Many of you that frequent this area will recognize me as the newest, but perhaps lately most active moderator of this forum. You may have also noticed that there hasn't been much movement around here for a little while. That has been due to the transition that has been underway in the leadership of this site. In case you haven't heard, you can find out about that here.
I wanted to thank all of you active contributors for helping us shape and refine the suggestions that are currently going through the long and sometimes disheartening suggestions process. The users that contribute ideas, critique those ideas, and (more mundanely) help me sort through all of the suggestions and find similar previous topics have made my time here enjoyable and easier. Thank you.
For those of you that have discovered this forum as a result of the Revolution post linked to above, I say: Welcome! Site improvements do not always go through this process, but if you look at hundreds of suggestions that have been IMPLEMENTED, you will see that many, many site improvements do come from here.
But ... the process does certainly have its problems, as many users have pointed out in the past. I will address some of those, but first, I'd like to give folks an idea of what happens here in an ideal situation.
First, a user stops by either to make a suggestion. The "advanced search" function in the upper right corner of the screen can usually lead you to a discussion of some of the more commonly suggested features. New users may also want to briefly check out the Stickies, the Submitted Suggestions and the Stickies in the Archived Rejected Suggestions for some of the more commonly suggested ideas.
If an idea is truly novel, the user posts their idea using the New Topic button and following the form that is provided. If the idea turns out not to be as novel, usually someone will point it out and it ends up getting merged with a like topic where the relevant discussion can be found.
From there, other users comment on and critique the idea. Sometimes folks just stop by to say that they like or dislike the idea. While everyone appreciates a little bit of a glimpse into the reasoning behind the like/dislike, these short posts do help gauge how desirable the feature is. Other users will point out flaws or improvements.
It is not required that the original poster (OP) stick around to keep the topic alive, but it certainly helps. In my time here, I've asked that at least one user be able to keep on top of the idea and hone it into a better form before it moves very far. I figure if we can't find one person who is willing to stay on top of the discussion, then the feature probably isn't a big deal for the rest of the 15,000 users that are out there. The moderators, like myself, are able to edit the first post of a topic with new information, but most likely won't take the time to do all that work ourselves if there aren't many people that really want something implemented. In the best situation, the OP sticks around and incorporates improvements and fixes flaws over the course of the suggestion.
If a suggestion starts to receive a groundswell of support, then it is usually STICKIED to draw more attention to the idea. From there, if it can be further refined and continues to receive support it gets SUBMITTED. Finally, if it is feasible and the site Administrators are willing, the suggestion will get IMPLEMENTED.
This process can take a lot of time, unfortunately. My goals for this section of the site under the new leadership are:
- To streamline this process
- To increase communication between users and admin via the moderators here
- To organize the old suggestions to make it easier for users to find relevant material regarding their suggestions
I figure it would be a good idea to let you all comment on what you'd like to see done around the Suggestions forum. So, this is an open thread to all of you frequent and new visitors to this section of the site. On behalf of the suggestions team, we welcome your feedback and look forward to playing our part in improving your experience on Conquer Club.
Thank you,
agentcom
