Hi!

I think a suggestion box like this forum is a good idea to keep the site permanently improving and it's also a good sign of "customer focus". However, a suggestion box is only the start of any suggestion system. I think it's also necessary a feedback to the customer about which suggestions are accepted, rejected (and, in this case, for which reason), what's the implementation state, etc.

So, my suggestion is to keep an "suggestions list" somewhere in the site, with these fields:

• Description
• Author
• Date of suggestion
• Status (for example: open, under analysis, accepted, rejected, planned, in implementation, implemented, or something along these lines)
• Due date for implementation
• Done date (when implementation was finished or suggestion was rejected)
• Reason for rejection (in case of rejection)

Furthermore, I propose a reward (for example, a discount in the market place) for every implemented suggestion.

Thanks!

The 'list' is for office administration to go over and discuss what ideas or improvements can be implemented on site during the annual administrator meetings.

Not all suggestions are implemented as we know..and when they are, the improvement is announced to the community. It would be simply too much to keep up with each suggestion as you have outlined above. I know I don't have time to do status updates on each suggestion that is made, and I'm sure the office staff don't have the manpower or time to do so either at the moment...that would be a big time consuming effort.

The suggestion is a good one tho, and I'll add it said list.

Thanks

~Jani

Renderosity Community Admin
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I understand your difficulties but if your evaluations are only yearly (!!) and if you give no systematic feedback to the suggester, this is very demotivating for anyone giving suggestions. I mean, after some suggestions, people will just think "why bother? All I'll ever hear is that suggestion will be added to the list".

You could always keep the list on a (locked ?) wiki page and update it each time there's a meeting about what "improvements" to implement.

Quote - "You could always keep the list on a (locked ?) wiki page and update it each time there's a meeting about what "improvements" to implement."

That's a good idea. No extra work and we have an idea what's going on.

Jumpstartme2, just a question, out of curiosity: from that list, how many suggestions have been rejected and how many have been implemented in the last 2 years?

I can't give you exact numbers I'm afraid..I really do not know how many have been rejected or implemented in the last two years. I can tell you tho that the majority of the site improvements have stemmed from the suggestions of the members.

Also, some suggestions take effect almost immediately, such as requests for additional languages, forums and the like..so it's not only suggestions that happen on a yearly basis.

~Jani

Renderosity Community Admin
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Thanks for the information.
That's not a very encouraging environment to propose suggestions. The idea that I formed from your words is that the system seems a bit disorganized (please forgive me if it's a wrong impression). I mean, if you can't even tell how many suggestions have been rejected or implemented... that would be the most basic thing out of a suggestions list, I would expect.

Well you may think it is disorganized, but it seems to work fairly good I think. I dont keep the suggestion logs, but you could always write to the admin address and ask them if they have a record?

~Jani

Renderosity Community Admin
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Personally I find it hard to believe the 'list' exists at all. In the absence of any evidence that any suggestion is being implemented or declined . I was always under the impression that the phrase  'I'll add it to the list' is just a way to finish the discussion in a suggestion thread.You say site improvements are related to members suggestions, but I have never seen it mentioned it came from the suggestion box, or credit given to the originating member.
If the list does exist keeping a public suggestion system or a wiki as suggested in this thread is a minute addition to the work already involved with keeping a 'suggestion log'.
As this is of general interest, not only to rutra, instead of him asking admin privately, perhaps you could ask the appropriate people to give the list  to you to post here (or they could post it themselves).
Publicly spirited people who post suggestions to improve the site deserve to be shown some respect and informed about the results of their effort.
Thanks

"I paint that which comes from the imagination or from dreams, or from an unconscious drive. I photograph the things that I do not wish to paint, the things which already have an existence."
Man Ray, modernist painter
http://artpearl.redbubble.com/

Quote - "Well you may think it is disorganized, but it seems to work fairly good I think."

Generally speaking, if a process is not measured you cannot know if it's working good or not. Only by measuring it, you know. If you don't measure it, all you have left to evaluate it is a gutt feeling, which is subjective and therefore not appropriate for measuring any business process.

It's obvious you don't measure the suggestion system nor the suggestion process. The most basic measurements would be the number of implemented and rejected suggestions, which you admitted you don't have. In a more mature stage, you could measure the decision speed and implementation speed, for example, among other things.

If a process is not measured, it's not controlled and it can not improve. Only by measuring something you know effectively where you're underperforming. Therefore, your suggestion process is most likely disorganized and unefficient and as such only by accident (and temporarily) it could work "fairly good", as you say.

The new 'pop up' ads are more annoying that I can say without screaming obscenities.
Popping up over & over even while on the same page.
Extremely disappointing since I pay monthly for my gallery & storage.
The one for 'Full Sail University' has me wanting to especially scream out loud.

I'm Getting old.
My wings are cold.
I think I'll go sit on the sun.
Savage Dragon
"Chronicles of the Dragon Queen"

Quote - The new 'pop up' ads are more annoying that I can say without screaming obscenities.
Popping up over & over even while on the same page.
Extremely disappointing since I pay monthly for my gallery & storage.
The one for 'Full Sail University' has me wanting to especially scream out loud.

Must have been a virus on my pc. Nobody else seemed to get them. So sorry.

I'm Getting old.
My wings are cold.
I think I'll go sit on the sun.
Savage Dragon
"Chronicles of the Dragon Queen"

Quote - Must have been a virus on my pc. Nobody else seemed to get them. So sorry.

It wasn't  a virus, Rendo fixed some new ad code they were trying out, there are several other threads saying how annoying that particular ad was (for people without NoScript or AdBlock or Opera etc.)

Ah. Thanks! I thought I was loosing it. Lol!
")

I'm Getting old.
My wings are cold.
I think I'll go sit on the sun.
Savage Dragon
"Chronicles of the Dragon Queen"

Quote - The 'list' is for office administration to go over and discuss what ideas or improvements can be implemented on site during the annual administrator meetings.

Now that you've had this year's admin meeting(s) (as mentioned by StaceyG -> here) is there any chance we could know which ideas were :-

1. Discussed
2. Rejected
3. Accepted
4. Are in need of further discussion

Well I unfortunately didn't get to attend the meeting since I'm in Texas..as soon as I find out something tho I will let you all know :)

~Jani

Renderosity Community Admin
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Quote - Well I unfortunately didn't get to attend the meeting since I'm in Texas..as soon as I find out something tho I will let you all know :)