange enough did.
Thanks for listening and your help in advance! :)
Kind regards.
Evan Hamilton
Hello,
Thanks much for the feedback, we're always trying to create a better experience for you all. To your points:
1. This and/or email subscription are on our "want" list, but finding time for this is a challenge.
2. Why do you want to do this? Registering is a hassle...even you didn't register! :)
2.1. If we required registration, yes. But we don't, so it's not worth our very limited time to add this feature when you can reply without registering even easier than using OpenID.
3. If I remember correctly, we use Askimet, which (supposedly) learns over time what is spam and what is not. This takes the work off of the community member (having to read and type that annoying set of characters) and more onto us, which is better for the community.
4. We do take every request and issue very seriously. It's a little unfair for me to compare, but I think if you look at other companies you'll find a lot less engagement. We listen to you because you have great ideas and suggestions and real issues. We strive, despite being a very small company, to answer all these messages. Beyond this forum there is a whole feedback tool full of emails from Flockstars that also get attended to each day. We recently hired a Community Support Lead, Jen Anderberg, to take on the feedback that was falling through the cracks. We'll continue to evolve as the amount and quality of feedback changes, but we certainly aim to answer all issues and requests.
I disagree with your point about people normally checking the FAQ's. Most of the issues we deal with could be solved by updating Flock, following instructions on the FAQ, or checking basic settings on your machine. You may be ahead of the curve, but many people choose to ask before looking.
I hope you won't take my response as negative; I do appreciate the feedback, but I've simply spent many hours thinking about these subjects and so I (hopefully) have a holistic view of them. A fresh voice is always appreciated, though.
Flock'n'roll,
Evan Hamilton
Community Ambassador
evan at flock dot com
------------------------------
blog.evanhamilton.com
Marc
I don't think it's so much he didn't register more the fact that when you click Post New Thread there's no box to enter your name! lol
OriginalTopicStart
Hello Evan,
thanks for your answer! Sorry I answer after two months, it just was so much else. ;)
At first: I love your new 2.02 (or however) beta! =) No more immediate crashing as in 2.01 and a lot faster then v.1.2.4!
As Flock v.1.2.4 was a real resource hogging bunch of crap the last three days especially (although it might've been one before because of Mozillas engine ;)), I got so fed up to try the beta again! *relief* I'm sorry, but I'll use it for productive reasons. :D Because even Firefox v.3.0.1 bugs me and v.2 didn't ever work, I use Flock 90% of my time, since it is the only one that really works!!! :) Even though I should be faster with Firefox, but I'm not with all the probs...
To my questions:
1. Hope you find time for this, I find it important! If only this (RSS) is done, I'm totally happy! :) RSS saves time & confusion!
2. I didn't register, yeah because I didn't believe it would be worth the effort as I think I do already have an account here, too. ;P But didn't want to use it, because it doesn't help anything anyway (I thought ;), seemed to pessimistic these days ;)). But in general I don't mind the two minutes of registration, as there are often more time consuming hassles, like follow ups and organizing ones stuff, if there's no rss-feed and advanced forum software. ;p (They aren't all bad!! Seems most geeks think so...^^)
2.1 Ok, but maybe you can also look at "Clickpass" or some of these "simple" solutions (there are more...).
3. Maybe you read a little about recaptcha.net and you'll see why I find it important. If someone feels "hassled", I don't know, Flock users are from my point of view the most advanced and modern browser users, most of them will know recaptcha.net anyway! And I almost only heard bad things about Akismet (in terms of not blocking, but more or less helping Spammers!), but I'm happy if it works for you! That means you use Wordpress or something related here?
4. Thanks for that answer specially. Although I was/might still be sceptical (out of so many bad experiences ;)) this was a real relief for me, as I also practically see your engagement. :) Of course you do have a lot to do with e-mails and stuff!
I also recently discovered that you are on Get Satisfaction here: http://getsatisfaction.com/flock
Keep that service up and try to get off this crappy (sorry :p) forum here and everything there to Get Satisfaction!
You can also implement Get Satisfaction into your website smoothly:
4.1 "We strive, despite being a very small company, to answer all these messages." That is an important point. :)
I do really appreciate that. The one thing I'd as maybe said like to see more, is more structure here or in the support area in general. I don't know if what I mean is understandable. But I'd be happy to mail with you and do some "consulting" to improve both structure and usability, FOR THE ADVANTAGE OF THE COMPANY AND THE USERS! =) Win-Win. ;)
A first step and part of the strategy could be surprisingly Get Satisfaction, as I didn't know it some months ago, but since then it helped me a hell of a lot!
4.2 FAQ: I try to check them as often as possible, but I also have to admit, I sometimes forget it or give a s**t about it. ;) Because of that it is important to make the FAQ: Present everywhere in the support section, subsequently: easily accessible, easily to overview, easily understandable, navigateable and usable! It helps ease the workload of your support-people and I strongly recommend them to refer their users to the FAQ, if applicable!
5. No I didn't & don't take your response as negative at all! :) I was really excited & happy about it indeed! :)
Thanks again and hope to see you on Get Satisfaction soon! ;)
Kind regards.
Evan Hamilton
Hey,
Thanks for the kind words.
1. Definitely on the plate for whenever we get around to redoing the whole website.
3. We use Drupal...apparently there is an Askimet plugin for Drupal.
4. We're definitely looking into moving to GetSatisfaction...I'll keep you all in the loop as this progresses.
Evan Hamilton
Community Ambassador
evan at flock dot com
------------------------------
www.evanhamilton.com
Mersenne
I'm not going ot start a new thread, but I'd suggest using a copy of SMF here ;-)