Comments on: Using and assessing feedback from online communities

By: Christina

Christina — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:03:56 +0000

Change is not handled well by the majority of people. After considering all the above ideas, you need to ask yourself how the change will be accepted by the community as a whole. Keep in mind that some change is tolerable but too much change can be disadvantageous.

By: Frances

Frances — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 23:16:59 +0000

One should constantly be watching the feedback from your community and respond to both negative and positive feedback in a professional, and timely manner.

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:10:47 +0000

Sometimes feedback is overrated. Many people hated Facebook for launcing the activity feed but yet it turned out to be a huge success and now other websites are launching similar features for their communities.

By: Alan

Alan — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 12:30:11 +0000

Their opinions are valuable. If their opinions are translated into new features in the website, that would make them feel they are valuable. They will more likely to stay longer. I think a community website is usually 70% idea from members, 30% from the developers.

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 19:50:48 +0000

I agree, Nicole. It is a good idea, but also site owners need to remember that some people may be offended if they are e-mailed unsolicited and uninvited. Site owners must be careful not to fall into the spam trap.

I always encourage criticism & suggestions on Friendly Chat. It’s the only way to improve services, and I ensure there are never any reprisals against people who complain about one of my staff members, or criticise the site. Some people aren’t as appreciative of criticism as I.

My users are pretty open, not afraid to voice their concerns – which is great.

If someone is leaving I leave them a PM – on the site – to ask for their feedback as to what we did wrong and how we could have improved our services.

By: Nicole Price

Nicole Price — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:43:00 +0000

You will recollect that I had dropped out of a community some time ago. Interestingly enough, I got a mail from the administrator after all this time asking me to write to her about why I chose to opt out. I thought that it was a good way to rebuild bridges and replied and have received a very positive response and an invitation to participate again. I have decided to give it a try again.

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:09:48 +0000

Do what you feel is best for your community.

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:16:35 +0000

“Just because your community�s most active member voices an opinion or request” – easy to get swayed by those who shout loudest. It can be hard to find out what some of the less active members think though, so we are bound to get swayed a little buy the most active. A community survey goes some way towards addressing this, but then it is still likely to be responded to by more active members..

What does everyone else do?

By: Recent Links at Fast Wonder: Online Community Consulting

Recent Links at Fast Wonder: Online Community Consulting — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:09:02 +0000

[...] Using and assessing feedback from online communities [...]

By: Umar

Umar — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:11:40 +0000

Great advice Martin and Tom,
When it comes to tools and features, like so many other decisions in online communities, it comes down to finding that sweetspot – An interface with too few features is confining – members won’t use it while one with too many features is confusing – members won’t know how to use it.